2012 NDP leadership convention

[You kip if you want to...]

Fixing IRV would probably guarantee no conservative governments in Canada for a long time.

No, it wouldn't.

Any form of PR on the otherhand...

[RogueBeaver]

Plus que sa change... merci M. Topp. Dippers want to raise taxes, we want steady as she goes, and the Grits (if Brison has his way in January) might want to eliminate CGT. Looks like the tax match is set for '15.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/brian-topp-wants-ndp-to-run-on-tax-the-rich-platform/article2208872/?from=sec368

[Holmes]

Canada is not as populist as our southern neighbours. I could see it backfiring. Or maybe not.

[MaxQue]

Pierre Dionne Labelle, MP for Rivière-du-Nord endorsed Romeo Saganash.

[Holmes]

Paul Dewar town hall in Toronto Monday evening. I really wanna go, but I believe I'll be preoccupied. Blah.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Hidden at the bottom of the recent Leger poll about the CAQ...

359 NDP voters polled in Quebec about support of NDP leadership candidates
Mulcair - 56%
Topp - 5%
Saganash - 2%
Martin - 1%
Dewar - 1%

Franco
Mulcair - 60%

Non-Franco (small sample)
Mulcair - 36%
Topp - 13%

[RogueBeaver]

Given that she publicly mused about staying out, I'm mildly surprised that Nash is getting in. While all Topp's rivals not named Mulcair are on the left, they'll probably coalesce behind him on the final ballot. I could see a scenario where either Topp or Mulcair doesn't make it though- much like Rae didn't make the final '06 ballot.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1075100--peggy-nash-to-join-ndp-race-this-week

Non-Francos supporting Mulcair: I'm surprised.

[DL]

I'm not surprised - the sub-sample of non-francophones who vote NDP in Quebec would be quite small in that survey - but why would they not support Mulcair? He is a fellow non-francophone Quebecer and a former Quebec Liberal to boot! If you are an anglophone NDP voter in Montreal - what's not to like?

[RogueBeaver]

Not clear what he means, and I doubt there are enough "rightists" (for lack of a better term) to give him a victory.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/mulcair-draws-line-in-ndp-sand-describes-telling-union-boss-no/article2214319/

[Holmes]

I'm just a little amused that Mulcair has been painted as this big right-wing monster. How will the Conservatives portray him in their attacks if he wins the leadership? If it's not one thing, it's another.

Peggy Nash joins the race Friday.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1076258

[RogueBeaver]

I'm just a little amused that Mulcair has been painted as this big right-wing monster. How will the Conservatives portray him in their attacks if he wins the leadership? If it's not one thing, it's another.

Peggy Nash joins the race Friday.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1076258

He's an intraparty rightist, interparty more on the soft left. As for how we're going to portray him... standard anti-NDP ads plus recycling the Angry Man ads Martin used against Harper in '04 and '06.

[RogueBeaver]

Nash is in, Chisholm's getting in Sunday.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/nash-enters-ndp-fray-with-focus-on-making-economy-more-inclusive/article2217071/

[Foucaulf]

Chisholm is in, Niki Ashton rumoured to join.
Alice Funke also has two blog posts on the leadership race worth reading. 

It is obviously hasty for me to say this now, but I believe the real importance of the race is not to develop a coherent platform. Instead, the placing of the candidates determines what kind of voter coalition the NDP will build by 2015. Each candidate represents a specific constituency; some have wider appeal than others. Let's say Saganash ends up 5th, in which case the NDP should take a new look at Natives. Mulcair neither winning nor being runner-up is a repudiation against Quebec interests, etc.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Funke's posts are okay but they are too wordy. (Even this post is a bit on the wordy side for me when it comes to elections) There should be more graphics.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I made this




Now before anyone gives me the "OMG BUT YER RONG BOUT IT" I will say this as clear as I can



I've created this image in Paint, the free program that comes with Windows. Even if you use Linux or a Mac, you likely have a program that can easily edit this. And I want you to. I have built this with the intention that others, like you, yes you, will edit this. So rather than complain about how wrong I am, edit this image, and post it here. The more people who do this, the better I can get this image to be.


Note that this is relative between Layton an the 4 edges. Meaning. If Jack Layton is 712 points pro-labour and Nash is the most pro-labour candidate, and Nash is 2,114 points pro-labour, then, the scale between Layton and Nash is between 712 and 2,114. Meanwhile if Mulcair is 504 Pro-Labour, then that scale (between Layton and Mulcair) is between 712 and 504. Thus even though there is more room between Nash and Layton than between Layton and Mulcair, they (Nash and Mulcair) each end up on the edges. It's a comparison thing.

You can change this when you change your image, but I'd like to keep Layton in the centre.

[Dr. Cynic]

Actually, Teddy has been very helpful to me at least be creating the mini-map. I'm outside of it and it's hard to follow the election for me here.

I heard from someone on another site that Mulcair terrifies Tories in debate. But he'd really push the NDP into quasi-Liberals it looks like. Topp looks like the better pick, at least in terms of a Layton successor. At least that's what I gather from the graph.

[Marokai Backbeat]

So, wait, Mulcair went from lefty power hungry hothead to a right-winger too conciliatory to business? I really should follow this thread more closely so the turns in narrative aren't so jarring.

[Dr. Cynic]

So, wait, Mulcair went from lefty power hungry hothead to a right-winger too conciliatory to business? I really should follow this thread more closely so the turns in narrative aren't so jarring.

I heard from that same person that Mulcair is being much more conciliatory towards business than anyone else. Of course, this is second hand information, but Mulcair seems to position himself to be the right wing candidate.

[Holmes]

The only "anti-union" thing he's said is what the NDP members at the convention voted for, which is the one member, one vote rule. He said he won't be the union candidate, since all the unions seem to be going for Topp, and now that Nash is in...

[Dr. Cynic]

The only "anti-union" thing he's said is what the NDP members at the convention voted for, which is the one member, one vote rule. He said he won't be the union candidate, since all the unions seem to be going for Topp, and now that Nash is in...

Like I said, that info was pretty second hand from another Canadian NDP member. So take it for what you will.

[RogueBeaver]

Ugh... no. Mulcair was always on the PLQ's left wing. He resigned from Cabinet because he didn't want development on a provincial park- does that sound like a pro-business Liberal to you? But in a field where one leading candidate (Topp) wants to raise both income and consumption taxes and another is purely Old Lab (Nash), then he'll definitely be the rightest candidate.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Mulcair is pro business but is perhaps more Left than I gave him credit for. Anyone want to make their own table?

[Foucaulf]

Thinking about it, people fear Mulcair because he has the conciliatory air. He was a veteran Liberal, which may as well be an euphemism for "power-hungry". Some don't want to give him free rein in terms of who he works with, and it's an open secret he wants to take in federal Liberals.

Mulcair may be attacking the unions as part of an offensive on Topp, but he's doing it way too early and has now frightened many nerves.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If anything the clever thing for him to do would be the opposite. Right now he seems to be making similar errors to David Miliband last year.

[mileslunn]

I would still say Mulcair is on the left, maybe not as left leaning as your typical NDP member, but that doesn't make him right wing anymore than John Tory, Alison Redford and other Red Tories would be left wing.  Its all relative otherwise.  I don't think he is anymore to the right than Roy Romanow or Gary Doer and both were very successful in their respective provinces.