NDP Leadership Convention 2017

[lilTommy]

There is a new "Recruit..." for NDP leadership facebook group I saw. Syd Ryan. Definitely a Labour candidate and definitely a Left candidate if he decides to run. He's been very critical of how cozy some of the current CLC leadership has been with the Liberals, I hope he does run just to bring in more diversity to the race and to pull Union membership attention back to the NDP... and I hopefully more media attention.

[Hatman 🍁]

Say what you want about Sid Ryan, but the evidence shows that he was never able to even win in Oshawa. I think outspoken labour candidates are too polarizing to do well in Canadian politics.

[DL]

Sid Ryan would be a ludicrous candidate for the leadership:

a. he speaks no French whatsoever
b. he is personally toxic and widely viewed as having bankrupted the Ontario Federation of Labour and is now embroiled in law suits with them.
c. In the last Ontario election he championed strategic voting and all but told people to vote Liberal
d. He is 64 years old now, meaning he would be 67 by the next federal election and 70 by the 2022 Ontario election!

I could conceivably see him running for the Ontario NDP leadership after the next election (not that he would have any chance there either) since at least at the Ontario level, his unilingualism wouldn't be such a liability...and he has spent most of his life working on issues at the provincial as opposed to federal level

[MaxQue]

His pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine positions won't help him either.

[Zanas]

Sid Ryan would be a ludicrous candidate for the leadership:

d. He is 64 years old now, meaning he would be 67 by the next federal election and 70 by the 2022 Ontario election!

You know, sometimes I envy y'all countries where being 64, and 67 by the next election, is considered a handicap. In France, it's more of a prerequisite.

[Poirot]

There is an article in Le Devoir on NDP membership. The NDP has 3170 members in Quebec, about 5% of the federal total (over 69,000).

You must be logged in to read this quote.

In September 2011 there were 2700 Quebec members. After the last leadership race it got up to 14,300. In August 2013 it decreased to 4,700 active members and 3,300 the following year.

The fluctuation for the federal number: 131,000 members for the last leadesrship race in 2012, 82,000 in September 2013.
     

[Intell]

Is there anyone that isn't fully pro-abortion, or anyone who will allow pro-life or at the least anti-abortion positions on morality, to run. I doubt it.

[Hatman 🍁]

Is there anyone that isn't fully pro-abortion, or anyone who will allow pro-life or at the least anti-abortion positions on morality, to run. I doubt it.

I believe you're looking for the Conservative leadership thread.

[Intell]

Is there anyone that isn't fully pro-abortion, or anyone who will allow pro-life or at the least anti-abortion positions on morality, to run. I doubt it.

I believe you're looking for the Conservative leadership thread.

Yuhh, at least in other countries an anti-abortion stand is at least somewhat tolerated, or allow a moral vote on the issue, sometimes.

[Hatman 🍁]

Is there anyone that isn't fully pro-abortion, or anyone who will allow pro-life or at the least anti-abortion positions on morality, to run. I doubt it.

I believe you're looking for the Conservative leadership thread.

Yuhh, at least in other countries an anti-abortion stand is at least somewhat tolerated, or allow a moral vote on the issue, sometimes.

I know. Canada is probably the most pro-abortion country, at least in policy and unwillingness of even mainstream Conservatives to touch the issue. Though I know a sizable chunk of the population is pro life.

[DC Al Fine]

Is there anyone that isn't fully pro-abortion, or anyone who will allow pro-life or at the least anti-abortion positions on morality, to run. I doubt it.

I believe you're looking for the Conservative leadership thread.

Yuhh, at least in other countries an anti-abortion stand is at least somewhat tolerated, or allow a moral vote on the issue, sometimes.

The Liberals only recently decided to be 100% pro-choice, but the NDP has been, to paraphrase BRTD 'all pro choice, all the time' for a long time.

Part of this stems from the history of the party. Labour parties in a lot of countries had a Catholic worker element, so there was usually room for a small pro-life wing. The main religious influence on the NDP has always been social gospel Protestants, which as you know, aren't the most pro-life lot.

[Hatman 🍁]

Is there anyone that isn't fully pro-abortion, or anyone who will allow pro-life or at the least anti-abortion positions on morality, to run. I doubt it.

I believe you're looking for the Conservative leadership thread.

Yuhh, at least in other countries an anti-abortion stand is at least somewhat tolerated, or allow a moral vote on the issue, sometimes.

The Liberals only recently decided to be 100% pro-choice, but the NDP has been, to paraphrase BRTD 'all pro choice, all the time' for a long time.

Part of this stems from the history of the party. Labour parties in a lot of countries had a Catholic worker element, so there was usually room for a small pro-life wing. The main religious influence on the NDP has always been social gospel Protestants, which as you know, aren't the most pro-life lot.

Indeed. The United Church (Canada's largest Protestant denomination) is actually officially pro choice!

I do know some pro-life NDP supporters, so they exist. But there's no hope for them influencing anything.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sid Ryan would be a great idea if you wanted to combine all of Corbyn's faults with most of McDonnell's and then add a bunch of other stuff for fun!

[King of Kensington]

I think the NDP has been 100% pro-choice since Ed Broadbent was leader in the 80s.

[MaxQue]

I strongly suspect any MP voting against abortion would lose any spokesperson role in the party and most likely fail to be reselected by local NDP members when the next election comes around (it's what happened to the MP who voted against gay marriage).

[King of Kensington]

Part of this stems from the history of the party. Labour parties in a lot of countries had a Catholic worker element, so there was usually room for a small pro-life wing. The main religious influence on the NDP has always been social gospel Protestants, which as you know, aren't the most pro-life lot.

The most prominent pro-life NDPer I can think of was the Manitoba Cabinet minister Joe Borowski.  The Schreyer NDP won by appealing to ethnic, Catholic and to some extent rural voters.  Still, Borowski was too controversial for the NDP of the time and he left the party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Borowski_(politician)

(Ironically Schreyer himself made very homophobic comments when Svend Robinson came out in the 80s, and he never really apologized for them).

[DL]

The Labour movement in Quebec had a big "Catholic worker" movement within it...the CNTU OR CSN used to be explicitly a catholic union...and yet you never hear of any "pro-life" movement within the left in Quebec either

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The Labour movement in Quebec had a big "Catholic worker" movement within it...the CNTU OR CSN used to be explicitly a catholic union...and yet you never hear of any "pro-life" movement within the left in Quebec either

Would that be partially because Duplessis set up Catholicism in Quebec for an insta-kill the moment he kicked the bucket?

[lilTommy]

two new "Draft... for Leader" pages are out there for the NDP:
- Former Party President Rebecca Blaikie and;
- MP Guy Caron

Blaikie would be interesting if she were to run; for a Party President she was relatively high profile, especially after the 2015 defeat. She has very strong western (obvious, her father and brother and she ran there in 2011) roots, but also has a strong connection in Quebec (candidate in 2004 against the then PM, was the executive director of the Quebec wing before there really was one, seen as a key architect of the NPDQ).

Caron is not as well known, not as much of a high profile MP but has been very active by being the face of the party in the Atlantic region and on the Tax, Finance file and has solid economics and union cred. With Boulerice out, Caron could step up as the or one of the Quebec MPs to run for the leadership. 

[Hatman 🍁]

Do you know about the Draft Jagmeet Singh page? It already has 1,555 likes.

Meanwhile...

Draft Sid Ryan has 201 likes
Rebecca Blaikie has 2 likes (must have just started)
Niki Ashton has 297 likes
Megan Leslie has 94 likes (but she's not running)
Dana Larsen has 36 likes
Charlie Angus has 99 likes


I think it's obvious who the front runner is

[lilTommy]

Do you know about the Draft Jagmeet Singh page? It already has 1,555 likes.

Meanwhile...

Draft Sid Ryan has 201 likes
Rebecca Blaikie has 2 likes (must have just started)
Niki Ashton has 297 likes
Megan Leslie has 94 likes (but she's not running)
Dana Larsen has 36 likes
Charlie Angus has 99 likes


I think it's obvious who the front runner is

HA Yup, so far... and surprisingly Syd is second? see, controversial breads attention (for better or worse)
I think we mentioned the Singh one so I;ve never brought it up. I have not yet joined any of them... but its nice to see them out there. Most seem relatively "new" things just seem to be starting to gear up.

[Hatman 🍁]

Great article on why Jagmeet should run / be leader: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/10/08/leaderless-ndp-looks-to-rising-star-jagmeet-singh-cohn.html

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced he will be the next NDP leader.

[136or142]

Great article on why Jagmeet should run / be leader: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/10/08/leaderless-ndp-looks-to-rising-star-jagmeet-singh-cohn.html

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced he will be the next NDP leader.

Toronto based journalist supports Toronto based politician for leader of a national party.  Film at 11.

Of course, when I first read a post about how some Illinois State Senator named Barack Obama would win the Democratic primary for U.S Senate,  I replied "You're delusional, Dan Hynes will win that nomination handily."  So, what do I know?

[DC Al Fine]

Where is Singh on the NDP spectrum?

[136or142]

Where is Singh on the NDP spectrum?

NDP Spectrum Disorder?