Roundup: To Leap or to cleave?

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There are some interesting dynamics shaping up at the NDP convention in Edmonton, which is less about the current tensions over the leadership review vote that Thomas Mulcair will undergo on Sunday, but rather the fact that there appears to be a split developing between the Alberta NDP (and to some extent the New Brunswick arm of the party) and the federal party when it comes to debating the Leap Manifesto. Mulcair himself is in self-preservation mode as he talks about the Manifesto, and promises to live up to it if the membership decides on it, which seems to go back to his particular issues with authenticity because there is no sense of what he believes around it (though he once praised the policies of Margaret Thatcher, so perhaps one could extrapolate from there). Mulcair is now insisting that no, the Manifesto isn’t about shutting down the oil sands or forgoing pipelines, except it pretty much is, with the promise to decarbonise the economy by 2050 – as well as shutting down mining and other extractive industries and tearing up trade agreements under the rubric that they hurt local economies. Mulcair has retreated to the statement that the Manifesto doesn’t explicitly say to leave oil in the ground, but after musing to Peter Mansbridge that he would do everything in his power to go that route if it’s what the party decided, well, the damage has been done, as the Alberta party is distancing themselves, the province’s environment minister calling the federal party’s environmental plan a “betrayal,” and Rachel Notley took to the airwaves to tell Albertans explicitly that she is working to get a pipeline built. The Manifesto’s proponents, however, insist that this is necessary, and that a hard-left turn can win, and cite Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn – never mind that neither has actually won an election, and likely never could given the personal dislike for them among even their own respective parties. (Seriously – Corbyn had a caucus enemies list drawn up). So will a hard-left turn save the party? It all depends on what they want to do, whether they want to return to being only about principle and the “conscience of parliament,” pushing the Liberals to do the right thing, or if they want power and the compromises that come with it. We’ll have to see what the membership decides, and whether Mulcair fits that vision.

Good reads:

  • Here is your handy guide to the NDP convention, including the resolution debates.
  • Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai is slamming his party for raising the membership fee to $25, increasing the perception it’s a party for “white elites.”
  • The Finance Department turned over that information the PBO wanted after all.
  • It sounds like the forthcoming law on assisted dying will be more restrictive than the joint committee report suggested.
  • The government continues to look at the possibility of pardons and an apology for gays and lesbians hounded out of the civil service as well as the military.
  • Visa requirements for Romania and Bulgaria could soon see retaliatory measures, and threaten the Canada-EU trade deal.
  • A lobbyist is helping set up the forthcoming Liberal policy convention, but insists he’s running it above board and has run it all past the Lobbying Commissioner.
  • Kady O’Malley wants the Liberals to reveal who was at that Toronto fundraiser for the justice minister (who was there as an MP and not as a minister, apparently), and wants all parties to open up their donor databases.
  • Stephen Saideman takes on the Conservative talking points about the defence review.
  • More thoughts on Mulcair’s leadership prospects from Scott Reid and Jen Gerson.
  • Andrew Coyne imagines the questionnaire for prospective Conservative leadership candidates – and it’s amazing.

Odds and ends:

Our frigates can now fire precision surface-to-surface missiles, making them more flexible for operations.

The government is still offering few details on what is going on at the National Research Council and the halted restructure plans.