Now Lets Move On

Pot decrim is indeed a common sense idea, esp. now that our Southern neighbors are coming around to it.  But it shouldn't be the headline policy of the LPoC or any LPoC candidate.  It should be outlined in a footnote on page 150 of the some new version of the Red Book.  Right now the federal Liberals have exactly one policy and it has nothing to do with jobs jobs jobs.  Painfully easy to caricature.  

That is all.

Elizabeth May Among Frontrunners In Unscientific LPoC Leadership Poll

You can still vote for her here.  Presumably Andrew Coyne supporters are playing some kind of elaborate prank, or think funeral home directors are sexy.

When The Choice is Between Liver And Meatloaf

...your best option is to choose quickly and eat fast. Bob Rae did the right thing today.

Hopefully the May meeting goes forward in a different guise, and the party passes a series of democratic reforms like no more delegated conventions and one Member one Vote for the next leadership campaign.

A Strategy Based On Hope Is Doomed

Stephen Le Drew, him of bow-tie & beanie fame, gives the Federal Liberals some very bad advice in this morning's National Post.

Even in taking his leave, Stephane Dion can't get it straight. By stating that the party needs a leader before the Commons resumes at the end of January, he is effectively rejecting the benefits of a considered leadership debate, while robbing tens of thousands of Liberals of their voice in choosing their own leader.

In other words, the party should continue its leisurely amble towards a May convention and appoint a neutral and essentially pointless interim leader in the meantime. But wait! The party doesn't operate in a vacuum. What if Stephen Harper's Tories throw something really nasty into their January budget? LeDrew announces the Party's surrender in advance:

In response, some Liberals contend that the party needs a permanent leader to run in the election that surely will befall us before the Liberal convention in Vancouver slated for May. But anyone who says that the Liberals should vote down the government has rocks in his head.

The Liberal party has no money, precious few new ideas (I am being generous here), an embarrassing leader and the least voter-support in its history. It desperately needs to rebuild before it can expect any respect from Canadians.


Yes but, again, what if Stephen Harper is true to form, and decides a January budget is a terrific time to break the opposition once and for all? Maybe he'll move once again to eliminate subsidies for federal political parties? That polled pretty well. LeDrew's answer?

...I suggest that trigger-happy MPs wait to see the next budget before they huff and puff and try to blow Harper's house down. Hopefully he will have learned his lesson, and deliver a first-class economic plan for Canada.

Ah, Hope! And Prayer, perhaps! The Liberal Party of Canada should kind of drift aimlessly through the next six months relying on the kindness of the Federal Conservatives!

Look, I have never actually joined the LPC, though I have occasionally donated to the cause. I generally only offer them my free and unsolicited advice. So my opinion shouldn't count for much. But I'll say it again: Get It Done By January! If this can be arranged through some kind of on-line/phone "consultation" so be it. If they have to lock Bob Rae in a closet for two months while Michael Ignaetieff is anointed in some smoke-filled backroom, that's fine too. But remember, as Stephen Janke points out, this is a party that can't afford a working digital camera and is helpless when the auto-focus on the old one they DO own breaks down.


And these people want to organize a virtual convention during the Xmas season? Pretty elaborate for a gang that would have trouble finding the fly on its pants.


And the "grass roots", those people who got behind a back-room deal to topple the current government, are insisting upon "democracy" for themselves? Such a sense of entitlement! They are demanding silver paper when all they can afford, and all they deserve, is cheese.


The "grass roots" ought to be thinking less of what the Party owes them then what it owes that segment of the Canadian population that votes Liberal because they seem the only reasonable alternative to the Canadian Right. And what the party owes us is a minimal display of competence, not the sight of 60,000+ thought vacuums diddling about in the name of their rights for six months while the nation goes into decline.

Update: Rae does the right thing.

Not A Bad Idea?

In Winnipeg to pitch his support for the Liberal-NDP coalition as a viable alternative to the Harper government, Rae responded to a question from his audience about whether a new Liberal leader could be in place by next month.

“Well, I would support that if we could do one-person, one-vote,” said the MPfor Toronto Centre. “If the party said, ‘We need to find an alternative quickly — can we just simply let the members of the party vote on who the leader should be?’ I would accept that. And I would accept the results

Of course, this would leave open the possibility of Torys joining the party en masse to skew the vote in one direction or another. That is what happened when David Orchard ran for the PC leadership. Hundreds of unsympathetic types (like me) paid the $10 membership feet and voted for Orchard, sending the race to an expensive and embarrassing run-off (eventually won by Joe Clark).

But there must be away to short-circuit that possibility, if it is seen as undesirable.

In This Case, Half A Loaf Is Not Better Than None

This prospect [a Jan.-Feb Election call] has led some Liberals to look for ways to install a new leader – possibly an interim head such as former cabinet ministers John McCallum or Ralph Goodale – as soon as possible so the party does not wind up fighting another election under Dion.

So an interim leader arrives in late December, vowing that he will be replaced by someone more permanent in May, and an election is called in March. Any campaign promises he makes will be perceived to be meaningless, because they will be meaningless.

Settle it, people! Settle it!

Bob Rae: Don't Want No White Men Around Here

Probably the most famous Jobmart ad in Ontario history:

The competition [for this position] is limited to the following employment equity designated groups: aboriginal peoples, francophones, persons with disabilities, racial minorities and women.

By the way, I am only picking on Bob today because Iggy's campaign strategy appears to be "you can't do anything stupid if you don't do anything at all". If someone spots the guy moving, please let me know.

But the point is: the attacks on Bob Rae, should he become Liberal Party leader, will not only concern Ontario's economic performance when he was premier. They will also tee-off on some of the weird, doctrinaire Lefty stuff that came out of his government.

PS. I also vaguely remember Bob Rae's taxes on "YouBrew" outfits, and I am working on a post in which I characterize Bob as "anti-beer".

Why Libs Shouldn't Walk Away From Green Issues

...because people haven't, although though here in Canada they have walked away from the Green Shift in particular.

...which is why Iggy's answer here isn't bad, if a bit rote (from James Curran's notes):

Iggy: proud of Stephane's leadership on it. (Should be he wanted a carbon tax shift). Must remain faithful about enviromental sustainability. Gotta get the retail politics of this issue. Gotta figure out how to sell it. Has to work in the air, on the land on the sea where deisel fuels are used. We have to listen to cdns.

I have only vague memories of Ignatieff's 2006 green plan, but I recall it as involving a fairly aggressive cap & trade system. More generally, I think it was a good exercise for all the 2006 candidates to have been required to produce a fairly extensive statement of their environmental principles, and I hope that the same expectation applies this time around (although of course nobody expects them to lean as extensively on their environmental creds as Dion did).

Hint: it might make Iggy more palatable to Left wing of the party, who often look upon him as a Conservative in Liberal dress.

Link to Iggy's old platform paper. Thanks, James Curran.

Score: Iggy 0, Bob Rae -1

I disagree with Spector:

...Mr. Rae succeeded in putting front-runner Michael Ignatieff on the defensive. In a populist and 'inclusive' age, no one wants to be seen to be engaged in, much less defending, meetings 'behind closed doors.'

The problem with this analysis is, while Rae's stunt might have looked good to a TV audience, the folks at home aren't electing the next Liberal leader. That job falls to party insiders, and I suspect that many of them might be a wee bit ticked-off. As one of Spectors commenters says:

First [Rae] has to win back all the Ontario riding association presidents and others he alienated yesterday. It is one thing to make a point and another thing to boycott all the volunteers who would typically be there to help.

Bob Bailed!

Rae Takes Toys, Goes Home! Not much for "anybodybut Iggys" in this little manouver. Can't fight Iggy if your boy won't fight.

Bob Rae's First Sleazy Political Manouver Scores Big!

Well, it is looking increasingly as if Bob Rae agreed to the format being employed in today's leadership debate and then broke the terms of that agreement to score cheap political points. Those cheap political points being: Iggy isn't ready to face the cameras, and he's just like Stephen Harper!

Well scored, Bob! All that civility stuff was just chin music anyway, right? Meanwhile, James Curran will be at the debate to let us know if hair gets pulled or specs broken.

Gawd this is exciting!

Iggy's First Gaffe!

...emerges in an attempt by the Ignatieff campaign to prevent media reps from getting a look at his (possibly all gaffed up?) performance at today's first leadership debate. I mean, we know the spin Iggy's campaign will put on this should nobody be present to witness: "He commanded the arena as one to Greatness born!" and etc., even if he spends half the event with his microphone stuck up his nose.

Sorry folks, you want a coronation? The rest of us want to at least see how your guy performs a few times before signing up.

What RT said.

Update: Read Wells for an alternative take on this. Thanks Sandi.

What's Wrong With Two Toronto Guys

...running for the Grit leadership?

After all, the demographic/ethnic makeup of the Greater Toronto Area mirror's that of Canada as a whole. For example, out West we have a lot of stupid people.

Ignatieff Makes Leadership Aspirations Official! Gets Bucket Stuck On Head!

Just kidding.

But will the future resemble the past? Will "gaffe prone" become Iggy's middle name? It would certainly be more entertaining that way although, I suppose, bad for democracy.

PS. From same article, Kennedy is officially out!

I Bet They Had Their Fingers Crossed

OTTAWA– Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae have struck an informal non-aggression pact in a bid to avoid turning the coming Liberal leadership contest into another divisive showdown between the two perceived front-runners.

Rae said today the two men have reached an understanding that the race must be kept civil and respectful.

Yeah, and Rae has already sent supporter Ray Heard out to trash-talk Iggy on Conservative news sites.

The last leadership race was fun. This one already looks to become an embarrassment, but I'm sure it will achieve its own form of trashy glory before all is said and done. Hair will get pulled, spectacles get broken. Iggy will step on a rake. Twice. And accidentally set his own tie on fire. And randomly accuse the Latverians of war-crimes.