Roundup: The other ruthless dictator

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NDP-turned-Green MP Bruce Hyer is warning that Thomas Mulcair will be as dictatorial of a Prime Minister as Stephen Harper if elected. To which I would reply “quite possibly.” While some of Hyer’s criticisms are that Mulcair will say anything to get elected, that’s fairly standard practice across a host of different parties and even leaders – and don’t think the Greens are much better, if you looked at how Kevin Milligan eviscerated their election platform’s costing over the weekend. But Hyer does have a point in that Mulcair’s NDP has been a very tightly controlled ship. Iron-fisted in many respects, but it does go back to the 2011 election, when Jack Layton was still in charge. The moment the election was over and they had accidentally won that wave of Quebec seats, with all of those paper candidates, the party went into communications lockdown and messaging became even more tightly controlled than that of the Conservatives. The NDP went so far as to centralise their communications media relations – something even the Conservatives hadn’t done, with their famous control from the centre. This carried on through the leadership and was adopted by Mulcair when he became leader, so it’s not just him that’s doing it – it’s the party’s entire apparatus. And it’s not like the NDP was this bastion of free voting even when Layton was in charge – MPs were routinely punished for stepping out of line with their votes, be it with QP slots taken away, or what have you. Solidarity was enforced, much as it continues to be under Mulcair. While I find José Nunez-Melo’s sour grapes at his nomination not being protected to be a bit rich, it does bear reminding that there is a darker side to the NDP that they don’t like to show or talk about, but it is there if you pay attention, even if Hyer is trying to pin it on Mulcair personally.

On the campaign:

  • Harper announced plans to expand the Canadian Forces Reserves (what unmet recruiting targets?) and dug in on the Duffy defence denials.
  • Thomas Mulcair was in Niagara Falls to promise $30 million in tourism promotion (never mind that tourism seems dependent largely on the exchange rate).
  • Justin Trudeau was in Ajax, Ontario to reiterate the party’s child benefit policies, and noted that he doesn’t believe in formal coalitions.
  • Here is the Monday campaign round-up.

Good reads:

  • In the Duffy trial, it seems that Donald Bayne is unable to determine sarcasm in emails. (Cobb and Kady O’Malley liveblog recaps).
  • So NDP “star candidate” Andrew Thomson may not have actually balanced the Saskatchewan budget after all.
  • Here is Mike Moffatt’s full number-crunching of the NDP’s federal minimum wage proposal, and the number of people it will affect (spoiler: far less than claimed).
  • The Conservative pledge to start counting foreigners in the housing market is starting to look a little half-baked.
  • It costs more to administer the EI fund for parental benefits for the self-employed than it pays out.
  • Here’s an interesting discussion on parliamentary privilege regarding court testimonies in a writ period.
  • Martin Patriquin and Susan Delacourt wax about coalitions.
  • Colby Cosh is having trouble finding the actual scandal in the Duffy trial (and he’s got a point).

Odds and ends:

Conservative MP Mark Adler is trying to get votes by billing himself as the “son of Holocaust survivor,” which a lot of people don’t appreciate.

Public servants have been cautioned about using social media during the election.

Oh look – the government’s “hard cap” of $3 million in support to the Victims of Communism Memorial has surpassed $4.2 million.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/633446063974682626

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/633446107390021632

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/633446118437720066