2012 NDP leadership convention

[MaxQue]

I don't think a "labour" reference is an "OMG moment"--look, she's NDP, she is what she is.  "Labour" just isn't that much of a critical dirty word in Canadian terms.  "Socialist" might be.  But not "labour".

Indeed. People disliking associations with labour weren't likely to vote for NDP anyways.

[Hatman 🍁]

I don't know... the kinds of Canadians the NDP has to appeal to win are going to be lukewarm on unions. There are a lot of left of centre voters who don't like unions, and get angry when certain public services go on strike.  A lot of them are Liberals, of course.

By those who don't have the fortune to be unionized, the unionized can be seen as elite. The NDP should be fighting so that more Canadians are unionized rather than solely standing up for those who are already protected by unions.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Nash is "seen" as very left-wing.

The only place I have ever seen Nash described as "very leftwing" is by you in this thread. That's it!

Actually, she's been called too left wing to be electable even on Rabble.

[DL]

I have never seen Peggy Nash described as "too leftwing" for the NDP. She is usually depicted as being about as mainstream as they come. In fact the biggest knock I've seen against her is that she's not a dynamic enough speaker and is a bit dull. If younhave an example of a specific policy position she takes thatnis at odds with most of the party and would put her in cahoots with the "socialist caucus" please tell us about it.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

I have never seen Peggy Nash described as "too leftwing" for the NDP.

Not too left wing for the NDP. Too left wing to win an election in Canada - and I'm operating on the assumption the NDP voters will purposely pick a leader they think can win an election in Canada, which means that anyone who is even "Mainstream" for the NDP is "too left wing" for this leadership race as I see it.

edit - I've edited my post to take Nash off the list of no-go candidates. Frankly, I'd have had Dion on the list of no-go people in 2006 for the Liberals for the same reasons I put Nash there (too left, dry as cardboard, etc) but I will make room for the NDP to make a bad decision. After all they nearly elected Svend back in 95.

[MaxQue]

Wanting to vote for a particular candidate for party leader is, perhaps, not the greatest reason to join a political party.

That's the main reason anyone joins parties in Canada (that and nomination contests)

It's interesting how different our two political cultures are. Over here, signing up members for this purpose would be called branch stacking and is heavily frowned-upon (and often criticised in the media and by people whose opponents have signed up many new members).

To give you an idea, there was 72,000 members in PQ in 2004, 155,000 in 2005 and 74,000 in 2006. (source:quebecpolitique.com). There was a leadership race in 2005.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Wanting to vote for a particular candidate for party leader is, perhaps, not the greatest reason to join a political party.

That's the main reason anyone joins parties in Canada (that and nomination contests)

It's interesting how different our two political cultures are. Over here, signing up members for this purpose would be called branch stacking and is heavily frowned-upon (and often criticised in the media and by people whose opponents have signed up many new members).

To give you an idea, there was 72,000 members in PQ in 2004, 155,000 in 2005 and 74,000 in 2006. (source:quebecpolitique.com). There was a leadership race in 2005.

I'd say "double" is a rough estimate to what happens to the membership numbers during a leader's campaign.

[minionofmidas]

Nobody's surprised that membership would expand before a leadership vote, obviously. What's surprising is
a) the degree
b) the brazenness with which recruiting appears to be done, though maybe I'm being misled here
c) judging from the PQ numbers, the speed with which these new members lapse.

[DL]

To give you an idea, there was 72,000 members in PQ in 2004, 155,000 in 2005 and 74,000 in 2006. (source:quebecpolitique.com). There was a leadership race in 2005.

I'd say "double" is a rough estimate to what happens to the membership numbers during a leader's campaign.
[/quote]

In the case of the NDP in Quebec, I think membership will far more than double over the next six months. Even if there were no leadership race at all with 59 MPs all creating riding associations and assembling lists of contacts - the # of NDP members would probably go from 1,750 to about 10,000 (at least) no matter what. Now with a leadership contest it may go much higher than that.

[lilTommy]

Brain Topp is in:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/12/pol-ndp-brian-topp.html

AND! he has been endorsed by Francoise Boivin AND a surprise Ed Braodbent. I'm still very iffy on this guy, i like Tom, and have been more impressed with Toms experience and performance as an MP and NewDemocrat; but with Ed's endorsement, wow. I find he still have no experience outside of the backroom

[RogueBeaver]

The closest parallel would be Mulroney- another backroom boy who ran a major organization. Mulcair's position in Quebec will be a strong inoculation against potentially falling to Brison Syndrome (even though as I've mentioned before, Mulcair was always on the PLQ's left wing).

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Topp has come out swinging. The ball is in Mulcair's court. If he cant find some strong endorsements, he will start looking like the #2 in the race.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

[Hatman 🍁]

Im still backing Mulcair.

Tommy is the 2nd most popular politician in Quebec right now (after Legault). Can't mess with that.

[adma]

I have never seen Peggy Nash described as "too leftwing" for the NDP.

Not too left wing for the NDP. Too left wing to win an election in Canada - and I'm operating on the assumption the NDP voters will purposely pick a leader they think can win an election in Canada, which means that anyone who is even "Mainstream" for the NDP is "too left wing" for this leadership race as I see it.

Then again, Stephen Harper was seen as too right wing to win an election in Canada.  With "Reform" or "firewall" being even bigger "stigma words" than "labour".

In the end, Peggy Nash is no less mainstream than Jack Layton, really--except that her background is in labour/unions, not the municipal politics stage.  Which, in the end, renders her dryer, not left-er.

[Hatman 🍁]

Totally meaningless poll, but as we can see no one knows who Topp is in Canada: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/12/ndp-leader-race-still-wide-open-poll

Mulcair with 46% in Quebec. Run Tom run! The NDP needs another Tommy as leader!

[Holmes]

Of course no one knows who he is. He's a backroom strategist who's only been spotted in youtube videos and some press conferences. I don't see why he would be leadership material when we don't really know much about him, compared to the other probable candidates, in the first place.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Breaking News: Topp is an A$$hole. According to Power & Politics. Live.

There seems to be some blowback against the two "front runners" regardless. We might end up in a Dion/Stelmach scenario where some "3rd" person, outside the two front-runners, will win. Then again, neither Dion nor Stelmach has done very well...

[MaxQue]

Breaking News: Topp is an A$$hole. According to Power & Politics. Live.

Can I ask why?

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

Someone called him "Abrasive" to someone else who was speaking on the show.

That's really much more than you need to make "Topp, worse than Mulcair?" (as a headline example)

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

CBC has it's list out

http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/ndp-successors/

The names are, in reverse order:

Gary Doer (said wont run)
Olivia Chow (said wont run)
David Miller (said wont run)
Pat Martin (said will run as merger candidate)
Paul Dewar (often well looked at)
Peter Julian (often well looked at)
Robert Chisholm (dont know no french)
Peggy Nash (good way to ensure people like me never vote NDP)
Libby Davies (good way to ensure everybody else never votes NDP)
Megan Leslie (see below)
Brian Topp ('nuff said)
Thomas Mulcair ('nuff said)

I find it interesting the Leslie has the 3rd spot on this list, beside three candidates I don't consider to be strong. Frankly, her name has come up more and more often as an alternative to Mulcair and Topp, both of whom are grumpy. Frankly, even in the CBC's own little picturelist, she is the only one with a big smile.

[lilTommy]

Well Tom (Mulcair) has already said hes more serious then Jack was, but i did a quick google image search and tada plenty of pics of him smiling! Its easy enough to pick an unflatering picture, just like at the TO star and almost any picture of Rob Ford
Also, at Jack's wake in Ottawa he looked to be one of the most emotionally struck men i'd seen there... that image still sticks with me. NO one will be as charasmatic as Jack, and we (ndp'rs especially) have to get over that quick, we can only seek to continue his legacy not replace him. This is not going to be the Liberal leadership where we "need" a compromise candidate... i think we all learned how well that turned out with Dion.
Topp rubs me the wrong way, and i agree with what he had said at his leadership launch, but at this point he still wont have my vote... as the "establishment" candidate; the one who is seen to be crowned by the media, even more so he dosen't have it.
My thoughts are this is going to be a Topp/Mulcair/Dewar/Nash/Julian race

[Hash]

Topp slightly reminds me of Dominique de Villepin (only that he's not a criminal). That's not a good thing.

[lilTommy]

I might have been wrong... Romeo Saganash has a speech booked in Val d'Or on Friday (according to the twitterverse)

[MaxQue]

I might have been wrong... Romeo Saganash has a speech booked in Val d'Or on Friday (according to the twitterverse)

Well, Val-d'Or is the main city of his riding.
It is my hometown, too.