On the fourth ballot, Thomas Mulcair finally convinced enough NDP members that he was the best candidate for the party leader’s job, and thus defeated his last remaining opponent, Brian Topp.
Tag Archives: Leadership
NDP leadership … who gives a fig leaf?
Regular readers will know that I haven’t spent much time, if any at all, on the NDP leadership campaign currently underway. Next weekend, the party will finally elect a new leader to follow Jack Layton, who sadly passed away last year. Continue reading
Next NDP leader … Nathan Cullen?
We’re not that far from the NDP leadership vote anymore, and frontrunners are easier to spot now. Thomas Mulcair, once touted as the one to beat, has seriously underperformed. Not only did he fail to show up for a leadership debate recently, he’s also still a French citizen (by choice). Even the late Jack Layton was dead set against political leaders maintaining two citizenships (and thus split loyalties).
It’s official: Alberta Tories no longer a conservative party
The Wildrose Alliance has every reason to celebrate with some confidence after this weekend. After all, it’s official now: there is only one conservative party in Alberta, thus reflecting the true Alberta spirit, and that party is the Wildrose Alliance.
Alberta Tories Leadership: Going nowhere
How’s the Alberta Tories leadership race been for you? Has it riveted you to your seat? I can’t help but feel that the whole affair has been a major letdown. After the debacle that was Ed Stelmach’s reign of incompetence, I was hoping to see some real commitment among Tories to do things differently – or at least return to the ways of Ralph Klein, who continues to be Albertans’ first choice when asked about the premier who best knew how to listen to and understand the people of this great nation of Alberta (yes, Alberta, like Quebec, is a nation unto itself, and the sooner Canadians, and some in Alberta, realize that, the sooner we can get down to some serious and constructive work in this country).
Alberta Tories leadership: Gary Mar takes risky gamble on health care
Albertans, like all other Canadians, have been calling for a reform of their public health care system for ages. Long wait times, inefficient and costly administration, people suffering in tremendous pain for years until they are finally scheduled for surgery, and people dying while waiting for care – these are just some of the problems Canadians are no longer prepared to put up with.
Orman claims to be victim of cyber attack
Alberta Tories leadership candidate Rick Orman claims that he’s become the target of a cyber attack, implying that it may have originated with one of the competing campaigns. He says that his campaign mailouts have been marked as spam, thus preventing many of the intended recipients from ever seeing his information.
Alberta Liberals ‘legitimized’ by hard-right conservatives
Time was when the Alberta Liberals were maligned as a party not fit to be voted for by real Albertans. As recently as during the last provincial election campaign, the Tories tried to pin the blame for the 1980s National Energy Program on the Alberta Liberals, thus revealing the disdain in which they hold Albertan voters, thinking that they could peddle such an oddly revised history lesson without anyone catching on. Just in case you’re not up on your history: the party that brought financial and economic ruin and personal hardship to Alberta in the 1980s through the National Energy Program was the Liberal Party of Canada, then led by Pierre Trudeau. Provincial Liberals, who are not affiliated with the federal party, had nothing to do with it.
$40,000 to vie for Alberta Tories leadership – money well spent?
The other day marked the deadline for anyone hoping to become the new leader of the Alberta Tories. That was the day when leadership candidates needed to have a minimum of 500 signatures and an entry fee of $40,000. By the end of the deadline, there were six candidates, but Albertans are torn: should they stick it out with the 40-year-old party, or should they go with one of the other options, such as the Wildrose Alliance, Alberta Liberals or the new Alberta Party.
Problems mounting for Liberals
With each passing day, the once-proud Liberal Party seems to be becoming more and more fractured.
Canada Votes: Good leaders, like good teachers, are hard to find
Back in high school, we had several good teachers, and also many lousy ones. One of the good ones, my math teacher for most of my high school years, was extremely strict and demanding, but students still liked him, because we could sense his passion for his subject. With an ideal balance between authority and competence, he earned our respect.
Labour and Miliband: How the wrong leader can sink a party
Anyone who thinks that politics is about ideas, policies and ideology is delusional. It’s the people who make up and lead a party that decide its fate on election day. By all accounts, Britain’s Labour Party has just hedged its chances of losing the next election big time.
David Cameron and his Coalition of Merry Tory and LibDem Men can breathe a sigh of relief, provided new Labour leader Ed Miliband remains at his party’s helm until after the next call to the polls.