No Green Candidate in Etobicoke Center

In a surprising move Elisabeth may said that she would urge her party not to run a candidate in Etobicoke center a riding that may be forced to have a by-election. First let`s state how much this could help the Liberal party if the Greens didn`t run a candidate. The May 2nd 2011 result was

Conservative Ted       21,661
Liberal          Borys    21,635
NDP             Ana        7,731
Green           Katarina  1,454
Marxist Leninist  Sarah   149

Now with the Greens not running a candidate this is good to be true, but  some would say that the high in the polls NDP may grab the riding. Following a current forum research poll Ontario since 2011 has changed a lot.

Change in percentage since 2011 (in Ontario)
Conservative  40% (-4.4%)
NDP             30.0% (+4.4%)
Liberal          23.0% (-2.3%)
Green ¸           6.0% (+2.2%)

The only thing that is clear is that the Conservatives are down NDP is up and Liberals are just about where they have been since May. So even with the NDP most probably going up in this riding they don`t seem like they will win. Even if  Liberals lose support in the riding we can still win, because the Conservatives might lose more support, but in such a close contest having no Green Party candidate does help Liberals chances in the riding.
   

Liberals Growing Irrelevance In West.

The Liberal party has a major problem. We seem for the most part since May 2nd 2012 to be up from our election results. All major projections have us gaining some dozens or more seats and racking up a few more votes. But in the West is our major problem. In Western Canada the Provincial parties although not completely similar to the national party do offer enormous showing of how Liberal values fair in the province. The answer isn't so well

In fact Saskatchewan and Manitoba had election recently. In the Manitoba provincial election 2011 the Liberal party got 8% of the vote (4% down from last time around) while the NDP and the PC got well over 40%. The Liberal party only got 1 seat (from their 2 last time around) and that was only given to the leader of the party. In Manitoba they practically have a two party system with a little dot of red in Winnipeg.

In Saskatchewan the situation was just plain sad. The Liberals even before the election were somewhat irrelevant politically getting 9% of the vote in 2007 and no seats. In 2011 is when the situation got sad. The Liberal party only had 9 candidates running out of the 57 ridings. The Green Party of Manitoba Saskatchewan at least had a full slate. The election result was predictable. No seats and only 0.6% of the vote. The Green party of Manitoba no surprise got third place in the vote count with 3%.

If you look at the polls for the national Liberals they are third place in the parries while the NDP and the Tories battle it out. Although there are signs of hope. In Alberta the Liberals did get pushed into third place and did lose a lot of votes as well as seats, but the fact remains that we didn't lose it to the NDP. Second pace went to the Wildrose. Not that this should bring comfort, but the fact remains we did 900 more votes and 1 seat more then the NDP. Which makes us the Progressive leaders in Alberta's politics for the next few years.

But the Liberal Party still has major challenges out in the west and they must tackle them now! Our party can't rebuild only in Toronto and Montreal. We need to look to the west!

NDP Not Legalizing Pot

The NDP seems to want to lag behind the Liberals when it comes to the smart on drugs plan. The NDP apparently according to George Soule the NDP wants to decriminalize pot (making it no longer illegal to have). While the Liberals are now the only party fully in favor of legalizing and taxing marijuana. The main difference is that marijuana will be legal to buy and sell, and the NDP will only allow someone to have it without facing prison time. 


But George Soule said that the NDP would want before decriminalizing a study to be done. A study! I can't believe I am hearing this from the NDP. Asking for a study when it comes to Marijuana a subject that has been studied hundreds of times over is like asking for a study on tobacco. This is a delay tactic! We don't need a study on marijuana we need to get over this issue and legalize it already!


Policy Review 
NDP seems to support having a study on the matter, and possibly decriminalizing it.
Conservatives want to put people with six pot plants in jail for six months.
Liberals want to radically move away from the "War on Drug" agenda as soon as possible and legalize the plant that has proven to reduce crime in many countries.


Read more here

The Way to Toronto's Heart is Public Transit!

A message to local Liberals, provincial Liberals and even federal Liberals. People want public transit funded! In a recent poll 74% of people in Toronto said that they would favor a 0.5% sales tax increase if it meant that the money would go to public transit in Toronto. With all areas having a majority of no less then 67% of people supporting it. If the Liberal party of Canada wants to get back the riding rich city of Toronto and it's suburbs it has got to jump on the public transpiration system.

Environics’ Darren Karasiuk said this debate has made people more willing to consider a tax to pay for transit expansion.
“I can’t think of a time transit and transportation has received as much attention as they have in the last few months,” he said. “The public recognizes this as an issue and they’re ready to think and have a meaningful conversation about it.”

Public transit is the way to go when it come to improving the environment , the economy and traffic. Liberals have somewhat seen this opportunity by proposing a high speed rail system, but if Liberals want to get the daily commuters of Montreal we have to look at local transportation and infrastructure. Remember the Stephane Dion 70 billion dollar infrastructure fund . We need more policies like that were people can see the results right before there eyes. It seems the public is ready for it and so should the Liberals be.

The poll’s suggestion that 905 voters back the tax may be its most important finding. The suburbs are the key battleground in provincial and federal elections. They also have less transit infrastructure and far lower ridership numbers than the city.

Read more here

Meanwhile In Onatario

The recently elected minority in Ontario is going to have to present a budget that is going to need at least 2 members of the opposition to vote in favor in order to stop an election. Dalton Mcguinty is going to need help from the NDP since the Conservatives have stated that they won't support the budget. The NDP haven't quite given an official statement on whether they will vote for the budget or not, but they have brought some ideas to the table. Some of them I like! One of them is to increase the taxes on the richest people in the province. I am in favor of making people who have gotten so much out of the province paying some more to help balance the budget. We need shared sacrifice to pay off our deficits.Dalton Mcguinty is willing to work with the NDP to make the budget.

A poll I wrote about yesterday said a majority are behind the idea that people who are rich should pay more taxes. I think with the Liberals and the NDP working together in Ontario (even though I still think their are many things they should still do) Ontario could get a real progressive budget.

Way To Stand Out!

The Alberta Liberals released there platform for the upcoming election in 2012. In the platform is a radical policy (at least I think) to try and reduce tuition cost of universities, and apparently try to completely eliminate it by 2025. Alberta tuition is the 4th highest in the world  country. Now I do think that tuition in Alberta should not rise and even slightly reduce for now. But to eliminate it I think it comes to a point where the government could better use the money. I am all for forgiving debt to people who want to become doctors, but it get's to a point especially in the future where universities will want money and the government will be too strapped to pay for it. In Quebec the tuition hikes are needed in Alberta a reduce is very welcomed. Being a fiscal conservative I think that high subsidization of education is good and more money for low income families are good as well, but free is too much money. We have to have priorities, and education should be on the top of the list, but our government has other places to put money into especially in Alberta when it comes to Health Care. If lower waiting times and balanced budget's mean students paying some money I think that is fair. Maybe Alberta can afford it, because it has oil , but I still say the money can be better spent. I am still routing for the Alberta Liberals in the 2012 election.

What I Learned In One Day

As a politcal junkie conventions are one of the most exiciting events I can go to. This convention so far is no exception. At the convention is one of the only places in the world where you can tap someone's sholder and say "hey Ima Liberal" and actually have a real conversation with them. This is something not all Liberals in Canada have an opprotunity to do. We need and will get all 308 ridings to start engaging their members into the party and to discuss policy at the local level. On A worser side. Going to this convention I started off with an idea that was contrary to what Liberals must to in the Convention. I was decideing not to support a candidate (Zack Paikin) Because of his more Conservative leaning on certain issue's I can't speak for Owner and Doggy of course. But I felt that the point a fellow blogger Volkov made was very sensible. Which was that the national policy chair is only responsible for oversieng the policy development process, and his own political ideology has nothing to do with it. I felt that I was coming into the Convention maybe diving rather then unitying. But I learned quickly that I shouldn't not vote for Paikin just because of his views which have nothing to do for the job he is running for. Today I will vote for the excutive position, and for the national policy chair Zack is defintly a possibility. I haven't made my mind up. On the brighter side I have meet so many passionet Liberals, and meet Stephane Dion, Paul Martin, Bob Rae and Irwin Cotler and that was just today. One thing is sure which is that this party is not only UNITED, but we are nowhere near DEAD!

Opposition to Harper: Nonexistant

Who will rise this year to challenge Stephen Harper, to oppose him credibly? There might be many credible attacks on the Conservatives in 2012, but the no one will be listening. There was a reason the Tories received a majority government in May: so that Canadians would not have to hear about politics for another four years.

Besides that, the Liberals are too busy rebuilding to oppose him for a good while and the New Democrats still have a couple of months before they choose their leader. Unless the Tories make a huge mistake, the political landscape should stay as is: calm and placid.

Who will emerge to provide tough, credible opposition to Stephen Harper in 2012? 

Harper enters the year with a majority in the House of Commons, a majority on the Supreme Court of Canada and an even greater majority in the Senate, with Friday’s appointment of seven more loyal Conservatives pledging fealty to the leader.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

My Interview with Alexandra Mendès Part 2

Here is the second part of my interview with Alexandra Mendès.

Q: How would you try to engage High School students to join the Liberal Party?

A: We have to prepare them to vote for us. Canadian citizen’s lost the meaning of what the electoral process is all about. I think we should reach out to school boards that sec 4 and 5 students at least every year have someone (like a local MP) in a nonpartisan matter  explain what the whole system is about. If we do that then students will have a better understanding about the process.


Q:since you support micro targeting how would you carry it out?


A:Once we actually agree to invest in technology we have to train all the riding association about using things like liberalist. Liberalist is the gathering source of all the information. I would work with the PTA to ensure that the riding association are complying to the targets. Our PTA has to be accountable to members. If you tell the PTA they’re target and they don’t comply then they have to explain to their member’s why they didn’t reach their targets. we have to have measures that make people accountable. The best way is to make them vote on the leader. Every year there should be an executive review by the members of my position as well, we don’t need to wait two years and go to a convention for that.


Q: Do you think it is important for the next president of the Liberal party to bilingual? 


A:Yes absolutely I believe that there is less and less of an excuse for party officers not to be bilingual. Canada has been bilingual countries for years and this should be reflecting in our party officer.

Q: What about Ron Hartling (who is also running to be the president of the Liberal party) who isn't bilingual?

A:He said he would be fully bilingual I have no reason to doubt him. I think bilingualism should be a matter of consideration by members of the party. 

 

My Interview with Alexandra Mendès Part 1

I had a phone interview with one of the candidates running for President of the Liberal party of Canada. As we all know this is one of the most important positions us Liberals have to elect at the Convention.

Q: One of the issues the President of the Liberal party is going to have to face is to attract former Liberals back to the party. How do you intend to do that?

A: By Honoring their past service to the party.We often forget that people who have been Liberals who have been discouraged from the party. Lot of Liberals got discourage by the infighting and the division and this has been going on since the leadership campaign in1984. I come to the conclusion that we are our worse enemy. For me to recover the thrust of the Liberals who left the boat we must show them we have changed. Infighting is not acceptable. As Liberals we have the right to our opinion, but shouldn't resort to fighting each other.

Q: What is your view on the Leader's power to veto the nomination of the candidates from the EDA?

A: I have no problem eliminating the veto power of the leader of the party, but we should maintain the power of nomination In order to have diversity (in respects to gender, handicaps etc…) .We can’t be always assured that the EDA will always take diversity into account. I am fully in favor of affirmative action.

Q: How would you reform the policy process in the Liberal Party? And would you be for voting on policies online?

 A:The national policy chair is in charge of that. I don’t think I should be taking on all the executive rolls. We should encourage technology as form of modernization of the process. We can do it and do it well.

Q: What do you think about a zero dollar membership fee?

A: I am not against it or in favor. We should make membership as easy as possible. The fee is very symbolic and the process should be made easy.

Hidden Agenda of Zach Paikin?

As a delegate to the biennial convention, I have been doing my homework, researching each and every candidate for the executive (a surprisingly long and torturous process). While researching Zach Paikin, candidate for National Policy Chair, I of course found two controversial blog posts using facts to show how extremist he really is. Among the interesting quotes of Mr. Paikin are:

“If the Conservatives fail to begin a national discussion on the introduction of a two-tier health care system by next year, the Liberals should quickly seize this territory”

“…proceed with the current plan to reduce corporate taxes to 15% by January 1, 2012;”

He also called the Arab Spring, “…a massive strategic victory for Iran in the Middle East.”

This makes me wonder if someone with these views should serve as policy chair for the Liberals. These are not Liberal views. Mr. Paikin's views are extremely conservative. Even Dr. Roy endorses him! Dr. Roy writes, "He agrees with me on about 80% of issues." Can we really have a conservative in charge of policy of the Liberals?

This also makes me ask: what's his motive? Why is he seeking out this position? What is his hidden agenda?

Therefore, I will not be voting for Zach Paikin at the Biennial Convention.

No to Liberal Primaries

There is a proposition that we Liberals instate a primary system for electing our next leader. This was clearly iterated in the Board's document, "A Roadmap to Renewal." It suggests having a new category of people called "supporters" who would not be members, but would still have the right to vote in leadership contests. 

This is a bold, new proposal, especially in Canada. However, I do not think it would be a good idea to have a new category of "supporters." Instead, we have to work to get people engaged in Liberal activities, interested in our cause and when time comes to vote, they should be able to become a member easily and vote right away. No more of that 40 day crap. Membership fees should also go down from ten dollars to basically zero. Even though there is a cost to the Liberal Party for each member that signs up, it will be through engagement of our new and old members that successful fundraising will come.

To sum up, it is not through granting people the same rights as members that we will gain the support of more people. It is through engaging them by having a continuous policy-creating process and continuous forums that we will gain more members and thereby, gain more money.

The federal Liberal convention, which arrives in Ottawa on Jan. 13, will be a seminal event. Does it matter if the party survives? Few would say so with much passion, but I think it does matter. Failing that, we’ll be left with ideologues of the left and right. Liberals, by contrast, have few principles beyond survival and power, which at least makes for a keen attention to the public good.

Read more at the Globe and Mail. 

I agree with my Blogger!

My Co-blogger says that the fact that the Liberal party walked out in protest to the Conservatives appointment for the auditor-general was outrageous. I think so, but for different reasons. If  you look at history many people do things that are very similar. When Iran speaks at the UN most of the developed world boycotted his speech. In many Parliament when a radical takes the stand and speaks his speech is boycotted in Parliament. The fact is that boycotting is an effective tool to show displeasure. Except I found that this situation isn't in need for a boycott. It wasn't completely as outrageous as Ahmadinejad dening the holocaust! I think marching out of the parliament should only be used when something completely outrageous is done. The fact that auditor general isn't bilingual is something to maybe disagree with, but not the kind of outrage that deems a complete walk-out of the parliament. On the question whether the Auditor general should speak french I think that it shouldn't matter, but the fact is that the Conservatives cheated there own legally binding rules. That's the problem. So I think if the Conservatives would have changed the rules from the beginning allowing all unilingual people a chance to go for such a job would have made it fair. But I don't think the appointment was a good enough reason to walk out. They should have stayed in the parliament and voted NO!

Walking Out is not Right

The new Auditor-General is not bilingual. Yet, that is one of the conditions of the job of Auditor-General.  No doubt then that the Conservatives are telling the truth when saying that he is the only qualified individual for the job. Out of the people in Canada, there must have been at least one who had all the competences and was bilingual.

Some say that being bilingual doesn't really matter to the job of Auditor-General. Maybe they do not need to be fluently bilingual, but a good knowledge of both languages should be a prerequisite. But, if the Conservatives are going to ignore the condition of being bilingual, then they should full out just say it publicly instead of lying.

I do not agree with the Liberal response to the government. The NDP had the right one. To walk seems like a desperate act to get attention and it does come off as one. If the decision isn't right then the job of the opposition is to show up in Parliament and vote against it, not to abandon its responsibilities as the Liberals did. 

Bob Rae and his Liberal MPs boycotted a Commons vote that approved a unilingual accountant, Michael Ferguson, to serve as Canada’s new Auditor-General. 

While Conservative and NDP MPs stood in the House, the real action was taking place outside the chamber, where an angry Interim Liberal Leader condemned the process as an “abuse” and “illegitimate.”

Read more at the Globe and Mail. 

Some good Polls

A new poll has the Liberals maybe in not so much good shape, but no where near invisible. The Conservatives are of course leading 37.7% and the NDP in second place at 30% while the Liberals are in 3rd place at 23.4%. If you compare this to the May results we went up 4% the Conservatives went down 2% and the NDP down 1%. In Quebec the New NDP buddy, still likes the NDP at 45% support. Our separatist Bloc friends are in third place at 15%. With these numbers the Bloc would be lucky to get one seat. Us Liberals are placed in second at 18%. Not much to brag about, but it's up. In Ontario the Liberals have been polling at a solid second place finish in Ontario.

Other good news Bob Rae is beating Nycole Turmel for second place on leadership issue's. On the issue of who is the most trustworthy.Harper dipped big time from high 30's to 30% from just a month ago! Turmel is now fighting May on this issue.From almost the moment Turmel became leader her Trustworthiness went from 33% to now 11%. Bob Rae at 16%. Not the best news, but this is the first lead on this issue since 2009.

On the issue of who is the most competent Harper faced a small dip now at 37% from just a month ago. NDP again similarly faced a major crash after Turmel become leader (from mid 20's to 7% by the way May is polling on this issue at 3.9%) Liberal leader Rae is up and at 18%.

On the issue of who is the best vision Harper again leads, but dipped by about 7% from just a month ago. On this issue the NDP faced crash again from 30% when Tyrmel became leader to now 13%.  Rae went up since he became leader and is now at 15%.

These polls are nothing much to brag about, but it's very nice to see that are party isn't dying away like many said we would. In fact if these trends continue the NDP and Conservatives will have to worry.

see the poll here

Rick Mercer Thank You

Rick Mercer has outdone himself now. He ranted about the money the Finance minister is spending to try and cut government spending. 20 million dollars to find out how to cut spending. 90,000 dollars a day!

Rick Mercer is right Martin balanced a 43 billion dollar structural deficit in 4 years. Harper has taken the 13 billion Martin left him and brought us into deficit even before the recession. Better than giving Martin a call like Rick suggested. Why don't we kick out Harper and get back to the fiscal responsibility of the Liberal party.

Who Won in Ontario?

Last night was exciting to watch! The Liberals were up and down the majority level for hours, but it turned out that the Liberals have no majority status anymore in Queens park. So who won Ontario well the Liberals did win a minority government, and I think considering that they won the province that was just a month ago prepared to kick out the Liberals and create a new PC majority government I think the Liberals did great in this campaign. The PC grabbed 12 seats and did better than expected in the vote count so they are winners only because they managed to keep Mcguinty out of a majority, but considering PC were unable to win against the Liberals who were polling really low just a month ago I think this isn't that much of a win. The NDP had a bit of a disappointing night. They grabbed 7 more seats and 7% more votes than last time. They were expected to get in the mid 20's on votes, but even more importantly they were expected to more than double there seat count from 2007 (7).

So to recap
Winners (with a grain of salt)
Liberals: for regaining a third term in power with a strong Minority
PC: for grabbing a good amount of seats and putting the Liberals in majority, but not able to get there on governments like the governments polls said they would.
NDP: grabbing more seats and now having the most seats they have has in decades, but not able to break Ontario the way they were expected to early in the campaign and the day before the end. 

But I think that this has been a relatively good week for the Liberals. Winning another majority government in PEI and another strong government in Ontario. We had  a disappointing show in Manitoba, but all in all you can't complain much for all the great wins we had this week. And just one more thing a Liberal majority in Ontario is just one by-election away!

Ontario Has a choice

Ontario on October 6th has a choice they can vote for Hudack who will hurt health care in the province. Hudack will be a sell out to Harper in 2014 on the health accord. Hudack would cancel corporation deals that are going to create thousands of jobs. Hudack would eliminate the Green energy policies that would create more clean energy for Ontario. The Liberal party of Ontario has done good choices for Ontario. They simplified the tax code by creating the HST, and over ten years the HST will create 591,000 jobs. The Liberal party is on the right track to making the energy grid of the province more green. David Suzuki even supports his green plan. The Liberal party of Ontario won't sell out to Harper in 2014. The Liberal party of Ontario has done a good job creating jobs in the province. This year Ontario created more jobs then the rest of Canada combined. The Liberal party is going to reduce tuition by 30%. What have the NDP proposed? they are like the Republicans of the U.S always voting no, and just waiting for power. The NDP voted against the stimulus that has created many jobs in Ontario. The NDP you would think support Green jobs, but they are going to cut Green jobs. David Suzuki says her plan is more about getting political power than doing what's right. On October 6th Ontario has a choice. They can go with the Job killing agenda of Hudack,the Job killing agenda of Horwath or the Job creating record of Dalton Mcguinty. Ontario can go with Hudack's non priced budget or the fiscal responsibility Mcguinty is proposing of eliminating the deficit. Ontario can chose the NDP and PC terrible plan for the environment, or we can go with the plan David Suzuki calls "An example to the rest of the world." Ontario has a choice and the polls show they might chose what is the best for the province.

Who Won PEI?

Yesterday PEI had an election where they re-elected the Liberal government. The Liberals got 22 and the PC got 5 seats. No some would claim that since the PC won more seats they did relatively well in the election. The fact of the matter is that the PC lost 2 seats in there traditional stronghold of rural PEI. They gained 3 seats. One by a landslide and 2 by 30 votes each. If there were recounts in these riding the Liberal could pick up two more seats and get 24-3. Therefor the PC have 1 less riding then they had in 2007. Even if the Liberals grab no extra seats the fact that the only gains the PC made were won by just a few 10 votes is sad. .This proves that these riding can easily change sides within the day. Also consider that the PC got less votes this time than last time around again proves they really didn't win any more support. The PC I think lost this election, but they did to be fair do somewhat better than expected not being completely swiped out of the province. The Liberals are the clear winners I believe. In a re-election where governing parties as we now politically have a harder time getting elected the Liberal lost one seat and 1.5%. Not bad.  I consider that a win. The Greens and NDP both picked up some more support in this election. The Greens still a proving to get more votes than the NDP.

to recap
Winners in this election: Liberals for getting another solid majority
Losers: PC for barely growing in this election
Small victories: Green for gaining 1% more in the province and for still placing 3rd in the vote count , and the NDP for gaining 1% also like the Greens

Elections almost here!

Today is October 3rd and the first big test's for all the political parties on the provincial stage. First up is today in PEI. It seems that the Liberals will grab this province, but the question is will they be able to fully eliminate the Conservatives out of office. The Conservatives only need one seat in the province to be considered an official party, another test will be is the Green's in the province can grow there numbers, and if the NDP can get more votes than the Greens in the province. In 2007 the Greens got 3% and the NDP got 2%.Also today is the territorial election in NWT, but there is no provincial Liberals, Conservatives or NDP in the province. So hard to read anything from that election about federal politics, but I will still be watching it.

 On October 4th the day after those two elections Manitoba will be having it's election. It seems that it could be tied in votes. The last to polls had both NDP and PC very close to each other, but that doesn't seem to matter , because it seems that the NDP are going to get a majority government either way. I say the test here for the NDP isn't to win a majority government which it looks like it's going to get, but whether it can still get more votes province wide than the PC. For us I say are test is to try and get the same support if not grow from last election and keep the current seats we have. It doesn't seem we have much to gain here. If the Greens get the 4% they are polled it will be a win for them considering last time they got 1%.

Then it's the big prize of Ontario. The test for the Liberals is to maintain a majority government. Right now they are polling quite even with the PC, but in seats the projections have the Liberals at the border of a majority. The PC test will be if they can get more votes than the Liberals, and more importantly if they can put the Liberals down to a minority, but it won't matter I don't think the NDP will prop Hudack. The NDP there big test is today. in no other election are they going to make more gains. Last time they got 10 seats right now if they can get the 25% of the vote like they gor in the federal election just some month ago they will prove that there power hasn't diminished quite yet.

It seems the Tories aren't going to win anything. In PEI it looks like they will be swept away. In Manitoba they might get the exact same as the last time around. In Ontario what seemed to be a slam duck for them is now a big major upset by the Liberals. It seems all the incumbents will get another chance at the bat.