All posts by Chris Tindal

Bob Update

liberal party, , ,

Further to my post yesterday, in which I question how my Liberal opponent could justify propping up this government any longer, two prominent Liberals (both bloggers, one a sitting MP) weigh in.

A BCer in Toronto writes, in part:

Umm, how do you propose we wait Bob? I mean, everything else you and the caucus nervous nellies are saying makes sense. I’d love to get those by-elections done first too, get some momentum from hopefully having Bob and some other new Liberal MPs in the house. I’d love to wait until the economy has worsened. I’d love to wait until the Liberals are at 100 per cent in the polls, and Stephane Dion is more popular than The Beatles.

There’s a few roadblacks in the way though, besides Stephane’s lack of musical ability. First one: the budget. The first votes are going to be in a few weeks, well before the byelections. What does Bob propose we do on the budget. Does he want us to vote in favour of what’s going to be a minimalist budget that does nothing to address the worsening economic situation, and prop-up this government that stands for everything we don’t? Or would Bob rather we prop-up this government by abstaining, and look the laughing-stocks again?

…So, while I like Bob’s theory, it’s the practice I have some issues with. If he has some brilliant plan for getting us past the budget vote without looking like complete tools, I’d love to hear it. Maybe the leaker forgot to tell Jane Taber that part.

Nervous nellies, buck up. Find your cojones. The election train is moving out of the station. Get on board or get out of the way. We cannot prop-up this government any more.

And from Garth Turner:

Much has been made this week of an election call. If you believe the media, Liberals reacted by forming a coherent and fierce battle group around the leader. Then fired inwards.

True enough, some, a few, of my caucus colleagues just love to talk about how they fear going to the voters. I should know the refrain by heart, since I’ve heard it from a half-dozen of them for an entire year. Lately the Lib Pacifist Movement has even become a little organized, and found a champion in a former leadership contender. Miraculously, his words in our inner-most sessions have ended up on the front page of the next day’s daily.

Well, for us poor farm boys from Halton, this is all a little hard to understand. Seems to us you’re in politics for reasons of principle and passion, not just for partisanship. You know why you’re here. If you believe Stephen Harper is screwing up Canada, then you fight the guy. You take up arms for overtaxed middle class minivan moms, for laid-off auto workers, for aboriginals, for the suffering environment, for income trust investors, for those in poverty and those who thought by electing this guy they’d get a leader who would keep his promises.

You fight for those who believed his pledge of 125,000 new child care spaces a year. That he would honour the Atlantic Accord. That he’d treat First Nations with respect. That he cared about the environment. That he’d never tax income trusts. That he’d bring a new spirit of openness and accountability to Ottawa. That he’d treat everyone with equality. That voters mattered, and he’d bring them change.

Bob, This Isn’t About You

conservative party, democracy and good government, green party, liberal party, , ,

Jane Taber reports in today’s Globe and Mail that Bob Rae is urging Dion not to force an election until after Rae is done with our March 17th by-election.

Listen, I get that Bob wants to get to Parliament as soon as possible. And I understand, as previously discussed, that having our by-election cancelled to make way for a general election would be a huge administrative pain, and also an extremely tiring and exhausting experience. My legs and my knuckles are sore too, and my family isn’t getting nearly the attention it deserves either.

But this is bigger than us. Stephen Harper is a dangerous prime minister, and his government is causing more and more damage by the day. There is no reason to believe that the House can continue to have confidence in this government. Meanwhile, our economy and our environment are in desperate need of new leadership. This isn’t about convenience, it’s about integrity and doing what’s right. We need to take a principled stand: if not now, then when?

It’s Different This Time…

green party, ,

Thinking back to the last federal election in 2006 (when I was also the Green candidate in Toronto Centre), I can remember the moment when I identified my very first supporter. My brother and I (my campaign was very dependent on friends and family in very material ways) had been knocking on doors for an hour, asking every person we met if they “considered themselves a Green supporter.” When someone finally said yes after all that time, my brother did not play it cool. “Oh wow,” he said, “that’s great!” When this person also agreed to take a lawn sign, we could barely believe we weren’t dreaming. And yet, that campaign was still a record-breaking one, and earned a result 47% higher than the previous election.

It’s hard to describe how profoundly different this campaign is. Aside from the fact that we have a full time campaign office (which, when it opened, was one of only two full time campaign offices in the riding) with two full-time staff members and several more full-time volunteers, I never go more than a few doors without meeting an enthusiastic Green supporter. I’ve been out canvassing for 11 days in a row now, and the mood feels a lot like it did when I canvassed in the historic Green campaigns of London North Centre or Bruce Grey Owen Sound.

So, thanks so much to everyone I’ve talked to and who’s now checking out this site like you said you would. Please don’t hesitate to drop us a line if you have any questions or would like to get involved. We’d love to hear from you.

I should give a special thanks to Sharon and Ingrid, who have done more than their fair share of of heavy lifting when it comes to keeping me company these past few weeks. It was also great to see Victoria Cate (Young Greens Council Member and Elizabeth May’s daughter) last weekend and canvass with her for about an hour before she had to catch the train back to Ottawa.

Finally, the buzz is also measurably higher in the blogosphere. A number of other people have been blogging about this by-election campaign. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) roundup: