December 10th, 2008 Andrew Cash
Taking Canada Back
By Andrew Cash
How quickly old boys douse the flames of party change
Yikes. What a snafu.
With Bob Rae stepping out of the Liberal race, the Libs can now do what they do best, power-broke their way to a new leadership.
Way back an eternity ago, in 2006, when Stéphane Dion was chosen Liberal leader, I wrote that the grassroots was giving the finger to the Liberal elite. Looks like the backroom boys are about to return the favour.
Problem is, the appointment of Michael Ignatieff doesn’t settle the democratic deficit of the Liberal party on any level. And what about all that talk at the last Grit convention about renewal in the party, new ways of doing things, more bottom-up participation?
And where are all those young conventioneers wearing Dion green and believing they’d transformed a cynical, top-heavy party ragged from internal warring?
Don’t Liberals get it that we’re in the Obama era, when party building is supposed to turn supporters into engaged participants?
But more to the point, handing over the party to Ignatieff doesn’t settle the broader democratic deficit either, where the majority of voters didn’t vote for but still got Tory rule. A broke and tired centre-right party has chosen the leadership candidate least jazzed about taking power in a coalition with the NDP.
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December 3rd, 2008 Andrew Cash
“The Governor General will be extremely reluctant to refuse the advice of the prime minister”
By Andrew Cash
It’s the tone, stupid. Sure, staving off economic devastation across the land is the sole focus of the new Liberal-NDP coalition hatched this week on the overheated carcass of the Harper Conservatives.
But it was Stephen Harper’s tone that pushed the Libs and the NDP into bed together, and it will be the tone of the coalition that will determine whether, as Jack Layton put it at the end of Monday’s surreal press conference, we can “do politics differently” in Canada.
I say, stick to that positive tone, Jack, especially as the Tory propaganda shitstorm builds. It resonates in either official language, because Canadians want to do politics differently.
So even if Governor General Michaëlle Jean decides to listen to her first minister and prorogue Parliament until the new year or dissolve it and trigger an election, nothing will be the same again in federal politics. That’s because we now know political opponents can sit down and work together to get things done.
But will this new moment be just that – a moment? Don’t doubt Harperites for a second when they say they will do anything within the law (and, as evidenced by the tape recording handed out Sunday by the PMO of a private conference call between NDP leader Jack Layton and his MPs, perhaps slightly outside it) to stay in power.
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November 25th, 2008 Andrew Cash
Sure, turbines are great, but eco-bullies could tone down the sermon
By Andrew Cash
Ah, there’s nothing quite like a public meeting in Scarborough to make me feel nostalgic for my childhood home – and for the merits of good old-fashioned political education.
The wind energy showdown, Monday, November 24, at Laurier Collegiate in Scarborough’s Guildwood Village seems, at first glance, like a classic NIMBY battle pitting local residents against downtown greenies and Toronto Hydro bureaucrats.
But it doesn’t really look that way to me, despite the fact that I’m blown away (excuse the pun) by the idea that wind fanning off the Bluffs could power the city’s first turbine operation.
I guess the problem here is that this isn’t an Ontario Municipal Board hearing where folks have to pack the hall because the process is unfair and rich lawyers are trying to take over neighbourhoods for rich developers.
This is a Q&A – one already cancelled once for lack of space – where residents have their sole chance to get Toronto Hydro to address their concerns.
Enviros, hyped and over-organized, don’t seem to get that this is their big opportunity to meet the community, find common ground and ultimately win them over.
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October 21st, 2008 Andrew Cash
NDP brain trust needs a rethink – its working families pitch thrilled in the north but flamed out in T.O.
By Andrew Cash
Hey, it’s not just the Harper Tories who have a Toronto problem.
If Jack Layton had snagged the PM’s job after last week’s election, he’d face a similar problem to Stephen Harper: the Tory leader has no Toronto MP to sit at the cabinet table, Layton only has one (other than himself).
While progressives pined for an NDP breakthrough in a city where local politics are dominated by the Dippers, the federal party arguably ran its best campaign in a couple of decades, except for one hitch: it all but ignored the biggest city in the country.
Okay, sure, the voter turnout was pukey, but while the NDP rejoices over its additional seats, fewer Canadians voted for the party last week than in the 2006 campaign.
In Toronto, the Conservatives more than doubled the NDP vote, and the Libs almost tripled it. In all, the NDP was able to capture only 15.1 per cent of the popular vote in the city.
Considering Layton is the most urban-?focused leader (as the former pres of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities), these results should ring alarm bells within the NDP brain trust. They are and they’re not.
In the past, the NDP has forgone surer bets in Ontario’s north for quixotic bids in the GTA. This time, they reversed course and bagged four extra seats in the northern Ontario, where Jack’s “Kitchen Table, Working Families” shtick resonates.
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October 15th, 2008 Andrew Cash
By Andrew Cash
My plan is to cab it up to Dundas West to Gerard Kennedy’s election party, soak up a few losing vibes there and then head back down to Bloor for the Peggy Nash victory bash.
The atmosphere is muted just after the polls close, a few dozen Kennedy faithful and some television cameras sitting around in the Flamingo Banquet Hall on what I presume is Kennedy’s political death watch.
Soon, however, Kennedy is 1,000 votes in front of Nash. Suddenly, there are more people in the small hall, the volume is louder, the beer caps are popping and, oops, looks like I went to the wrong party first.
Yet it’s a victory that comes with mixed feelings, and those are on display. The crowd cheers when Kennedy arrives, but there’s none of that unbridled enthusiasm usually on display at election-night victory celebrations, especially unexpected ones.
Kennedy dodged a bullet here. If he hadn’t won Parkdale-High Park, not only would his political career have been over, with hundreds of thousands of dollars still owing on his leadership campaign, but history would remember him primarily for his decision to back the hapless Stéphane Dion.
Perhaps the reason for the muted enthusiasm here is the Liberal bloodletting ahead.
Kennedy’s victory is a loss for Parkdale-High Park. Sure, he’s a compelling figure – he’s hard not to fall for. But he’s going to be subsumed by the Liberal psychodrama in Ottawa whether he wants to be or not.
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October 8th, 2008 Andrew Cash
Libs and NDP can take power through an accord – if they can ditch oversized egos
By Andrew Cash
As opposition candidates furiously scramble for your vote, try this one on them when they knock on your door: coalition government.
Other than oversized egos and playground immaturity, there is no good reason why the Libs, the NDP and possibly the Bloc and the Greens (if they elect someone) couldn’t cobble together a working – hell, an exciting – government that really does represent the majority of Canadians.
It’s either that or more of Harper’s take-no-prisoners minority stylings. So if you don’t relish the idea of another election in two years (that would make four in six years), there are alternatives.
But pols and the Canadian people need to fasten their seat belts and get ready for it.
Pre-eminent Canadian constitutional expert Peter Russell thinks that both Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton need to begin making a Plan B, assuming that each of their Plan As – becoming PM – doesn’t go as planned.
“Plan B would give the Governor General an option she didn’t have when Harper arrogantly asked for the dissolution of the last Parliament,” he says.
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October 8th, 2008 Andrew Cash
We don’t care if our leaders are strong – we only want them to look it
By Andrew Cash
With the financial crisis deepening day by day, the pundits are finally framing the election as “Who will be the best leader in a disintegrating economy?”
But I’m doubtful that’s what the discourse is really about. More likely, the real question is: “Who has the best look of leadership?”
Stéphane Dion appears sincere, emotional but ineffectual; Stephen Harper avuncular, measured but oblivious. And Jack Layton? He looks like he’s going to run a half-marathon as soon as he finishes the interview.
So what do we want in a leader anyway?
According to former Jean Chretien strategist Warren Kinsella, “Leadership hinges on portraying strength, certainty and the sense that this leader is someone who is like you. It boils down to 70 per cent appearance, 10 per cent what you actually say and 20 per cent how you say it.”
Generally, experts say the public prefers candidates who broadcast steadfastness but stay cool. “Usually, those who show a lot of emotion tend not to get elected,” says Harold Simpkins, a marketing prof at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business in Montreal.
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September 23rd, 2008 Andrew Cash
Tarnished golden boy tries to resurrect hope against people’s choice Nash
By Andrew Cash
It’s a glorious, sunny Saturday morning, the second-last day of summer, but Gerard Kennedy is standing in the middle of a shitstorm.
Mainstreeting on posh Bloor West Village, where even the No Frills seems high-end, Kennedy, shirt sleeves rolled up, suit jacket perpetually thrown over his shoulder, spends much of the morning sticking up for the guy he made Liberal boss, Stéphane Dion.
“You picked the wrong guy,” says more than one passerby.
“You should have been the leader,” remark others.
A number of the locals stop to give him an earful about how bad Dion’s sales job of the Green Shift has been.
While it isn’t all bad news, it’s clear that there’s more on the line for Kennedy than simply knocking off popular NDP incumbent Peggy Nash. Like maybe his political career.
“That’s a no-brainer,” he says of the stakes in this campaign.
He’s still in debt from his failed leadership bid, his party’s campaign has yet to catch a big wave, and many blame him as leadership kingmaker. The former provincial education minister needs a win.
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September 17th, 2008 Andrew Cash
Special report: banning handguns in Canada
By Andrew Cash
Cons shooting holes in global gun-control efforts
If you’re wondering whether you’ve missed any gun talk thus far in the federal election, don’t worry. Not a single rhetorical shot’s been fired – yet.
One reason the issue is taking its time is that the Tories have put a muzzle on their gun-loving supporters in hopes of wooing urban voters with a piano-playing, cardiganed teddy bear.
But in rural areas, these Reformers in Tory blue continue to play the gun card, fanning the still seething flames of anger over the Liberal gun registry.
In one Tory election mail-out to the rural Ontario riding of Leeds-Grenville, a friendly-looking farmer is pictured beside the headline “Gun criminal, hmmmm not likely.” The flyer goes on to promise the scrapping of the long gun registry.
This urban-rural mixed message parallels yet another of the Tories’ duelling hypotheses – that it’s possible to crack down on crime and still allow the amassing of private firearms.
They may be law-and-order freaks, but that hasn’t stopped the Stephen Harper government from letting legal laggards off the hook with a general amnesty for anyone whose gun licence has lapsed, thus leaving hundreds of thousands of guns unlicensed and making the registry less accurate.
But there’s such a stockpile of Tory weapon-control transgressions.
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September 7th, 2008 Andrew Cash
What are the chances of a left-wing coalition government?
By Andrew Cash
The horses have left the corral: An election has been called.
Governor General Michaelle Jean has seemingly had to swallow the fact that 15 months after she signed into law fixed election dates, her first minister has decided to do exactly what the law was supposed to prevent. Namely, enabling a sitting Prime Minister to control the timing of elections for pure political advantage.
But what now? The well financed Team Harper (which is really Team Harris with a new captain) has the right side of the field all to itself – roughly between 30 and 36 per cent of voters depending on what day it is.
The opposition parties crowd the left but their combined support represents a resounding majority of Canadians. What to do? How’s this: let’s forget about strategic voting.
When opposition candidates knock on your door try this one on them: coalition government. Tell your thick-necked candidates to forget about the bloodsport on embarassing display each and every day the House of Commons sits. If the next election results in another minority parliament, tell them to get the boss of their political gang to sit down with the boss of the other gang and friggin work together for Canadians.
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