Monthly Archives: December 2006

Toronto Centre Speculation

green party, toronto

Those of you who follow this blog because you live in Toronto Centre or had something to do with my campaign there might find this story interesting. It speculates on who the Liberals will run in the next election (assuming Bill Graham won’t run again).

My favourite part is this comment posted to the story on theglobeandmail.com:

James O’Grady from Windsor, Canada writes: It won’t matter who runs for the Liberals in Toronto Centre, Chris Tindal of the Green Party will carry the day.

I’m sure the fact that James O’Grady just happens to be the name of my former campaign manager, who recently moved to Windsor, is pure coincidence.

(This comment about the Green Party is also interesting. Somebody get it to Martha!)

By the way, I will be seeking the nomination again in Toronto Centre for the Green Party, and I’m looking forward to the campaign. Hold January 24th 2007 if you want to be at the nomination meeting. Details here.

I’d Be Grumpy Too

green party, ndp, polls

I think I know why the NDP have been so grumpy lately. They must have had some advance knowledge of this poll:

It suggested the Liberals had the support of 35 per cent of respondents while the Tories were at 31 per cent, the NDP was at 12 per cent and the Green party was at 10 per cent.

Yikes! Only a two-point gap stands between the NDP and being knocked out of their perpetual third place. I wonder what the margin of error was for that poll…

The Decima poll of 1,025 respondents was conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, and is considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.

Uh-oh. The NDP/Green gap is within the margin of error. This is what they call a “statistical tie.” Plus, the NDP — and the Conservatives for that matter — are probably still hurting from losing to the Green Party in the London North Centre by election. How embarrassing is that. ;-)

Keep watching those grey political skies. They may clear up soon.

The Same Sex Marriage Debate

social justice

If you take for granted that reopening the same-sex marriage debate is a bad idea from a human rights and social justice standpoint, you’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of the multitude of reasons this vote shouldn’t be taking place.

First, it’s a politically cynical move. Harper’s not just doing this because he said he would. (He’s already demonstrated his sense of humour by breaking a key promise that had the word “trust” in it.) Rather, he’s orchestrating this vote because a number of his socially conservative MPs and supporters want him to prove that he’s still at least open to the idea of discriminating based on sexual orientation. (Call it, neo-openmindedness.) Since the vote is almost certain to fail, that’s the only thing he could possibly accomplish.

Second, it’s a moot move. Not only is the vote likely to fail, but even if it succeeded, Harper would need to invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause in order to actually outlaw same-sex marriage, and he already said he wouldn’t do that. So, again, what are we doing here?

Finally, it’s a waste of time. The House can only accomplish so much, and there’s lots to do. They shouldn’t spend any more energy on something that was already decided (and decided correctly) just to appeal to the small number of Canadians who want to believe they’re still voting for the Reform party. And Canada should not be subjected to more divisiveness because a minority government wants to boost its ratings.

Some Advice

conservative party, green party, liberal party, ndp

The two campaigns in the London North Centre by election that went negative were the Conservative campaign (which went negative on the Liberals) and the NDP campaign (which went negative on the Greens). It’s no coincidence that those campaigns finished third and fourth, behind the positive campaigns of the Liberals and the Green Party.

I bring this up because late last night the NDP sent out an email to their supporters (and moles like me). The first paragraph read:

There’s a new Liberal leader but it’s the same old Liberal party. After 13 years of broken promises and corruption, the Liberals have picked themselves a new front man. Their choice – an out of touch academic who spent 10 years in a scandal ridden cabinet and who’s record as Environment Minister was condemned by environmentalists and the Environment Commissioner. Liberal arrogance – some things never change.

The second paragraph — ready for this? — was as follows:

Today Jack Layton offered his congratulations to Stéphane Dion, saying that he looked forward to debating the new leader in Parliament to get things done for today’s families.

The second paragraph loses some of its sincerity coming after the first, doesn’t it? Listen folks, we’re not going to accomplish anything by being close-minded, mean, and partisan beyond reason. And if that isn’t enough, Canadians increasingly won’t vote for these kinds of politicians and parties. The London North Centre result showed that.

If I were in charge of the NDP’s messaging, I’d turn the venom down a shade, or risk being poisoned by it.