Layton temporarily stepping down

[DL]

Paul Dewar (could be added to the list)

Some people think Libby Davies would run, but I don't think she'd manage to get more than a dozen votes - and I don't mean delegates.

I don't think Libby Davies would run in any case. She speaks no French which would be an immediate disqualification. I don't really care about who is or is not a "household name". The fact of the matter is that almost no one in an opposition caucus is ever a "household name". How many people do you think had ever heard of Layton when he first became leader. The people I would see as possibilities (moving from east to west) would be as follows:

Jack Harris (apparently incredibly intelligent - French is so-so)
Megan Leslie (maybe too early for her)
Thomas Mulcair (nothing more need be said, bilingual, former Quebec cabinet minister, but apparently rubs a lot of women in caucus the wrong way...)
I wish i could name anyone else in Quebec, but they are all too inexperienced at this stage.
Peggy Nash (she speaks very good French and presents very well etc...)
Charlie Angus (seems hip, speaks passable French)
Peter Julian

...and then there is always the possibility that Doer comes home to take the reins! who knows.

[DL]

Of course within Quebec, the more the other parties go on a McCarthyist witch-hunt demanding "are you now or have you ever been a supporter of the Bloc Quebecois?" the more it will make NDP support in Quebec solidify like concrete. The Liberals and Conservatives are telling about 60% of francophone Quebecers that they have no right to participate in federal politics...Given that the Liberals and Tories are now virtually non-existent in francophone Quebec, this will only keep them both in the toilet. The NDP is meanwhile telling people who were once sovereignist that they have a face saving way of coming back to federalism.

BTW: For a party that is supposedly kow-towing to Quebec - the NDP seems to be doing some odd things - like supporting the Lower Churchill Falls project that the Quebec government opposes and calling for the Quebec based asbestos industry to be shut down.

In the next election over four years from now, either Layton will be back in the saddle or the NDP will be in year three of being led by its next leader - and the next leader will be either Thomas Mulcair r Gary Doer - both men with impeccable federalist credentials. The fact that so-and-so was holding the fort for a few months a few years earlier will be totally irrelevant.

[DL]

Of course the NDP was the only party that defended the idea of forming a coalition and making a deal with the Bloc Quebecois and they went on to win 103 seats and make major gains in votes and seats all across English Canada - so if there really is such a negative reaction to any cooperation with the BQ - why was the NDP rewarded instead of punished at the polls in English Canada?

What i don't get is that people in English Canada claim that they want to embrace Quebec and want Quebec to remain in Canada and they claim to rejoice at Quebecers expressing loyalty to Canada - and yet when Quebecers SWITCH from being sovereignists to embracing federalist Canadian parties - people bitch and complain as if they cannot take yes for an answer. If Quebecers are abandoning the Bloc Quebecois and instead supporting a federalist party that has representation across Canada - that should be cause for rejoicing, not cause for a witch hunt. If people are serious about wanting Quebec to stay in Canada - they should be applauding Nycole Turmel for rejecting the BQ and getting elected with a federalist party rather than condemning and essentially telling her she ought to go back to chanting "Vive le Quebec Libre"

I agree that if the in 2015, the NDP is led by someone who is an unrepentent supporter of  Quebec sovereignty - it will be bad news - but there is ZERO chance of that happening.