Tag Archives: Liberal Leadership

Meeting George Takach

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On my travels last weekend, I wound up at an event that was attended by a number of Nova Scotia Liberals, and along the way, had my first encounter with bottom-tier would-be Liberal leadership candidate George Takach (who at last check has not officially declared). Takach, a Toronto-based lawyer who hasn’t run for public office before but has apparently worked on Parliament Hill, was out trying to meet some prospective supporters at the event (as the current rules now allow anyone who totally swears they’re not a member of any other party – really! – to vote for the next Liberal leader). I should note that Takach doesn’t appear to have a website in place for his putative leadership bid either – just a Twitter account and a Facebook page, neither of which actually has a biography. That, I had to find through a Google search and came up with the page from his law firm. So, yeah, points for having a place to drive prospective supporters with a coherent platform or policy ideas in place. Or not.

Just as an observation, let me say that Takach wasn’t exactly working the crowd. Even among a smaller group of fairly prominent local Liberal organisers – you know, the kinds of grassroots organisers who have networks and who can mobilise people to support a leadership campaign – he didn’t pro-actively engage them and waited for people to come to him. And when people asked for his leadership “elevator pitch,” he got bogged down along the way numerous times, not to mention made his foundational platforms – like school meal programmes to help kids get a good start in life – things aren’t actually areas of federal responsibility. Oops.

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Roundup: Clerical errors and attack ads

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The Supreme Court heard arguments about the Etobicoke Centre election yesterday, and the crux seem to hang on whether “clerical errors” are enough to overturn votes and “disenfranchise” Canadians. But how many errors are too many and how many should we let slide before it becomes “fatal” to the integrity of the election? It’s actually a weighty issue to ponder, and they have reserved judgement. While it’s supposed to be handled expeditiously, the point was also made that the remedy – a by-election – is time-sensitive, and so one can hope that the Court will be swift in its ruling. (I offered some of my own thoughts as to the arguments here).

The NDP launched their own attack ads in response to those the Conservatives launched against Thomas Mulcair. The crux of the message: Harper created the recession, the deficit, and is now making cuts to the vulnerable. It’s all pretty much demonstrably untrue and contradictory, but since when were attack ads supposed to be entirely factual when the intent is to cast doubt on your opponent? James Moore was quick to respond via the Twitter Machine: “Hope is better than fear.” Touché.

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Roundup: Buh-bye Bev Oda

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Bev Oda, embattled cabinet minister and fan of limousines and nice hotels, has announced her resignation from both cabinet and the Commons, dated July 31st. The PMO release said that she’s leaving Parliament, which seems to preclude a Senate appointment, but never say never. Not surprisingly, NDP MP Charlie Angus was quick to crow about it. While the resignation was handled quietly, in the Harper Government™ style, we should also remember that Oda did do a few good things, like keep Canada’s commitments to the Global Fund when other countries weren’t, and not only that but ensured our contributions were sent in early.

Jason Kenney insists that there was no backtracking, just “clarification” on those refugee health benefits.

The government wants you to know there’s still no “iPod tax,” and no copyright levy on SD memory cards either.

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Roundup: Rumours with dubious evidence

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The Senate is ensuring that three contentious bills get passed before it rises for the summer, fuelling rumours that Harper is planning to prorogue Parliament in the fall and start a new session. The problem with this “evidence” for that theory is that the three bills in question have some external timelines – the budget implementation for obvious reasons (and the Senate traditionally sits until such a bill gets passed regularly, despite this particular bill’s particular circumstances), the refugee reform bill has a deadline of June 30th unless the previously passed refugee reform bill comes into force, which the government is trying to supersede, and the copyright reform bill is at the centre of our negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As far as theories go, the evidence doesn’t actually fit. Nice try, though.

The Military Police Complaints Commission report into the Afghan detainee issue was finally released yesterday, and it absolves the military police of wrongdoing. That said, it was very limited in scope, and it had to devote an entire chapter to the government stonewalling of information and it raised the spectre of the Somalia Inquiry along the way (bonus 1994 CBC video here with Young Stephen Harper again contradicting Prime Minister Stephen Harper).

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Roundup: Green infrastructure dollars diverted

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It looks like the Conservatives have been using their billion dollar “green infrastructure fund” to help fund pipelines and forestry projects. Liberal John McCallum has asked the Auditor General to investigate the fund, but hasn’t received word yet.

The government has also spent over $86,000 in rebranding the “Harper government” in government communications. It’s not really a big number in context, but age of austerity, and all of that.

Thomas Mulcair defended his comments on the resource sector at the provincial NDP convention in Saskatchewan last weekend. According to Mulcair, people from Saskatchewan believe the polluter should pay, which is what he’s trying to say. Mulcair, meanwhile, joined forces to Pauline Marois to slam Harper as being anti-Quebec in the wake of the “secret meeting” with Mulroney. Harper’s Quebec lieutenant, Christian Paradis, says his government is ready to work with the PQ if they get elected. Oh, how I wish there was a QP today for this to come up in.

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Roundup: Pushback, rhetoric and hyperbole

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Some Conservative ministers are quietly concerned that the pushback over the omnibus budget bill will mean that it will become harder for them to get away with such tactics in the future. Aaron Wherry tries to put it into context with fears in omnibus legislation past, and reminds us that the price for democracy is eternal vigilance. Here’s a look at the rhetoric and hyperbole that has accompanied the bill and the vote-a-thon.

After years of delays, Stephen Harper announced that Canada will be building a new Windsor-Detroit bridge.

A BC Superior court has struck down the ban on assisted suicide. The federal government is reviewing the decision, but will likely appeal, especially as a private member’s bill on the subject was defeated only a couple of years ago (which really isn’t surprising considering how afraid Parliamentarians are of making important decisions and wanting the courts to do it for them so that they can shift the blame for any fall-out).

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Roundup: The vote-a-thon rolls along

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The omnibus budget bill amendment vote-a-thon is currently underway in the House of Commons. Actual voting stated at 1 am, and will continue likely for 24 hours, give or take.  Andrew Coyne sees the virtue in the vote-a-thon, as one of the tools that the opposition has to bloody the government if only a little bit, which we need to see more of if we really respect democracy.

As you may have heard, Bob Rae officially announced that he’s not seeking the leadership of the party, but will stay on as interim leader until the convention, which will happen in April. And in a rare move in this place, he ended his speech/press conference with a few lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet XXV. Susan Delacourt looks at some of the possible factors of the decision. All eyes are now on Justin Trudeau, who has admitted to feeling pressure to run, but he’s still saying no for now. Pundit’s Guide looks at lessons that the Liberals should learn from the NDP leadership.

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My two cents on the Liberal leadership question

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I know everybody is chiming in today on the Liberal leadership given Bob Rae’s announcement this morning that he wouldn’t be running, but I figured I’d give my own two cents – just because.

Rae’s decision not to run was probably best for the party, regardless of the promise he’d made and which he would have duly – and dare I say appropriately – been criticised for breaking. Rather, it’s because of the need for new blood at the top, and as good of a performer in the Commons as Rae is, his running would have represented a hanging on of the “old guard” of the party as it currently stands, given his previous leadership bids, and the “Rae camp” that still exists within the party, and all of that. This move clears the slate, and there are no pre-existing camps now playing out new psychodramas. Well, for the moment anyway. Never underestimate the Liberal capacity for new or renewed psychodrama.

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Roundup: Prepare for marathon voting

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And so begins the week where it all happens. All of those marathon votes, as many as the Speaker is determined to allow (the number of which we should know by around noon today).

Another leaking pipeline in Alberta has premier Alison Redford in damage control mode, professing confidence in the measures in place to deal with leaks as they happen, but critics say that there is too much industry self-reporting that needs to be addressed.

Preston Manning calls Thomas Mulcair a hypocrite for not making his “polluter pay” and internalising environmental cost ideas apply to Quebec’s hydro sector, which flooded forest areas the size of Lake Ontario.

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Roundup: Up to 579 consecutive votes upcoming

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While you’re enjoying your weekend, give pause for the poor clerks in the Commons spending their weekends preparing for report stage voting for the omnibus budget bill. You see, the Bloc has some 22 substantive amendments, Elizabeth May has some 330 amendments tabled, and of the 503 deletion amendments the Liberals submitted and the 506 that the NDP did, well, there’s a lot to go through. Peter Van Loan says that 579 of those don’t overlap, but we need to see how those amendments will be grouped together before the marathon of votes begins sometime next week.

There are new concerns around what happened in that senior’s residence poll in Etobicoke Centre in the last election, as a third version of events surfaces.

The CBC takes a look at the weakening of civilian oversight and the increasing influence of lobbyists with military procurement – especially when it comes to the F-35s.

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