The State Of The LPC

Last evening Jeff Jedras was good enough to organize a call between LPC poohbahs, ably represented in this case by MP Dominic Leblanc, and a number of Lib friendly bloggers.  The idea was to discuss the state of the game on the eve of today's throne speech.  This is my take on that call.

First, as to the measures that have been leaked to the media (cable channels  à la carte, closing the price gap between U.S. and Canadian retail goods), these show that the Harper government has been picking up the same signals from Canadians over the summer as their  Liberal counterparts: many feel we are still in recession, and are particularly aggrieved by the "nickle and diming" they face from the corporate world (credit card companies gouging small businesses being another example Mr. Leblanc noted).  Not having any ideas to deal with the larger economic problems faced by the country, the CPC will be content to play some populist small ball with these issues in the new session.

As to their position re the measures that might eventually come forward, the LPC will adopt a wait-and-see attitude.  Some of the stuff leaked so far does not sound practically doable, and some of it will pit the CPC against their usual small business allies, so in the end we might see insubstantial "consumer friendly" gestures--appointing panels and the like.  In that case, the party is not likely to play  along.  Should something workable come forward, then there may be opportunities for cooperation between the LPC and the government.

As an aside, I think one short-coming of the Libs "no policy" approach has now become apparent. While the government has stolen many themes that Justin Trudeau spent the summer articulating, they will be able to put flesh to them in a away the LPC cannot, at least not until February's policy convention.  It would have been useful to have a few concrete counter-proposals on hand at the start of the new session.

Finally, as of this morning (it may change) there will not be a debate over the throne speech itself. The practical effect of this will be disproportionately stop CPC back-benchers from speaking.   The Conservative government tendency to not trust its own foot-soldiers with their own mouths seems alive and well.

Gooble Gooble! One Of The LPoC!

So, a couple of weeks ago, after I got invited to LPoC President's meet&greet thingy that's taking place this evening, I finally decided to join up.  If I was going to bitch whine and complain for the next couple of years, I figured I should at least pitch out $20.  So, Gooble Gooble! I'm Bob Rae's problem now.  In the end of course my object is a Senate seat.  Two, actually.  One for me and one for the wife.  Near the aisle, for bathroom breaks.  The plan is we eat for free with our Membership cards in the Senate Cafeteria, and we sleep in our Senate Seats, where it won't attract attention.  I'm tired of working for a living.

Also, I've yet to receive my official LPoC memberships package in the mail, but I hear you get an original $1 from the Adscam cache, and a plastic knife for infighting.  But really...Plastic?  It ain't fratricide if you can't even draw blood!  Hopefully, I can help instill a little of its old spine in the party!

As to the party prez potentials, I promise to write up something serious and coherent about their platforms tomorrow morning.  I haven't decided for myself yet, but in practice my options may be limited.  My wife is a huge Sheila Copps fan, and if I come out in support of anyone else I might wind up sleeping in the car for a month.

And, speaking of my dear wife, I've tried to keep her away from my blogging activities.  For her own protection, mostly  But after 15 years out of politics she's thinking of getting back in.  She's actually better at it than me, because she likes people.  She door-knocked for Hagood Hardy, back in the day, and there's a rumor he even dedicated a composition to her (the one with the nose flute solo).  So you may see the both of us in the future, especially under a Copps regime.

Although I don't know how many of these public be-nicey-nicey type events I can handle.  My advice to anyone who sees me is at one: don't get between me and the finger-foods.  Plus: you want to see me in a suit?  Then die, and I'll come to your funeral in one.  Otherwise its maybe a turtle-neck and a pair of jeans one step up from Walmart.

Who Should Train The Rat Pack Of Tommorow?

Sheila, obviously.  I have always been a huge fan.  And I think the party could use an injection of the kind of spine she and her fellow rat-packers provided back in the day.  Bob Rae is a fine orator and a good leader (interim or otherwise), but running an effective opposition means finding ways of getting under the government's skin.  And I'm not seeing that yet (although the walk-out was a good stunt). 

And yes I realize the party Prez doesn't have much to do with the day to day performances in the HOC. 

Bourque Rumour: Belinda As LPoC Prez

Belinda next Liberal Party President ? Well-placed source tells Bourque ex-MP/Cabmin Stronach may seek to replace Alf Apps next Spring. Says Apps, "She would be terrific !"

No idea if its true, but why not?

The Liberal Party In Five Seconds

Quarterly finances not great, polling not bad. Perhaps the last shall influence the first. For example, I haven't sent them a 5er in a while...

Gruending On What's Really Going On With Evangelical Voters

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a study entitled "Canadian Evangelical Voting Trends by Region, 1996-2008", done by several authors from the Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelism. This study purported to show a slow drift away from the Liberal Party of Canada due, the authors claimed, to attempts by the LPoC to ridicule and marginalize Evangelical voters for short-term political gain.

Now, Dennis Gruending has written a nice response to these arguments. Here is a sample:

Among those examples is the Liberals’ handling of legislation regarding same sex marriage. By 2002, the courts had begun to rule that the existing definition of marriage was unconstitutional, or, described in another way, that the laws must be changed to allow for same sex marriage. The authors say: “The government chose not to appeal the [court] decision and announced it would introduce legislation to redefine marriage. . . and the government became an advocate for the redefinition of marriage, contending same-sex marriage was a human rights issue and required by the Charter.”

Same sex marriage was (and remains) a contentious public policy issue but I fail to see why the Liberal government’s acting in accordance with the court rulings should be understood as an insult to evangelicals. To use a parallel example, many Christians are opposed to Canada’s war in Afghanistan, but should they consider themselves to be personally insulted because the Conservative government has not stopped waging the war?

Mr. Gruending has suggested that this will be the first of a series of posts on this topic. I will link to them as they become available.

On The Other Hand, Who's Gonna Be Santa At The CTV Xmas Party?

....by making these appointments, Mr. Harper is acknowledging that he will not be able to achieve a Triple-E senate - Alberta's constitutional hobby horse for more than two decades. Another piece of Reform Party baggage bites the dust. For Canada, that's excellent news.

The CPoC continues its crawl towards the Canadian mainstream, by becoming as "seamy" as the LPoC.

How shall they claim moral superiority now?

File Under: Politics Is Weird And Scuzzy

Did Liberals hijack the federal Green Party in Mississauga?

This is, I suppose, pretty "inside baseball" type stuff, and no names are given so everything remains a bit cryptic. The money passage:

In 2007 the Green Party of Canada in Mississauga Streetsville (MS GPC) was infiltrated by a group of people who not only were not Green but had one stated objective – to embarrass Wajid Khan. With sufficient numbers and the same old sleazy back room crap that the liberal party is always doing (check out their current leadership “issues”) they managed to get elected. Their agenda was to take over the electoral district association, and highjack the money the GPC Ottawa sent to the local EDA.

Apparently, the Lib infiltrators have been cleaned out and Mississauga's Green Party is back to being purely green. I guess that coalition didn't turn out too well either.

A good example of why I avoid riding-level politics.

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.

More On Lib Fundraising Problems

An interesting observation from Norman Spector:

Nor is it clear that the Liberals' financial problems are organizational. Unless you're a lawyer who wants to become a judge, why would you send them your hard-earned money instead of contributing to principled parties such as the NDP and Greens?

In other words, once you gave money to the Liberal Party--not because of their platform, which was malleable--because it seemed inevitable that they would win. Since that no longer appears to be the case, what exactly is your donation buying you?

A warning to those who might take the party to the mushy middle. There's gotta be some "there" there.

Pinball Will Not Save The Liberal Party Of Canada

...as this article rather naively suggests. However, Michael Clemons might well pull the City of Toronto from the clutches of David Miller, and its more than a bit odd that Rob Granatstein's column today doesn't mention him as a possible candidate. Sure, Clemens has said "no", but the race is a couple of years down the road and there is still time for him to change his mind.

Unless you live here, it is hard to appreciate just how much Toronto loves its Pinball. I have had the pleasure of listening to him speak, and he is (at least when delivering a set-piece) very good. Afterwards, though, when he allows himself to mingle with his audience, is when the wild stuff happens. His bodyguard is apparently under instructions to treat the crowd with kid-gloves, and he is almost literally mobbed by (primarily although not entirely) middle-aged white women, usually a couple inches taller than he is, who want to touch him. The mayoralty is his if he wants it, and who knows that that might serve as a stepping stone to higher office.

So while Pinball is not Canada's Obama, at least not yet, he may be our new Mel Lastman.

Liberals Stuck With One Last Delegated Convention?

Gerry asks in the comments:

Surely the National Executive could make an executive decision on behalf of the membership to implement one-member, one-vote now.

Campbell Clark says surely not:

This point comes up every time there's a leadership race, and lots of people, Liberals and otherwise, agree with you. It's too late to change it this time because it is written into the Liberal Party constitution. (Although some argue they cannot really afford it.)

He also has this bit of good news:

The Liberals are not swimming in cash, but their debt is not debilitating either. They'll be able to finance reasonably ordinary operations and pay for the next election campaign

On Liberal Party Problems

Radwanski writes:

If they were serious about avoiding another few years of leadership-related infighting, the Liberals would revise their process - either with one of the more drastic steps I suggested last week, or by switching to a one-member, one-vote system. But in their frantic rush to replace Dion, it seems there's not enough time to ensure they don't elect another version of him.

Pretty common sense thus far. One reason I've never actually joined the Liberal party is because signing up is really just the first step in acquiring a say in the direction of the party--in, for example, getting an opportunity to help choose a leader. The second step is brown-nosing your way into the favor of some local riding poo-bah and getting selected as a delegate. And, even once you get to the convention, bizarre and archaic rules "bind" you to a candidate you may not personally support for a long stretch of voting.

And, oh yes, at every step the party wants to suck money out of you.

With the Tories, it was a 10$ charge and I was in (back in the 1990s). I am given to understand that the NDP process is also quite a bit less baroque. If the Libs want more money out of their Members then, paradoxically, they are going to have to treat them as something more than cash cows.

But what Radwanski doesn't seem to understand is that, at the 2006 Montreal convention the Party rejected one-member one-vote and decided to keep instead that three ring monkey show, that combination of bacchanal and smoke filled rooms, known as a delegated convention. So, as far as I can determine, another one more of these at least is unavoidable.

What should happen now, then, is that they should get the damn thing out of the way. And both a new leader and a series of party reforms--recommitting the Liberals to their grass roots and ditching the convention format--should emerge from the May meeting in Vancouver.

I would like something to be done sooner, but I don't see how that is possible.

Does Green Shift Even HAVE Any Clients?

For anyone who hasn't been following this story, Jennifer Lynch's Green Shift™ is the Toronto-based enviromental services company who took the Liberals to court for trademark infringement back in July, and settled with the party just around the time of the election call. One of the more curious aspects of the case is that, despite the company's insistence that its clients were being scared off by the LPoC actions, they were never able to provide an up-to-date list of these clients. At one point they claimed to be hiding it from hostile media outlets, but of course this explanation can't apply anymore.

So now the company has changed its reasoning again. By my count we are up to five different excuse since Mid-July:

The List

We are planning to repost the list of all of the companies and institutions who are a part of the Green Shift™ program but due to the legal battle that we have just resolved, we need a few days to re-evaluate.

We'll see how long it takes them to get into double digits.

Liberal Green Alliance Pays Off For Liberals

NDP Leader Jack Layton's opposition to a carbon tax shows he's more interested in hurting the Liberals than helping the environment, says Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

At last, someone to speak the obvious truths!

Liberal MP Moves To Ensure Nazi Rights!

M-446 — January 30, 2008 — Mr. Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca) — That, in the opinion of the House, subsection 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act should be deleted from the Act.

This of course is the provision that snagged Mr. Steyn and Mr. Levant. As I have argued long and hard, I see no reason why the fact that a few journalists who espouse borderline racist views have brushed up against a law designed to catch Nazis should be cause to amend the relevant legislation.

Very disappointing that this guy should be a Liberal. Will the LPC become the party of the Mark LeMire's and Ernst Zundel's of this country?

Update: Just a quick note to visiting Steynosaurs. Although I do traffic in the occasional gay sex fantasy here at BCLSB, there is none of that in this particular post. If that's what you're looking for, just search the blog for "gay".

Update to the Update: Steyn alters his post to demonstrate that, indeed, there are some gay sex Nazi fantasies in the comments of this thread! That just shows that we got it all on BCLSB! Come for the porn, stay for the political analysis! If you Steynosaur lads are all nice and polite, I may post a few booby pics tomorrow. Does Steyn or (god forbid!) Ezra ever post booby pics? Exactly! Adjust your links!

Liberals Prepare to Sell Out On Afghanistan?

Asked if there is enough room in the Liberal policy to accept a continued presence in Kandahar for training or some other non-combat role, [Michael] Ignatieff replied "Yes, there is."

[...]

In a speech opening the caucus meeting, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion appeared to emphasize that the Liberals don't want Canada to withdraw entirely from Afghanistan, though they want a refocused role there.

"We are not Jack Layton," Dion said, referring to the NDP leader's longstanding call for withdrawal. "We will not abandon Afghanistan."

Nice to know the Libs know who they aren't. At least on this issue Jack Layton knows who he is.

Of course, as a compromise staying in an Taliban infested part of the country and not engaging in combat is hopeless. Nor will it be possible. A clear position would involve an ultimatum to NATO: rotate Canadian troops to some other part of Afghanistan or lose them. Instead, and in contrast to the clear majority opinion of Canadians, the Liberals are prepared to traffic in mush and, apparently, allow for a mere re branding of the status quo.

Very disappointing.