Terribly sorry for my absence, a jaunt over to Europe for a few weeks coupled with an amazingly hectic work schedule has had me barely even following hte news, so when I got a few minutes to look around the political landscape the other day, I noticed some pretty interesting things. This was the first to strike me as particularly senseless,
So the embattled NDP bastion of Outrement is rapidly getting thrown some pretty impressive assistance, all from the local Grits of the province.
Outrement is widely recognized as a must win for the Libs if they are to make a real come back in the next election, as well as to prevent even the slightest possibility of an NDP ‘breakthrough’ in the province.
Old Tom Mulcair will need all the help he can get, and running against the former justice minister and three time winner of Outrement would certainly hinder his chances.
Luckily, the Grits are up to their old infighting and squabbling. It seems Denis Coderre, current Quebec Lieutenant for Iggy, really doesn’t want competition for the role of Quebec Right Hand Man. Why else would he deny Martin Cauchon the opportunity to run in the riding? Especially why would he continue to deny him the chance after an open letter from the president of the riding association to Iggy asking for Cauchon to be the candidate.
I do hope Cauchon gets less conciliatory soon and more angry, after all, good old fashioned civil war between the Old Guard ™ Liberals would do wonders to help the newly minted coalition of the socialists, separatists and tories.
Apparently the riding is being held aside for an as yet unnamed female candidate, in an effort to renew the party in Quebec, apparently going with what wins isn’t part of the renewal process.
It’s fine to want to put certain people into certain ridings in order to get them into the Legislature, but you generally do that to ridings you know you’ll win. By the very nature of cherry picking people, you assume they couldn’t win the nomination race, meaning that you’re likely to disenfranchise those long standing members of the riding when you parachute your candidate, and generally lose out on that ‘local flair.’ Go figure, local voters generally prefer their representative to, well, represent them.
So what do you lose if you railroad your local riding associations? You lose the crutch of your local fundraising power, the bulk of your best volunteers and a fair amount of your lower and middling paid campaign staff.
That’s an acceptable loss in a riding you can’t lose, is it one in a riding you’ve lost twice in a row? The man running the Liberal campaign in Quebec seems to think so, I tend to have my doubts. One of the first rules of competitive sports is you don’t make assumptions about your opponents, when you go in assuming you’ll win, you’ll usually be surprised.
And today’s link roundup!
-It feels a little anti-climactic now, what with Jack’s backflip on EI (which I tend to vaguely support, but am pretty torn on), BUT: Electionprediction.org has now gone live with a hypothetical fall or spring federal election!
-Secondly, and I’m sure you’ve all seen it now, but apparently when the federal ministry of fisheries and oceans puts out a helpline to help lobster fishermen, the just assume the biggest problem is too little action, and not too few lobsters.
-The Canada Line opened in Vancouver! I know I’m late to the party, but living in Edmonton meant I couldn’t get out to see it until fairly recently. To quote a friend of mine who has a masters in civil engineering, I hope the Canada line, like the Millenium line, is bad city planning done very well. It’s nice and shiny, and the location is great, there are problems with the design, and it was done hugely on the cheap (meaning for example that increases in service become incredibly difficult/expensive) but for what is demanded in the city right now, it’s great.
-Dr. Horrible won an Emmy. This I approve of heartily. I’m a geek, sue me.\
-And how could I forget poor Rahim. I would have left him alone, entirely, and I mean that. Especially since, well, losing to the NDP in Alberta is embarrassing enough, BUT: He’s FIGHTING the charges? Really? He’s fighting getting caught driving over the speed limit, while intoxicated and having cocaine on his person? Is he going to say that the radar gun lied? That all three alcohol tests he was given all lied? That somehow he didn’t realize he had an 8-ball in his pocket? Let’s be clear, people make mistakes and people are human, it’s not the act that I have a problem with (per se, though it’s still pretty reprehensible), it’s that he claims he’s innocent. Yes, maybe he is, and the courts will decide, but I just cannot see, without hearing his side (which he has yet to do, despite being given the opportunity), any credible way he is innocent.
Man up, apologize, and go into a rehab program if you need to.
Sorry to leave on such a downer note, in that case, heres a video you should watch if you want a good political laugh! Once more popular than Trudeau!
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