NDP Leadership Convention 2017

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One could imagine anyone in the Quebec caucus could switch, I suppose. Maybe Linda Duncan, considering she's in Alberta?

With Rachel Notley in provincial power, I doubt Duncan's going anywhere.

Well, the entire Alberta NDP would disaffiliate and change their name.

Hmm, I wonder what they would call themselves. Pro-Oil Social Democratic Party doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Maybe just the Democratic Party.

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What are Ashton's chances of actually winning?

I'd say it depends on the popularity of the NDP in the months leading up to the convention.  If the NDP is still at the levels they are at now, I'd guess the NDP convention voters will be dominated by the left wing New Democrats and the LEAP Manifesto Supporters and she'd have a very good shot at winning (unless the LEAP backers get behind a different candidate) if the NDP is back to its more traditional level of support around 17-18% I think either a more centrist New Democrat would win, or, more likely, a compromise candidate like Jagmeet Singh.

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Great article on why Jagmeet should run / be leader: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/10/08/leaderless-ndp-looks-to-rising-star-jagmeet-singh-cohn.html

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced he will be the next NDP leader.

Toronto based journalist supports Toronto based politician for leader of a national party.  Film at 11.

Of course, when I first read a post about how some Illinois State Senator named Barack Obama would win the Democratic primary for U.S Senate,  I replied "You're delusional, Dan Hynes will win that nomination handily."  So, what do I know?

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Where is Singh on the NDP spectrum?

NDP Spectrum Disorder? 

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Great article on why Jagmeet should run / be leader: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/10/08/leaderless-ndp-looks-to-rising-star-jagmeet-singh-cohn.html

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced he will be the next NDP leader.

Toronto based journalist supports Toronto based politician for leader of a national party.  Film at 11.

Of course, when I first read a post about how some Illinois State Senator named Barack Obama would win the Democratic primary for U.S Senate,  I replied "You're delusional, Dan Hynes will win that nomination handily."  So, what do I know?

FWIW, I'm from Ottawa, and I think he's going to win.

And let's just say, I correctly predicted Trudeau in 2007: https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=66990.0

(and they [specifically our dear moderator] called me crazy)

I think he'll become the next leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party.  I predict either Peter Julien or Niki Ashton will become the next leader of the Federal N.D.P.  I personally wouldn't be surprised if those were the only two major candidates to enter the race along with some unknown non-M.P.  In nearly every federal N.D.P leadership contest there has been one unknown non M.P who ran for the leadership.

They're so unknown even their friends, family and co-workers say "We don't know who he is."

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Jagmeet is much more interested in federal politics. That's why he ran federally the first time in 2011.  And wouldn't he qualify as the unknown non MP?

1.He's not unknown.
2.He's been in provincial politics for a number of years now and is the provincial party deputy leader.  I don't know what his primary interests now are.

Unknown leadership candidates
1975: Douglas Campbell, taxi driver.  Ran against David Lewis in 1973 in a leadership challenge.
1989: Roger LaGasse, School Teacher
1995: Herschel Hardin, freelance writer, did not qualify for ballot but ran in the meaningless primaries. (The only purpose of the primaries was to disqualify candidates for the convention who did not meet the threshold level of support.)
2003: Bev Meslo, part of the NDP (unofficial) socialist caucus. (Pierre Ducasse I'd put in in a gray area)
20012: Martin Singh, Pharmacist and pharmacy owner.

On the floor of the 1975 leadership convention, Douglas Campbell's wife was interviewed saying "I have no idea who Douglas Campbell is."

In 2012, Martin Singh's wife said in an interview, I wasn't aware my husband was running for leader of the N.D.P. Are you sure you're not referring to a different Martin Singh?"  

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I hear that Peter Julian won't run...but it increasingly sounds like Charlie Angus will run and so will Finance critic Guy Caron. I suspect that when all the dust settles these will be the people running for leader:

1.Charlie Angus
2.Jagmeet Singh
3.Guy Caron
4.Niki Ashton

...and they may be it

5.Some unknown non elected person.

Guy Caron is also the Natural Resources Critic.  I think Carole Hughes held the position before but she was either elected or appointed as an assistant deputy speaker. 

I suppose could see this as Thomas Mulcair's way to set up Caron as his successor, but I'm not sure if there's any truth to that.

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How good is Charlie Angus' French?

And how good is Guy Caron's English?

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Caron's English is better than Angus's French

Thanks!

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Peter Julian stepped down as NDP House Leader today to consider running for leader.

For the completists out there, Murray Rankin replaced Julian as House Leader.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/peter-julian-ndp-leadership-race-1.3811726

I saw Julian's post on twitter.  Immediately after tweeting that, he tweeted a series of tweets in French.

I didn't look too closely at them, but I think one of them said "Je ne parle pas Francais."   (That's an attempt at a joke.)

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I met him at New Westminster Pride. He seems decent enough.

I heard him speak and met him personally when he first ran federally in 2004.  Obviously don't know him very well at all but I can away thinking very highly of him and nothing he's done since then has altered my initial impression.

He's not charismatic but I think he has a certain charm and he's obviously extremely hard working and knowledgeable. 

I'm not a big fan of Post Media Columnist Michael den Tandt, but he theories that post Trump rational voters will seek out un-charismatic,  hard working and knowledgeable politicians, so, if den Tandt is correct, this could be a good time for Peter Julian.

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I'm not a big fan of Post Media Columnist Michael den Tandt, but he theories that post Trump rational voters will seek out un-charismatic,  hard working and knowledgeable politicians, so, if den Tandt is correct, this could be a good time for Peter Julian.

Conservatives love this type, but promiscuous progressives need a pretty boy they can take selfies with.

I meant to write Julian is hard working and knowledgeable as well as diligent and earnest.  


Former B.C Premier Glen Clark was hard working and knowledgeable, but it turned out he also was something of a tin pot dictator and a populist grand-stander.  

Though it was some (mostly) non scandal involving his cottage renovations that ultimately brought him down it was his populist grand standing primarily on the disasterous Fast Ferries where he insisted on them them being built by a local company even though that company had no knowledge or experience in building those type of ferries as well as other grand-standing and ultimately destructive actions like some fight that he got into with Alaska over some fisheries dispute, that left him in a position where he had no good will left with the B.C public when this (mostly) non scandal hit the headlines and pretty much every British Columbian simply wanted him gone.

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I'm not a big fan of Post Media Columnist Michael den Tandt, but he theories that post Trump rational voters will seek out un-charismatic,  hard working and knowledgeable politicians, so, if den Tandt is correct, this could be a good time for Peter Julian.

Conservatives love this type, but promiscuous progressives need a pretty boy they can take selfies with.

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced you're right.  We Tories are never fully comfortable unless our leader resembles a small town Chartered Accountant.

In my early 20s I was a bookkeeper (and junior auditor.)  Big city accountants and small town accountants look the exact same.

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I actually think Jagmeet Singh is the man of the future for the NDP and his French is better than Angus 's

Not sure I agree about that.  What are you going by?  Angus' French is just a bit below where Layton's was.  Choppy but still speaks in terms of Canadian French and slang ("Chui" for Je Suis, "Je vo po" instead of "Je ne vais pas") that Quebeckers identify with.  Singh's French is hyper-formal and seems unnatural, IMO.

Tbf if you want unnatural, Mulclair's French was tres parisien, if you ask me.

how gauche!

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Why are so few NDP politicians (and would be politicians bilingual) in the first place? Some people speculated about Avi Lewis - but again he speaks ZERO French. What's his excuse? He grew up in the 70s when French immersion was very much "in vogue" among the English Canadian intelligentsia and he was sent to private schools in Toronto.

French immersion is still very popular in many places with many people.  I have a friend in the small town of Powell River B.C whose entirely schooling was done in French.  The problem is, and this isn't an original idea of mine, is that once they leave school they have nobody to speak French with and no real reason to keep up their studies, so they forget.

My friend is still able to answer some questions I ask him about French, but he says that after being out of high school for almost 15 years now, he can't handle a conversation in French anymore.

In my case, I've always had a difficulty learning languages, so I struggled with learning French in High School, even though I was taught pretty much the same level of French there that I was supposed to have learned in Junior High School.

Memory is a strange thing.  About the only French I remember was our Grade 11 and 12 French teacher used to constantly say "that's neither here nor there." So, I wrote on a test "Ce n'est pas ici, ni la" which he put a huge 'X' through.

At least I found it amusing!

However, my friend in Powell River told me that he might not actually have been annoyed, it's possible he just 'X'ed it out because there is no saying in French of 'that's neither here nor there.'

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Rebecca Blaikie who has been mentioned previously by some as a potential candidate for the Federal NDP Leadership has indicated that she is considering running for leader of the Manitoba NDP.  

The Manitoba NDP can use a boost like that after their star MLA Kevin Chief first said that he would not run for the leadership of the party, after it was generally assumed that he could have the position by acclamation if he wanted it (maybe Steve Ashton would have tried running again), and then a week or so ago quit politics outright.

In regards to other Federal NDP leadership non candidates, when Charlie Angus stepped down from his positions in consideration of running for leader, Ruth Ellen Brosseau replaced Angus as Caucus Chair and Romeo Saganash replaced Angus as critic for Indigenous Affairs.  Both Brosseau and Saganash had previously indicated they were considering running to replace Mulcair.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/angus-leadership-run-1.3863515

Of all the names who had been initially mentioned but not mentioned lately, I believe that leaves just first term M.P Daniel Blaikie as unaccounted for.

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I'm not sure Jagmeet Singh is ready for prime time:
https://twitter.com/theJagmeetSingh/status/802734505920524289

Jagmeet SinghVerified account
‏@theJagmeetSingh
He saw a country wracked by poverty, illiteracy & disease. So he lead a revolution that uplifted the lives of millions. RIP #FidelCastro

I think it was one thing for Justin Trudeau to make some nice comments about Castro given his father's personal connections with Fidel, but Justin Trudeau doesn't have to face being accused of being a communist sympathizer by people as the unknown (outside of the GTA) Singh likely would.

Given that though, I finally found this short sketch from the old British Comedy Show 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' that I've been looking for for several years that expresses my sentiments on political eulogies.  Yes, that is Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9b7wmRsy9g


I was told at the time that the vile Antonin Scalia died that I should reserve countering the bullsh**t eulogies along the lines of 'what a wonderful person he was' and 'what a brilliant legal mind who had a clear judging philosophy' out of respect for his family because everybody knows that eulogies aren't meant to be taken all that seriously and that the real debate on his legacy could commence after a sufficient period of time had past.

Then, not two months after the POS died, George Mason University named their law school in his honor and pointed to the eulogies as one of their main reasons for giving him this honor.

At least I still get to enjoy that Scalia will rot in Hell for all eternity where he belongs.  I hope he is suffering as much as he truly deserves to.

Oh, and for any conservatives unhappy with the above, look at what you yourselves said about Castro at the time of his death and spare me your phony moral superiority.

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Well, Mulcair said some good things about Thatcher. I guess we're a big tent party!

Apropos of nothing, but this is my favorite joke regarding Margaret Thatcher (It was from either Not the Nine O'Clock News or Spitting Image.)

Thatcher and her cabinet are at a restaurant all seated around a large table.

Thatcher: "I'll have the steak"
Waiter:  "And the vegetables..."
Thatcher:  "They'll have steak as well."

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I've got some tropical property in Winnipeg to sell Adam if he really thinks freaking eulogies are a big reason why George Mason named their law school after Scalia.

So, you think it was just a coincidence that George Mason decided to name their law school after Scalia about two months after he died?

Do you seriously think if there had been serious pushback on his eulogies along the lines of "actually he was extremely inconsistent in his rulings and had no judicial philosophy" or "actually he was both racist and sexist and was an extremely nasty person who tried to bully his fellow Justices to vote his way" that George Mason University would have renamed their law school in his name?

I highly doubt it.

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Caron has quit shadow cabinet to consider a bid, will decide by month's end.

I figured he would have waited until after the budget was released.

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Charlie Angus just tweeted he is running.

https://twitter.com/CharlieAngusNDP/status/835941840679497729


"And yes, my name is Charlie Angus and I am running to be the next leader of New Democratic Party of Canada."

It takes beef to run for the leadership of the Federal NDP.

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Guy Caron makes three.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/guy-caron-ndp-leadership-1.4000796

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Early, and hearing that both the Ashton and Singh people are gearing up, and the Syd Ryan FB group is still pretty active but I just don't know how if that's happening:

https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/02/28/NDP-Leadership-Contest/

"the candidates bring different strengths to the race — Caron for his economist’s perspective, Angus for his working-class “punk rocker” background and Julian for his ability to organize."

Guy Caron is the third economist to run for the NDP leadership going back to 1961.

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Ashton entering next week.

I'm pleased that there will be at least one woman in the race, but I find Niki Ashton to be trite, tedious and strident.

And those are her good points!  (Sorry)

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I missed the debate. How was Charlie Angus' French?