Categories: Need to know

Rebagliati enters politics

The former Olympic snowboarder will seek the Liberal nomination in Okanagan-Coquihalla

by macleans.ca on Friday, October 23, 2009 5:52pm - 21 Comments

Ross Rebagliati, the Canadian Olympic snowboarder best known for briefly losing and subsequently regaining his gold medal after drug tests revealed traces of marijuana in his system, is entering politics. The former Olympian announced Friday he would seek the Liberal nomination in the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding in central B.C. Should he win the right to campaign under the Liberal banner—so far, no one is running against him—Rebagliati will face a formidable opponent in an upcoming election: International Trade Minister Stockwell Day. Rebagliati cited pretty much every issue under the sun as motivating his entry into politics—jobs, healthcare, childcare, sports, a healthy lifestyle, native issues, homelessness, the environment—but knows his past association with pot is likely to come up in a campaign. “I think the issue has been dealt with,” he says, “and I feel like I’ve been able to prove my character over the years.”

Vancouver Sun

Tags: Canada

http://twitter.com/pato31 @pato31

good for him!
knick

Wonder what kind of negative ads they'll run against him. . .
Hope he gives Stock a run for his money.
fuddleduddle

if he wants to get into politics why didn't he choose a riding he can win, there is no way he will beat stockwell day who received 60% of the votes last time ..nickelbag better stick with what he knows best, snowboarding and bongs
Terren

Go Ross!
Canadian

I hope he gets the nomination….it will be fun to tear him apart as a drug addict….
Bob

I bet he'll be hoping that no party pictures from up at Whistler suddenly show up.
fuddleduddle

why doesn't he run for the marijuana party?
connie

Ha, Why he picks this riding? NO way he can win. impossuble.
Liberals? What they are thinking?
http://intensedebate.com/people/TwoYen TwoYen

Healthy lifestyle? Sorry. Marijuana is not on my healthy list.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok SeanStok

Nor is alcohol. But there's a lot of pickled livers in Ottawa.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP PhilCP

Speaking of vices, I'm hoping that Rahim Jaffer gets back into politics, although I wonder if the CPC is still prepared to accept him. If so, maybe he could run in place of Stockwell Day, that might create some interesting election forums….

http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok SeanStok

I can see the comedy sketch of their all candidates' meeting writing itself.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP PhilCP

Revision 1: Good point. There are many things that still mystify me after all these years, and one of them is why society accepts (at least to a large extent) alcohol and its consequences but not marijuana and its consequences.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok SeanStok

I don't happen to think either are great practice, in terms of routine use, but I'm completely libertarian about decriminalizing all drugs

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Anybody at the announcement? Did he, um, enter politics on a high note?
chong

why should we vote for nicelbagliati?? ? uhhh can't remember
Dick Richards

Three reasons why this is good for the liberals (even though he probably won't win the seat)

1) It will force Stockwell Day to spend more time in his own riding and less time on the road campaigning nationally

2) It just became a little harder for Stephen Harper to play the "I love Canada but my opponents don't" card

3) If anything bombs at the 2010 Olympic, Ignatieff has his pit-bull

and a 4th reason for added measure, Rebagliati is going to be a lot harder person to attack then some may think (especially if you're a politicians planning on using that "I love Canada…" card) so when he says "I don't think it's a good idea to throw people in jail for possession of small amounts of pot" (as any sensible person outside of the Reform party would) it will be a lot harder for the Conservative attack machine to bring him down, and thus ensuring there might actually be real critical analysis of future Conservative "tough on crime" bills destined to bankrupt the state.
http://intensedebate.com/people/TwoYen TwoYen

Are you serious? Rebagliati is an interesting footnote, but will have no significant impact on Day's campaign.
hosertohoosier

1. No it won't, and its not like Day does much national campaigning anyway. Harper prefers to hide Day.
2. So because a single Liberal candidate in a no-hope riding won an Olympic medal (while Ignatieff was not living in Canada), Harper can no longer criticize Ignatieff's absence effectively?
3. Well yes assuming that Ignatieff even wants to give Rebeliati centre-stage. Is Ross up to the task? Is he a great speaker? Does he have say, a seat in parliament? Does he have a lot of experience?
4. As for the pot thing, you do recall just a year ago, how candidates were thrown out by the far more pro-pot NDP. The merits of legalizing pot aside (and you may note that under the present Conservative government it remains easier to get pot in Vancouver than Amsterdam), just because people oppose an American-style war on pot doesn't mean they want pothead MP's. Particularly in a riding where 60% of people habitually vote for the Reform/Conservatives.

Also, what has Rebagliati done since 1998? Does anybody know?
je suis un stylo

pwn3d.
Dick Richards

Day is only hidden away from provinces east of Manitoba and big cities outside of Alberta, that being said, he's still an important part of the Conservative national campaign (specifically rural ridings)

Harper can criticize Ignatieff for simply working in the US or Britain all he likes, but within all of these asinine attacks, there is a "he secretly hates Canada" message that he's going to have a harder time sticking to Ignatieff now that an Olympic gold medalist is endorsing him (at the very same time Harper is trying wrap the Olympic rings around himself as a sign of patriotism.)

Again, he's a "stick-free magnet", he is the logical person to fire the drug allegations at, but unlike those NDP candidates, people in BC and Canada like him too much to let him be thrown under the bus. The conservatives will find out soon, that you can't attack him without attacking the people he represented.