The spectre of Stephane Dion

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 1:54 PM - 0 Comments

A New Democrat MP worries that the party might end up with its third choice.

Mr. Brahmi said the current situation reminds him of the 2006 Liberal convention, where Stéphane Dion came from behind to beat Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. He added that at the 1995 NDP leadership convention, Alexa McDonough finished in second place on the first ballot, but still won the crown when Svend Robinson conceded victory.

Mr. Brahmi called on fellow MPs to remind NDP members to “be very careful” about their second choice on their ballots in the one-member, one-vote leadership convention. “I’m behind Thomas Mulcair,” he said. “However, I’d prefer if the winner were Brian Topp instead of everyone’s second choice.”

In this analogy, Paul Dewar and Peggy Nash are potential versions of Stephane Dion, at least insofar as how they might come to win the NDP leadership and at least so long as you assume that Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Topp are running first and second (or second and first). Whether that would then doom Mr. Dewar or Ms. Nash to something like Mr. Dion’s fate is another question entirely.

Mulcair on foreign policy

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 11:38 AM - 0 Comments

As part of his foreign policy platform, Thomas Mulcair focuses on combating the use of rape as a weapon in war.

“Many still see sexual violence as a by-product of war, something that occurs in the uncontrolled aftermath of combat. But increasingly rape and sexual violence are being used as organized weapons to either demoralize an enemy’s civilian population or ethnically cleanse entire countries or regions. In Africa, issues such as the spread of HIV/AIDS have only compounded the problem.” Mulcair said … We can’t let this issue fall by the wayside simply because it has fallen from headlines. Finding effective methods to combat this scourge will take years of focused efforts by partners around the world. That’s why it has to be a priority for our government.”

The futures market

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 10:34 AM - 0 Comments

Alice Funke considers the possible predictive value of yesterday’s NDP fundraising numbers.

If the 2003 NDP leadership race is anything to go by, a candidate’s share of the overall funds being raised for the contest could predict his or her first ballot vote-share to within 1.5 percentage points … That being the case, roughly half-way through the 2011-2012 NDP leadership race, Brian Topp and Thomas Mulcair are leading the pack. With 23.6% and 20.4% of the total take respectively, the two early front-runners represent 44% of all the funds raised to December 31, 2011 between them.

Peggy Nash, Paul Dewar and Nathan Cullen are behind with 15.1%, 13.1% and 12.0% (representing another 40% of all the leadership fundraising to the end of 2011), while the other four registered candidates trail below 7%.

The measure of the race

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 8:53 PM - 0 Comments

As part of its latest filing with Elections Canada, the NDP has tabled fundraising data for its leadership race through Dec. 31, 2011. Alice Funke has the headline totals.

Q4$: Topp $157K | Mulcair $146K | Nash $108K | Dewar $94K | Cullen $86K | Singh $49K | Chisholm $35K | Saganash $17.5K | Ashton $10K

Contrib count to #ndpldr‘s: Mulcair 621 | Dewar 456 | Cullen 442 | Nash 347 | Topp 278 | Singh 110 | Saganash 87 | Chisholm  64 | Ashton 58

Glen McGregor has graphed the numbers between September and December to show the trend over the first few months of the campaign.

The Dewar campaign boasts that it is now up to 721 contributors. The Cullen campaign claimed last week to be over $135,000.

The power of Tolkien and a good cup of coffee

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:35 AM - 0 Comments

Photography by Mitchel Raphael

Conservatives watching every word

During a 2006 Liberal leadership debate, Michael Ignatieff told Stéphane Dion he “didn’t get the job done.” The phrase was picked up as a Conservative attack repeated so often in the House that even Tory cabinet ministers grew sick of saying it, which prompted Stephen Harper to remind them that it was only when they were sick of saying it was it actually penetrating into the general public. These days, Nathan Cullen is thinking a lot about the single wrong phrase that could hang over the heads of NDP leadership hopefuls. “You want to be careful, but at the same time, if you are not ready for sound-bite politics you are not ready for the big time,” he says.

One of the lessons he’s learned from his campaign so far has been the importance of how “you have to focus and not allow drama to enter your inner team.” It was something he read in a book Jack Layton gave him, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory by David Plouffe. These days, Cullen is tackling The Lord of the Rings in French. He has read the books several times in English and says one of the best ways to improve language skills is to read familiar books. Some of the characters’ names have been changed a bit in French. Cullen adds that if during one of the NDP debates there is a Lord of the Rings question in French then he has the leadership “in the bag.” (Or is that Baggins?)

Continue…

Please give

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:30 AM - 0 Comments

Over the weekend, Thomas Mulcair responded to the Glen McGregor’s look at his donation history.

Mulcair said prior to 2011 he contributed to his own riding association or election campaigns because it was the only way to ensure that the money would remain in Quebec and be used to build NDP support in that province.

“We’ve given thousands of dollars to the party since I was elected in 2007,” Mulcair said in an interview with iPolitics. “Prior to the breakthrough (in the May 2011 election), most of the money I would give was to the riding association for obvious reasons – we were cash poor in Quebec and whenever we did fundraising, it went to the federal party.”

Glen returns to the story with more details. Continue…

Live-blogging the NDP Halifax debate

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 12:49 PM - 0 Comments

2:16pm. Candidates get 90 seconds for closing statements. They should get five.

Mr. Mulcair name drops Alexa McDonough, Darrell Dexter and Robert Chisholm. He says the NDP must present a “credible” alternative, move “forwards not backwards” (and always twirling, twirling?) and “reach out to those who haven’t supported us in the past.”

Mr. Dewar quotes Tommy Douglas, says the party must “go to the next level” and “build up the grassroots” so that it can “take on the next 70 seats.” He pitches unity and harmony, to realize “Tommy’s dream” and form a government that champions taking “better care of each other.”

Ms. Nash asks “who is the person to bring all this together?” “We need someone with real world experience,” she says, detailing her work at the bargaining table, negotiating child care and same-sex benefits. Says the party needs “real world builder,” referencing the NDP’s success in Toronto and a “proven builder,” referencing her time as party president.

Mr. Topp describes himself as a “bilingual Quebecer who has worked across this country,” who worked closely with Jack Layton as the party built over the last seven years and who worked at the heart of a fiscally responsible NDP government that was reelected four times (he doesn’t say so, but he means Saskatchewan). He says New Democrats don’t have to be Liberals, that, as New Democrats, they can defeat Stephen Harper and, as New Democrats, they can get the job done.

And that’s that. Much better show than the first outing in Ottawa. More discussion to be had on finances, still a bit short on specifics and serious debates (picking on Mr. Cullen is a bit too easy), but this sets up an interesting two months. Continue…

Thomas Mulcair in Toronto

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 4:49 PM - 0 Comments

NDP leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair held a town hall in Toronto at the 519 Church Street Community Centre.

David Harris (left), father of NDP MP Dan Harris, and Thomas Mulcair.

Mulcair and his wife Catherine Pinhas.

(l-r) NDP MP Dan Harris, Mulcair, opera star John Mac Master.

Continue…

Money where your mouth is

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 3:36 PM - 0 Comments

Glen McGregor finds that two leadership candidates—Thomas Mulcair and Romeo Saganash—haven’t donated to the NDP. Via Twitter, Brian Topp elaborates on his donation history.

Since some folks asked: I try to contribute to our party at both the federal and provincial level.

Since I have given more of my time to the federal party in recent years, I’ve given more of my contributions to the provincial level.

To be precise, since 2005 I’ve donated $8,292 to the Ontario NDP ($7,092 since 2007). These figures are published on Ont donations site.

It’s up to each candidate to speak to how they’ve worked in recent years to build our party. I’ve tried to do my share.

The endorsements

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 27, 2012 at 3:31 PM - 0 Comments

Ryan Cleary pledges his support for the seal hunt (whatever his questions about the industry’s future viability) and Thomas Mulcair.

Mr. Cleary had previously endorsed Robert Chisholm.

Topp on centrism, paying the bills, cooperating with Liberals, fighting the Conservatives and Norway

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 27, 2012 at 2:32 PM - 0 Comments

As vaguely promised a few days ago, here are several excerpts from my conversation with Brian Topp. My brief survey of his candidacy is on newsstands now and if you’d like to follow along with all our coverage, you can bookmark the tag “NDP leadership.”

These first three excerpts follow from a question I asked about whether there would be more debate as the leadership race proceeded. The fourth excerpt comes from a question about the inevitable attacks his tax proposals would attract. The fifth excerpt follows a question about international models the NDP might look to.

On whether the party should move to the centre. ”I think faced with a choice between two Liberal parties on the opposition benches in the next election that the electorate will pick the real one. So I don’t support the idea of morphing our party into a more quote-unquote ‘centrist’ political party that resembles the Liberal party. Which I assert Tom was essentially talking about in the early days of his leadership and that is consistent with his background as a cabinet minister in a Liberal government. I think we can win and we should win by remaining true to our principles and our values and sticking to the hopeful and optimistic approach that Jack Layton offered because it’s such a notable contrast from what is available from Mr. Harper and we need to marry it to the deep traditions of competent government that we have in our provincial sections … I think if we offer the people of Canada that combination I think we will be very competitive indeed and we will do so in a way that when we win we won’t be defeating ourselves even as we’re winning by adopting the agendas of our opponents.” Continue…

Mulcair on 22 Minutes

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 27, 2012 at 12:46 PM - 0 Comments

Thomas Mulcair tries comedy.

On marijuana

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:38 AM - 0 Comments

Six of the eight NDP leadership candidates respond to a survey on drug policy. All six seem to support some kind of decriminalization around marijuana and three (Niki Ashton, Peggy Nash and Romeo Saganash) seem open to pursuing a regulatory approach. Here is how Mr. Saganash explains his position.

A proposition in California suggested that it is time to look at full legalization, regulation and taxation. Medical authorities have recently made the same recommendation. This deserves serious study. Marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol, and unlike alcohol, it is non-addictive. The criminalization of marijuana creates ties to other crime, just as prohibition did with alcohol. Criminalization creates an enormous cost for the justice system, the penal system, and for society as a whole when we incarcerate tens of thousands of our young people. In the interim, decriminalization is the least we can do toward reducing the harm inflicted by our current legislation.

Dewar on water

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 2:27 PM - 0 Comments

Following his challenge to Thomas Mulcair, Paul Dewar has released his water strategy.

Paul Dewar’s 5-point water strategy would: Support the principle of public delivery of water services; Enforce federal laws protecting water quality and fisheries, and properly support agencies regulating water; Impose a federal ban on bulk water export to prevent major impacts to water basins; Encourage research, development and use of water conservation systems, technologies and practices and water efficiency standards; and, Take global leadership on addressing water rights issues.

Mulcair on equality

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 11:37 AM - 0 Comments

Thomas Mulcair released his plan for equality yesterday.

“As Prime Minister, I would commit to appointing women to fill 50% of all positions on the Board of Directors of Crown corporations and government agencies—and I’d use the office of Prime Minister to challenge the private sector to do the same.” Mulcair said.

Among other measures, Mr. Mulcair also says he would introduce “proactive” pay equity legislation, restore the court challenges program and develop “a more effective, better managed system of firearms registration.”

Let’s get ready to rumble… about bulk water exports

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 23, 2012 at 10:30 PM - 0 Comments

Paul Dewar says he would ban bulk water exports and he challenges Thomas Mulcair to say likewise.

“I’ll be frank with you, I haven’t heard Tom speak on this issue since he’s been elected as a member of Parliament. I hope that the position he had before with the Liberal government, which was in the past, is in the past, and that his position will be the party position,” added Dewar.

Back in 2004, Mulcair called for a debate on the bulk export of fresh water in Quebec to the United States despite a five-year ban imposed by the Parti Quebecois in 2001. He argued it was already happening with respect to bottled water and that water exports could keep people in remote parts of the province which are bleeding jobs in forestry, fishing and mining.

The Liberal campaign in 2008 seems to have uploaded video of Mr. Mulcair discussing bulk water exports when he was a member of the Quebec assembly.

I can find no reference to bulk water exports in the NDP’s 2011 platform, but the party’s 2008 platform included a promise to “ban bulk fresh water exports from Canada by federal law.”

Who ya got?

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 23, 2012 at 1:47 PM - 0 Comments

A few developments from the inbox.

At 12:02pm I received a note from the Nash campaign announcing that the Toronto Area Council of the United Steelworkers was endorsing Peggy Nash. The national office of the United Steelworkers had previously endorsed Brian Topp.

At 12:43pm, a note from the Topp campaign, announcing that Jeff Itcush, an activist and former NDP candidate in Montreal, who had been supporting Thomas Mulcair’s campaign, had switched his allegiance to Mr. Topp.

At 12:51pm, a note from the Mulcair campaign, announcing the endorsements of eight current or former union leaders.

All of which I report in part to observe that the pace of the NDP campaign seems to be picking up.

The Quebec campaign

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, January 20, 2012 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments

The text of a letter sent out today by Thomas Mulcair’s campaign.

Fellow New Democrats,

We only have 30 days left to take advantage of an historic opportunity to sign up new party members in Quebec. Since our unprecedented gains last May, Quebecers are eager to get involved in our party. We’ll never have an opportunity like this leadership race again.

The February 18th deadline to become a member–and vote in this spring’s leadership contest–is fast approaching. Our gains in Quebec were the lynchpin to becoming the government-in-waiting, and they’re the only way we can hope to defeat Stephen Harper in 2015.

This is our chance to make Quebec’s voice a permanent part of the NDP and make our strength in Quebec the foundation of an NDP majority government in 2015. Continue…

The problem with partisan punches

By Jordan Owens - Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 4:30 PM - 0 Comments

The kerfuffle over Thomas Mulcair’s dual citizenship illustrates one the biggest problems with our political discourse today: too much time taking cheap shots, not enough time focusing on the problems facing Canadians. Or: too much time taking cheap shots, not enough time tending to your own backyard. I’m a partisan hack, so either will do.

You’ll never hear me say that partisan politics is bad. It’s good for people to be reminded of the things that politicians do and say. We should be electing people who represent the best of us, so it’s important that we hold our politicians to a certain standard. Plus, partisan politics has often paid my bills. By all means, keep on keeping on.

Hypocrisy, though, is a different story. Continue…

A Canadian-measuring contest

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 6:51 PM - 0 Comments

Thomas Mulcair doesn’t appreciate the Prime Minister’s insinuation.

“We celebrate our diversity, we have a minister responsible for multiculturalism. But when push comes to shove, if you give him half a chance, the real Stephen Harper comes out (suggesting) ‘I’m more Canadian than you are because my family doesn’t have a background in different countries,’” Mulcair said.

“It’s a reflection of profoundly parochial and insular thinking.”

Unfortunately for Mr. Mulcair there is also—as Bob Rae delights in pointing out—what New Democrats said when Stephane Dion’s citizenship was questioned.

Update 8:25pm. In the updated CP story (now linked to above), Mr. Mulcair says Mr. Layton expressed regret for his comments about Mr. Dion.

Indeed, Mulcair said he raised the issue with Layton before agreeing to come on board as his Quebec lieutenant in 2007. ”Jack and I talked about it straight up and he told me that literally in so many words … He said, ‘That’s not the answer I should have given.’”

The citizenship question

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 10:30 AM - 0 Comments

Apparently Thomas Mulcair has French citizenship.

Though he was born in Ottawa, Mulcair was able to apply for and receive French citizenship because his spouse, Catherine, was born in France. Under French law, spouses of French citizens can apply, as Mulcair did, to become citizens themselves after five years of marriage and after demonstrating their ability to speak French.

“Mr. Mulcair is very proud to share the nationality of his wife, who shares his,” Mulcair spokesperson Chantale Turgeon told TVA. “He sees no conflict with his Canadian citizenship or duties. Dual citizenship is a reality for many Canadians who are proud of their origins and a source of enrichment for our diverse society.”

Stephane Dion’s dual citizenship was made an issue in 2006. Mr. Dion dismissed concerns at the time and he is defending Mr. Mulcair now.

Crowd pleaser

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, January 16, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Seven of the eight candidates for NDP leader debate matters in Montreal.

The only candidate to trigger a “bravo” from the audience was Cullen. The MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley in B.C. apologized for the NDP’s support of the nomination of justice Michael J. Moldaver to the Supreme Court of Canada. Moldaver does not speak French.

Talk of a cross-Canada plan to alleviate poverty and homelessness gave Mulcair pause and resulted in the only moment in which one candidate took a position different from the others.

Mulcair on pensions

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 1:18 PM - 0 Comments

Thomas Mulcair pitches pension reform, including a pension exchange.

The proposed pension exchange would be operated by CPP and consist of a payroll deduction system, a selection of investment funds including a public plan offered by the CPP Investment Board and regulatory requirements to both guarantee and insure benefits.

“Canadians who choose to participate will be able have their pension contributions deducted directly from their pay cheque and invested through the exchange in one of several investment funds including a public plan offered by the CPP Investment Board. This will force large financial institutions to complete for our investment dollars and guarantee both lower management fees and higher rates of return.”

Quebec’s not making it easier for the NDP to pick a leader

By Paul Wells - Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 10:15 PM - 0 Comments

Oh, this poll is not helpful at all. At 26% in Quebec, the NDP would lose most of its MPs in that province.

(I know, I know: polls between elections do not predict the outcome of elections. Every number can shift wildly and will certainly do so before the next vote, unimaginably far in the future. And polls of disengaged voters about hypothetical choices may not measure much of anything. But try getting New Democrats to ignore the polls as they pick their next leader.)

The choice facing New Democrats is, roughly: Do they try to nail down their 2011 windfall in Quebec, and grow in other provinces — or do they try to find a “national (read: pan-Canadian) leader” and hope Quebecers will like that person?

The good news is that, if they’re super-lucky, they might be able to hold Quebec and grow outside. The bad news is, if they are only moderately unlucky, they may find it’s impossible to do either. Continue…