They're just reimagined when Stephen Harper wins electionsWhen Stephen Harper managed to defeat the incumbent Liberals in the 2005/06 federal election, it didn't take very long for speculation of a left-of-centre coalition to defeat him and ensure that the Conservatives could never govern again.Less than two days after the election, the Real News Network featured Murray Dobbin musing on the possibility of an immediate left of centre coalition to govern in Harper's stead."There's real pressure on [Stephane] Dion personally to try and figure out a way to force Harper's hand and have a vote of confidence," Dobbin insisted. "Defeat Harper, and then form a government with support from the NDP and the Bloc [Quebecois].""That is still a possibility," an optimistic-sounding Dobbin mused.In the...
Elizabeth May plays left-of-centre voters a tuneThe more the Canadian public is introduced to Elizabeth May, the more and more apparent it becomes that she lives significant portions of her political life trying to live out a fantasy.She fantasized she could beat Peter MacKay -- she didn't. She fantasized that her party could elect MPs -- even the Green party's first MP, Blair Wilson was defeated by a Conservative candidate.Now, in the wake of a stronger Conservative minority government, May is peddling yet another fantasy -- that of a vast left-wing coalition to unseat the Conservative party.May's fantastical model closely resembles that unsuccessfully peddled by Reform party leader Preston Manning during the 1990s -- one wherein each party would decline to run candidates against one...
Ujjal Dosanjh wants to be Liberal leaderIn the wake of the Liberal party's defeat in the 2008 federal election, one thing is almost certain: the Grits will be searching for a new leader.And contenders are already lining up to -- in Jack Layton's parlance -- apply for that particular job.Former Premier of New Brunswick and Ambassador to the United States Frank McKenna has already expressed some interest.Now, so has Ujjal Dosanjh, the former NDP premier of British Columbia, and the man currently embroiled in a recount in his fiercely-contested riding of Vancouver South."I rule out nothing,” Dosanjh replied when asked if he was considering making a run at the Liberal leadership.In political parlance, that usually means he probably will.More interestingly still, Dosanjh wants to do so...
Have the Liberals not learned from their latest defeat? "We have to broaden our coalition and bring in some of the New Democrats. And some of the New Democrats have to begin to think: is the country better off today with Mr. Layton having 10 more seats?" (Link) One of the reasons why the Liberals lost is that under Stéphane Dion the party had moved too far to the left. So why would they consider "the idea of an alliance, formal or otherwise, between their centrist party and the left-of-center New Democratic Party", as some Liberals are said to...
Rahim Jaffer sent packingOne of Canada's underrated political giants is out of work today, as the NDP's Linda Duncan has managed to unseat Rahim Jaffer in Edmonton-Strathcona."Every corner of this community tonight said they wanted a different voice for Alberta and I'm ready to give it," Duncan announced. "There will be a real load on me to speak for the alternative voice in Alberta."At one point, Jaffer had actually delivered a victory speech while enjoying a 1,000 vote lead. Duncan closed the gap, however, and managed to emerge victorious by 400 votes.Duncan, an environmental lawyer, will face numerous challenges in the new Parliament.Perhaps most paramount among them will be finding a way to make the government responsive to her environmental concerns. Not only will she be dealing with...
by Werner Patels Thirty-seven days and about $300 million later, Canadians awake to a "new" government in Ottawa. The Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper have built on their previous minority position and added a substantial number of seats, just a tad short of a majority. The Liberals, meanwhile, have seen the biggest decline in support in at least twenty years, placing Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's head squarely and firmly on the chopping block. The Greens have failed yet again to elect a single MP, which will shut them out of the televised leaders' debates no matter how loudly...
This is a major surprise (and good news as it confirms my endorsement): NDP candidate Linda Duncan has defeated long-time Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer in Edmonton-Strathcona, making the riding the only one in Alberta not to go to the Conservatives in Tuesday's federal election. Albertans vote with common sense, which is why an NDP candidate can be elected in the "Tory fortress" but not a Liberal. Congratulations, Linda! Well deserved, indeed. I told Jack Layton in Montréal last year (the very night before Thomas Mulcair's win in Outremont) that I was confident that Linda would pull it off. Yours...
Michael Byers fails to bring down Liberal giantAmong the official results available this evening: Michael Byers has lost his bid to enter the House of Commons, coming in third to incumbent (and victor) Liberal Hedy Fry and Conservative Lorne Mayencourt.Fry took home just under 35% of the vote. Mayencourt slid in at second with just under 25%, and Byers claimed 22%.It seems that Byers just wasn't able to swing voters in Vancouver Centre with his promises to shut down the tar sands and to shut down the evil private health clinics.Byers has already blamed his electoral loss on the financial crisis.In the end, the excuses will count for very little. Byers just isn't ready for federal politics, pure and simple. At the very least, this particular candidate -- who really has offered very little...
Conservatives reelected with minority governmentAs Canada heads into the dying hours of October 14, 2008, Stephen Harper's Conservative party has claimed a second straight minority government -- the third straight minority for the country.This is exactly what Harper predicted when he called the election, even if it isn't quite what he simply must have been hoping for.Preliminary results -- a few races across the country will almost certainly go into recount -- have the Conservatives holding 145 seats, the Liberals with 76 and the NDP with 37. The Bloc Quebecois have 48 seats and the Green party came up empty.Harper had to work very hard to justify this election, considering that he had to violate his own fixed election date legislation to even call it. He'll still have some work to do...
The following post is being offered as an unofficial part of an election day blogburst. As such, it's a good deal more personal than most of the posts offered here at The Nexus.Enjoy.One of the unique challenges for many Post Secondary Students in this country is living away from home.For myself, since my journey in acquiring a University Education began in 2004 -- which will likely be remembered as a long year without NHL hockey -- the one thing that has remained more or less constant in my life is the presence of politics.For those in the know, The Nexus was launched during that year in 2004 as a side project to self-publish views that may have been judged too pragmatically extreme for the University of Alberta Gateway. Over time, of course, things have changed dramatically. The Nexus...
The Calgary Herald has been tracking opinion through one of its online forums: Of the 17 people who firmed up how they're going to vote in the last week of the campaign, 41 per cent picked the Greens, 24 per cent are headed to the NDP, and 18 per cent plan to back the Conservatives. The Greens are also the top choice for 34 voters who haven't yet made up their minds. Stephane Dion's Liberals, however, trail all parties among the survey's decided and undecided voters. That poll, of course is anything but scientific and representative, but it's quite...
NDP determined to add to their Quebec caucus of oneThe NDP's deputy leader, Thomas Mulcair, believes the party is on the cusp of a Quebec breakthrough -- perhaps eight to 12 ridings.They believe they can do this by courting soft social democratic Bloc Quebecois votes in numerous ridings, including Gatineau.In fact, Mulcair has looked to his own seemingly-unlikely triumph in Outremont as the measuring stick for potential success there. “Your numbers are almost identical to mine,” Mulcair recently told Francoise Boivin, the NDP's candidate there.Boivin herself is optimistic about her prospects for victory over Bloc Quebecois incumbent Richard Nadeau, and she has her list of priorities for the riding.“We need doctors in Gatineau, and it’s more urgent than anywhere else in Quebec. The...
the NDP and the grits are always whining about American interference in Canada's affairs. The NDP has brought in the left wing loon, Michael Moore to campaign for them. He of course attacked HM Pm Stephen Harper. I guess its ok for the grits and the dippers to bring in Americans, as long as the American is a left wing loon. The utter hypocrisy of it all. This should be very helpful to the Tories. ( h/t Blazing Catfur)...
by Werner Patels Canadians heading to the polls on October 14 do not really have much of a choice, because there is not one leader who really stands out – except, perhaps, NDP leader Jack Layton, who has displayed real pizzazz in this campaign and the ability to connect with real Canadians and their main concerns, unparalleled by any of the other leaders, for which he may yet be rewarded with the job as leader of the Official Opposition . Still, of the mediocre-to-outright-poor choices for the top job in the country available, one emerges as the clear and...
One of NDP leader Jack Layton's recurring themes in this election campaign has been Stephen Harper's "$50-billion giveaway in corporate tax cuts". If there's anything we have learned, it's "It's the economy, stupid". But equally important is: "Keep it simple, stupid." When Layton speaks of cancelling the corporate tax cuts, Harper immediately counters that it would be insane to saddle companies with an extra $50 billion in the current economic climate. Maybe this take is overly simplistic, but I doubt that the reversal of the cuts would result in companies being slammed with $50 billion. Here's why: No matter...
In a pair of new campaign ads released today, "Jack Layton and the NDP" hit back at both the Liberals whom they hope to supplant as the Official Opposition, and the Conservatives whom they want to prevent from winning a majority government.These two spots may be the most creative of all the ads released during this election campaign (at the very least, they give the Conservatives' "Dion gamble" ads a run for their money). They feature Jack Layton delivering a short message while animated chalk figures appearing (likely quite strategically) on the right side of the screen.The first spot addresses the economy, and stars Stephen Harper bequeathing a gift of $50 billion to a corporate boardroom:The board members celebrate as Harper deposits a bag stuffed with cash on their table.The image...
With the Liberals nearly out of contention to win the 2008 federal election, they find themselves in a very precarious position: unable to form the next government, and possibly at risk of being supplanted as the Official Opposition by the NDP.Of course it wouldn't do to look as if they're simply throwing in the towel and fighting for second place. So while the Liberal party's newest ad focuses mostly on the NDP, it also takes its obligatory shot at the Tories.Entitled "The Choice on Canada's Water", the spot promises that a Liberal government would protect Canada's drinking water, clean up Canadian water ways and ban bulk exports of fresh water.The party notes that Prime Minister Stephen Harper refuses to ban bulk exports of fresh water, but then actually claims that the NDP is worse...
I endorsed Linda Duncan a while ago, because I think that we need people like her (i.e., those committed to education issues) in the House of Commons. Since I don't live in her Edmonton riding, I won't be able to vote for her personally, but the good news is that a Liberal, daveberta, has now announced that he'll be voting for her: After some long and difficult thinking, I have decided that I will be voting for Edmonton-Strathcona NDP candidate Linda Duncan. It seems that Linda's momentum is growing, and she may even have a real chance of winning...
Epoch Times declines to ask Michael Byers about his China dilemmaIn the most recent issue of the Epoch Times Michael Byers, the NDP candidate in Vancouver Centre, is profiled.Over the course of the interview, Byers is asked about his dedication to human rights. What transpires is as follows:"Epoch Times - You’re known as a strong human rights advocate….Michael Byers - Nationally and internationally, because I’ve spent most of my life working on international law, international politics, human rights elsewhere are very important to me. Obviously, we’re talking about the genocide in Darfur, in Sudan, for instance, or the repression that exists in Burma. Or the human rights questions in the People’s Republic of China. These are issues that matter to me. I don’t see them as...
bob rae says that Jack Layton is Ralph Nder. He urges the grits to attack the NDP. Grit scaremongering has failed this time and now the grits are just desperate.Liberals need to shift attacks to NDP: RaePublished: Friday, October 03, 2008SASKATOON - Liberal strategy needs to shift its attacks to the NDP in the federal campaign's final days, according to MP Bob Rae, who spent an hour pumping up Saskatoon Grits Friday.'(NDP Leader) Jack (Layton) might think he's Barack Obama, but he really isn't. He's Ralph Nader. The effect of voting for his candidates in most ridings is to perpetuate Conservative rule,' Liberal candidate Bob Rae said Friday.Photograph by : Peter Redman/National PostARTICLE TOOLSPrinter friendlyE-mailFont:The former New Democrat premier of Ontario split his attacks between...
This election is like no other. After two and a half years of a minority government, all the parties have been in campaign mode, always having had to expect an election call any day. This is probably why most voters had their votes already locked in even before the writ was dropped in early September. Consequently, each party has held steady in the various polls, more or less, with Liberal leader Stéphane Dion finding it next to impossible to shed his negative image. The televised debates, therefore, likely matter a lot less in this campaign than in any other....
Marc Lebuis Salim Mansur Tarek Fateh Raheel RazaI attended The conference I told you about yesterday, as did Barbara Kay. The room was full and the speeches by the thre people who under death sentence by jihadi fatwas were amazing. They fully explained the jihadi threat to our political institutions. Tarek Fateh an ex member of the NDP quit the party over its open collabaration with the jihadis. In Quebec we have an NDP jihadi running, Samira Laouni in Bourassa. She is a fan of sharia law and an organizer of the visit of the viscious jihadi yvonne ridley and is protected by Outremont's MP Thomas Mulcair.Salim Mansur ( who has denounced the NDP collaboration with the jihadis before)...
The latest attempt by the Liberals to attack Stephen Harper is to liken him to George Bush. Red Tory, who despite his screen persona is a Liberal, doesn't think much of this strategy: Yes, it's another yawning rehash of the tiresome, painfully unimaginative "Stephen Harper = George Bush" meme that you could quite easily have whipped up with hardly a second thought (or possibly in your sleep) two years ago. But never mind that. For that, he's been pummelled by the very same people who used to be the top-tier members of his personal posse. As anyone can see,...
Columnist Jeffrey Simpson is so predictable. There is a guy who professes himself a non-voter ("pundits don't vote"), yet he never hides his true Liberal colours – and they shine in bright and overly partisan shades. He recently wrote yet another anti-NDP column, which was so disrespectful of NDP leader Jack Layton that it caught the attention of the Progressive Economics Forum. My comment to the Forum was this: There used to be a time when I believed in that dichotomy of right v. left. But then I realized there is really only right v. wrong, or reasonable/commonsensical v....
During the course of the 2008 federal election, NDP leader Jack Layton has run into some troubles over an alleged deal he struck with Marc Emery, the party has had some pot-related troubles.Over the course of the campaign, Layton has shed two candidates over drug-related issues.Layton himself denies the deal. But one particular individual -- clearly a Marijuana party activist -- takes exception to his denial.Posting videos on YouTube under the name LyingLayton, one individual has taken it upon himself to reveal the depth of the alleged collaboration between Layton and Emery.In one video, "LyingLayton" inserts numerous "fact checks" balloons into a video of Layton being asked by Jane Taber to comment on the allegations during an appearance on CTV's Question Period:Another video features...
So far, the only exciting thing in this election has been the distinct possibility that Jack Layton could be the next leader of the Official Opposition – it would add a new and different flavour to the House of Commons, for sure. Other than that, though, the election campaign has been dragging on and on, turning on gaffes and wild accusations that have absolutely nothing to do with what voters are concerned about. So, we saw a puffin drop its excrement on a political leader's shoulder. Big deal. Some candidates have had to resign over controversial statements, conduct or...
This is an interesting story: "Yasmin Ratansi's statement at a Liberal rally today that the Prime Minister 'does not really like women' demonstrates just how desperate the Liberal Party has become during this election campaign. They will say anything to try to win votes." If this is what the Liberals meant when they said that they were going to step up the pace of their campaign, then it's definitely game over for them. It's hard not to agree with the Tories on this one: this really shows how desperate the Liberals have become. I am a firm believer in...
I firmly believe that Bob Rae was a disater as premier. he left a massive deficit and almost destroyed Ontario. rae has guaranteed that the NDP will not be in power in Ontario again for a very long time. Apparently the New Strong agree with me. Except layton and his friends also want to spend wildly and increase taxes.At the back of the room as Layton carried on in full and happy flight, an NDP operative plugged away on a blackberry while enlightening an inky wretch. “What the press doesn't get is that a lot of the people running this campaign learned their lessons working in provincial NDP governments across this country when we had to accept the real consequences of paying down the debt during the '90s. We've learned how to win and more importantly we've learned how to fail,...