Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

BTC: Dominic LeBlanc, a man of some wit

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 2:04am - 30 Comments

Dominic LeBlanc has not appeared here as regularly as some—he’s generally one of the opposition’s finer performers—but his mentions have at least been for mildly amusing reasons. Like this, from October 2007. Arguably the funniest moment of Canada’s 39th Parliament (with all apologies to Peter Van Loan’s oeuvre).

“For reasons unknown, the Liberal backbencher turned to the Speaker at one point on Thursday and asked, ‘Wajid Khan’s hairpiece, is that a prop?’ Then, to the delight of his colleagues he proclaimed, ‘He’s hiding something under the rug’ and ‘Just sweep that under the rug.’”

All right, so not quite comedic genius. But sitting in the gallery one can’t get too selective, lest one lose all hope.

There are also a couple pieces here on LeBlanc’s attempts to conduct a proper press conference—Technical Difficulties and Stick to the Facts. Feel free to extrapolate from them great meaning for his Prime Ministerial ambitions.

Tags: Dominic LeBlanc

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keith by the Bruce

‘Wajid Khan’s hairpiece, is that a prop?’
What can we expect him to say about Montreal resident conservative candidate for next election ? http://www.skyreporter.com/ Next, where will Karzai’s former legal Rasputin turn up ? Pakistan, Dubai – or Montreal, Canada? (former Attorney General of Afghanistan)
john g

You consider making fun of somebody’s baldness funny?

Aaron, is there anything that ANY Liberal can say or do that would somehow offend you?
Andrew

john, it’s not mocking the baldness, it’s mocking the flimsy attempt to hide the baldness. That is, it’s mocking vanity.
http://bcinto.blogspot.com BCer in Toronto

You consider making fun of somebody’s baldness funny?

Well, not as funny as making fun of someone’s accent or their ethnicity or the ethnicity of their mother, but then again I’m not the Conservative Party of Canada.
boudica

Baldness nonsense aside, I’m more preoccupied with this reoccuring notion that the LPC needs to move center-right to win against the CPC.

Can someone explain that one to me because it sure doesn’t make sense as far as I am concerned. The CPC is already occupying (or at least pretending to for the moment) the center-right. Seems to me that what is needed is a unification of the Left.

Having said that, none of these prospective leaders would carry enough appeal to bring in the Left under the LPC.

With a Manley (dear god…), McKenna or Iggy at its helm, the LPC will be fighting it out with the Tories for that small center right pool of voters, no?
stephen

Boudica,

I agree with you. It seems odd. I wonder if it is a nomenclature issue. They are referring to a person that is centre right in relation to the Liberal Party.

At the end of the day the Lberals need to capture the centre, as all parties need to do to win.

I think all of the pronouncements just show how confused the Liberal party is at the moment abut what it is, what it should be and where it wants to take the country. All of these centre right discussions are about how they can win, the old Natural Governing Party game….this is gone, and they need to find out what they are or they will wither.
john g

boudica, given that the country has only ever been governed by the Libs and the Conservatives, I would submit that the pool of center-right voters is much larger than you think it is.
boudica

The Liberals missed their chance to reinvent themselves around the environment.

What could they possibly define themselves as right now? What could McKenna or Manley bring to the LPC in terms of identity?
Andrew

Hurting the Tories is probably more fruitful than hurting the NDP. Also, many people who voted NDP will come back if an opportunity to oust Harper comes along.

A centre-right candidate can also propose more liberal policies without as much fear of the commie much sticking. It stuck to Dion because the idea of him as a far left candidate was credible. His platform was actually quite centrist, and certainly to the right of PM Paul Martin.
Andrew

‘commie much’ should be ‘muck’
TobyornotToby

The social-fiscal conservative alliance won’t hold forever Boudica and stephen.

Social conservatives want their day in Ottawa and will eventually expect “action” on things like abortion or gay marriage or refusing to pander to Quebec. Eventually Harper will be unable to placate them and either have to say no, or do something that puts his party irrevocably on the right.

And even before that happens, do you think that Conservative MP’s from Alberta or Saskatchewan, left out of cabinet once again will permanently keep their lips zipped? For now they’ve bought into the whole keeping quiet to get a majority strategy, but that won’t hold for another two years.

And Liberals know that while the NDP isn’t a threat to govern, it has a formidable hold on its core support. Cons are actually weaker in the middle because of their core support on the right.
keith by the Bruce

Did Dion not win leadership because the membership was tired of concentrated power in the hands of a few in two factions ? Maybe riding asscociations are right , left or centre depending on the issue ?
Calgary Junkie

It sure is fun speculating about the kinds of problems the new LPC leader will have in reconciling past and present policy postions.
I await with great interest how an Ignatieff or Rae will explain their new position on a carbon tax.

After all, Ignatieff campaigned for leader last time, proposing a carbon tax. I think Rae was sort of against it last time, not sure. But he was put in charge by Dion of creating a policy platform this time. So Rae has only a slightly lesser odor of a carbon tax proponent attached to him as well.

Even if they both disavow a carbon tax, on the grounds that it’s not the right time, because of the economy, the counter-spin from the Tories will be that these guys have a hidden agenda to impose a carbon tax, and use the money to buy carbon credits from China, or some such scary, yet plausible scheme.

After all, there is still the Kyoto elephant in the room. Remember Rodriguez’s “Kyoto Implementation Act”, that Libs were hi-fiving each other when it passed Royal assent ? They complained that Baird hasn’te done nearly enough to meet the requirements of Pablo’s Bill. Which begs the question, “how much MORE will an LPC Environment Minister do and spend on Pablo’s Bill”?
boudica

“Hurting the Tories is probably more fruitful than hurting the NDP.”

Actually Andrew, if one goes after the center-left vote (which is much larger than the center-right), hurting the NDP is necessary in order to get at the Tories.
boudica

“boudica, given that the country has only ever been governed by the Libs and the Conservatives, I would submit that the pool of center-right voters is much larger than you think it is.”

john g, did you miss the last election? The vast majority of voters against the center-right. The only reason why Harper got in again is because of that majority split itself up among 4 parties.
boudica

“The social-fiscal conservative alliance won’t hold forever Boudica and stephen.”

I don’t see why not. Who will they vote for if not for Harper?
http://bcinto.blogspot.com BCer in Toronto

Reform II.
keith by the Bruce

http://progressivecanadian.ca/(reform alliance less )
T. Thwim

Personally, I keep hoping the Greens will come to their senses, ditch May, and turn back from the left/green policies they’ve been pursuing for some realistic conservative policies — with the key word being “conserve”.

However, because May finally got them into the debates, I imagine they’re all quite enamored of her at the moment.
Davey Boy

Pat Martin wants to abolish the penny? The ones made at the Winnipeg Mint? Fascinating!
Andrew

NDP is not centre left, boudica. Are you arguing that the Liberals are to the left of the NDP now?
TobyornotToby

Davey Boy, the mint itself is studying the withdrawal of the penny because it doesn’t want to be blamed for its inefficiencies by its customers. The mint in Winnipeg motsly makes coins for other countries and would likely replace Canadian penny production with more profitable coin lines. But go ahead and pretend that the NDP is unrealistic if that makes you feel superior.
boudica

“NDP is not centre left, boudica. Are you arguing that the Liberals are to the left of the NDP now?”

Huh? No Andrew.

The assumption that I am making is that the Left vote could be rallied to support a strong center-left party just like the Right is apparently supporting Harper who fancies himself as being on the center-right.
Davey Boy

Wow Toby…that’s a whole lot of blah, blah, blah. Especially as I never said anything about the NDP.

Another reader might posit that I was surprised that an MP, any MP really, was recommending that well paying gov’t work move out of his/her community. You should see what happens down here when Canada Post tries to close a post office. The MPs (all parties) all act like its the end of days. Glad you saw through my subterfuge though.

BTW…you might want to visit the Mint out in the ‘Peg (it’s a big red brick building out in St. Boniface, or is that Transcona?) before Pat gets his wish and all the work moves to Ottawa, or offshore. Value for money (literally) and all that.
Andrew

Soft NDP support will come when Harper pisses them off and the Liberals look credible. Hard-core NDP won’t be budged no matter what. I don’t see the point in chasing the NDP vote.

Also, Jack is the most charismatic english leader. I doubt the NDP would be able to replace him when he goes.