The candidates are coming to Town
The Liberal nomination dog and pony shows are ready and willing to meet you. Schedules for 'meet and greets' for both previously announced candidates are up in cyberspace. Check the face book links on the left of this page for details. Andrew McFadyen is having one at the best Western, in Cobourg, on the 6th Aug - Thursday, and Kim Rudd is having hers on the 8th - Saturday, at the Cobourg market building. The only indication of where the candidates stand is to count the number of supporters each one has in their facebook group: McFadyen - 218 and Rudd - 177 announced supporters. Of course this is only play count and it all depends on the real vote, which depends on real memberships. The Membership Sec hasn't said anything about those numbers yet. Rumours still abound about With the entry of the Brighton Mayor (Christine Harrington), this morning, into the race, there are now three. going at it Unless she enters with her pockets stuffed with memberships she is late out of the gate and will waste both her money and effort, not to mention Political Capital as the nomination date is being set for very early September - less than 30 days away. Personally I can't see anything other than ego in it for CH, unless she is a stalking horse for McFadyen and we know that the NQW Libs can't do anything without declaring regional warfare. So the view from here is that someone in the East really wants to put the boots to the Western candidate. Besides whoever wins will have one heckuva job, in this swing riding, to overcome an 11,000 vote deficit against Norlock. The prize, at the moment, doesn't look attainable. So why would a popular mayor do it?
Things must be very slow if we are debating this. Some party activists, at next month's party convention want the New Democratic Party (NDP) to change it's name and drop the "New" from the name. In this story Lawrence Martin of the G&M discusses why it's a good idea. How come all of those people who will never vote for the NDP always have plenty of ideas about how to make it for the better. It's not as though any of these Liberals will ever vote for the NDP so why do they bother?
Things must be very slow if we are debating this. Some party activists, at next month's party convention want the New Democratic Party (NDP) to change it's name and drop the "New" from the name. In this story Lawrence Martin of the G&M discusses why it's a good idea. How come all of those people who will never vote for the NDP always have plenty of ideas about how to make it for the better. It's not as though any of these Liberals will ever vote for the NDP so why do they bother?
11 comments:
A Liberal member got called from the Kim Rudd campaign and was told that Paul Macklin and Lou Rinaldi support Kim Rudd in the nomination race for candidate in Northumberland Quinte West. They both have said they are neutral, as they should be. What is happening?
Hi there,
I found your post about the candidates for the Federal Liberal nomination to be really interesting, and it's the first I've heard about Herrington being a part of it...
I live in the Brighton area and I'm also a little bewildered when it comes to Christine Herrington putting her hat in for the race. There are enough major issues going on in Brighton lately to keep Chris Herrington pretty busy (Codrington Pit? the overpass?). So, I'm just wondering why she suddenly feels the need to spend her time trying to win a nomination race that she has entered so late in the game.
I haven't really heard much about Kim Rudd, but I've already received some pretty impressive mail outs and invites to BBQ's and wine and cheese from Andrew McFadyen, so it looks like Chris will have a lot of catching up to do when her time could probably be better spent elsewhere.
Ben wonders where the various candidates for the Liberal nomination stand with respect to delegate support.
For me, more interesting is where the Liberal Party itelf stands with respect to issues, such as Canada's presence on the world stage. Here's a quote from a story describing Canada's fight for a seat on the Security Council.
"Once renowned for its involvement in peacekeeping and peace building initiatives, Canada is now generally accused by other members of being rather dormant within the UN. Now ranked 51st in the world in terms of contributions to peacekeeping and far behind in its development aid pledges, it has little to show for itself for the last ten years."
The "last ten years" covers the period after Christine Stewart was shuffled out of the cabinet of Chretien's Liberal government. For me, the question to ask is, "Who among the candidates is her equal?"
As you point out, the incumbent mediocrity in NQW has what appears to be an insurmountable popularity. All the more reason the riding's Liberals need to get something going in these dog days of summer. But it may already too late. Iggy's prolonged summer holiday has done the party no favours. You'd almost think he's settling, rather comfortably, into the role of Official Opposition.
At least updating the NDP's name keeps Jack in the news.
And that pretty much leaves the ruling CPC on cruise control.
Being invited to be a candidate is pretty heady stuff. When I asked my mentor for advice way back in 1981 when I was asked, he said "don't do it even though it feels very flattering" I now know this is exactly the advice I would have received from my better half and still ignored it and I lost and spent some time afterward raising money to pay off the debt.
The system stinks! It takes money to run and it takes more to win. The money tree always keeps track of how much influence it has 'funded' so there is little room for those who support in principle rather than resources. The everpresent complaint that no one cares about the little guy will be just that - everpresent - mainly for that reason. The cards are stacked right from the get-go.
Just watch how the nomination process is about 'who' instead of 'what'. All those politicos wanting to get their bony elbows in there and be part of the jostling and bumping around - oh what a thrill - but where's the point of it all? Oh, that - that comes later, when we need yet more money - then the promises start to sprout. it stinks, all of it, to high heaven.
On the subject of people who will never vote for the NDP: the lead editorial in this morning's G&M (A name that differentiates) suggests "the NDP could now lay a fair claim to greater concern with social programs than its rivals, by becoming the Social Democratic Party of Canada."
Yes, why do they bother? Something to do with alphabetical order? Is that why the PCs morphed to the Cs?
But William, in order for the NDP to become the SDP then they would have to do what all the sitting MPs and half the party execs would hate to do, after they have changed their underware, and admit a linkage to the word "SOCIALIST".
The NDP Blues:
Ben is right about putting the word "Social" in the NDP name, or in anything else for that matter. It is the kiss of death, as most (former) social planning councils have learned. They are now all called community planning or community development councils, not that this fools anyone, as their declining funding reveals.
Sometimes, when I am particularly cynical, I go to the Babble forums on Rabble.ca, where NDPers rant and rave at each other endlessly. It doesn't take long to realize at a gut level just how deluded these people really are. It is however, good that they have each other, because nobody else would give them the time of day.
They can call themselves whatever they want, they are political dead meat by any name.
Well, my suggestion about alphabetical order may have some relevance. If the NDPs becomes the DPs, then the "socialists" will be only a letter away from the Cs.
It is about a week into the campaign for Chris Herrington and I hear that the memberships are rolling in across the riding. People know a winner and she has won as a councillor and twice as mayor...the other two have NO political experience at all!
Fancy brochures and get-to-gethers with out of area props should be easily seen as a weak way of saying I have the local Liberal support.
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