Today’s Canada isn’t what it used to be, or how it was formed historically. For the longest time, the “country” was no more than the sum total of what transpired in the machinations between Upper Canada and New France.
Tag Archives: NDP
Ontario Votes (?): Ontario voters should get a do-over
My 2 cents: Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty had withheld the truth about the economic and fiscal state of the province before having himself re-elected on a lie. With the provincial Tories already having decided that they will vote against the new budget, it’s now up to the NDP to follow through and vote against it too. Ontarians deserve a do-over of last fall’s election – only this time they will know the full truth, thanks to the Drummond report.
Mulcair new NDP leader – what’s next?
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.
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).
Lise St-Denis – jumping from loser to loser
When Quebeckers decided to toss the Bloc Québécois out with the garbage in the last federal election, and make the NDP Quebec’s new party of choice, they didn’t vote for the individual NDP candidates, but for Jack Layton. In fact, voters in the province cared so little about the candidates that they didn’t bother to find out who they were, or whether they even spoke French. Several Dippers were elected in absentia, with one holidaying in Las Vegas during the election campaign and virtually incapable of uttering a single French word.
Canada in 2012
Unlike the United States, the situation in Canada will be “more of the same” for the most part. Canada finally has a stable majority government, so voters won’t be expected to make life-changing decisions for a number of years. Any major, and not-so-major, events, therefore, will happen at the level of opposition parties and the economy.
Lefties never waste an opportunity to prove they can’t be trusted
Here’s why left-wingers have such a hard time almost everywhere in the world today: their often lofty and idealistic words can’t be taken at face value. Many of them spew nonsense (like the typical low-IQ Occupy Calgary protester who said that Alberta should get its electricity from “tidal power”), thinking that others are just as dumb and can’t tell the difference, while others will do and say one thing, but when conservatives, eww, do it, it’s suddenly wrong. It’s such brain droppings and hypocrisy that render lefties thoroughly untrustworthy and unelectable.
Ontario Votes: Another term for McGuinty Liberals would be a disaster
Having lived in Toronto for many years before packing it in and relocating to the “promised land” of Calgary, I still feel a natural bond with the province that I once called home. There are, indeed, many things to love and enjoy about Ontario, but its politics have always been a source of frustration for me. Generally, provincial and municipal politicians in Ontario never quite seem to get it right – that is, they disappoint friends and foes alike.
Coalition of losers?
Fascinating, this. Most of this day has been spent arguing over a possible Liberal-NDP merger. Bob Rae, the interim leader of the Liberal Party, keeps denying the need for his party to look at new options, while a former Liberal PM, Jean Chrétien, keeps stoking the merger fire – no surprise, he’s always been in favour of uniting the two parties since his ouster at the hands of Paul Martin’s supporters; since then, he’s been determined to destroy his own party out of revenge.
Opposition parties need to take a sober look at their future
As sad as NDP leader Jack Layton’s sudden death has been, life must go on, and this is nowhere more true than in politics. Politicians are responsible to their constituents, and they owe it to voters and taxpayers to put personal issues, including grief, aside.
Canada has lost a great human being and politician – Jack Layton
Jack Layton, 1950-2011
When NDP leader Jack Layton addressed a special press conference several weeks ago, to announce that he had been diagnosed with another new cancer and that he would step down until September to focus on his treatment, I took one look at him and thought, “He won’t live long enough to see September. He’s got a few weeks left at best.” I shared this with several people on Twitter in private; I didn’t post it publicly so as not to discourage or demoralize anyone, least of all Jack himself. Unfortunately, as so often, I was proved right, although in this case I would have loved to be wrong. Jack Layton succumbed to his cancer this morning.
Turmel doth protest too much
Jack Layton, leader of the NDP and currently fighting his second battle with cancer, is doubtless in everyone’s prayers. But his interim replacement, Nycole Turmel, is quickly becoming a major target for curses.
NDP becoming mainstream?
At its Vancouver party convention, the NDP had various business to attend to, especially now that it’s the Official Opposition in the Canadian parliament for the first time. With this position comes a claim to respectability, but also an immense number of responsibilities.