For those of you wondering, no, I haven't totally tuned out of the goings-on of federal Liberal leadership race - it's just that I'm finding it quite boring at this point.When running through a list of declared/likely/possible candidates for the coveted Stornoway parking spot, there are only a few candidates that I would feel comfortable with as leader, namely Gerard Kennedy and perhaps Michael Ignatieff.
We'll just have to see what happens as most of the leadership candidates will most likely be in
Also, the "braintrust" of the federal Liberals have laid out the rules for the race - Jason has a good analysis if you're interested - but one of the points that stuck out for me is the rush to get a new leader.
Under the rules, the membership sales cutoff is July 1st - this leaves me with two thoughts.
1. It's damn soon and will isolate the influence of the summer BBQ circuit to people who already have memberships.
2. With the academic year ending in less than 2 months, the timeline leaves little or no time for campus clubs to organize membership and recruitment drives.
It looks to me like it was a plan written up by a group of Toronto-centric Liberals who believe that Harper will crash and burn as the Liberals return from the indiginity of opposition by next spring - something which is most likely not going to happen.
And yes, for the sake of throwing it out there, even though I didn't vote Liberal in the last federal election, I'm probably going to renew my lapsed Liberal membership before July 1st so I can vote against Belinda Stronach and Bob Rae. ;-)
In other interesting news, I will be going to the budget announcement at the Alberta Legislature on Wednesday afternoon. Perhaps if I have time, I'll write up a recap similar to the one I did for budget 2005. Care to place bets on how big this year's surplus will be?
I don't get the Ignatieff appeal. Can anyone tell me why they find him appealing? He's got some of the worst foreign policy stances possible among the leadership contenders, although I will admit that I know little to nothing about his social and domestic policies.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the appeal of having an internationally renouned academic as PM that impresses people.
ReplyDeleteTo c-lo's disappointment, I'm not totally sold on Iggy by any stretch of the imagination. As much as the Harvard part impresses me, it's more that I find him less offensive than many of the other candidates.
WHAT DOES Kennedy know about federal politics...he is top notch at education in ontario as he has worked long and hard studying it....we need a statesman not a food bank operator...I like Lloyd Axworthy..I like Ralph Goodale...also like dryden but very green...we need someone like the beautiful brian tobin who can talk louder and lie louder and faster than these rightwing fanatics we are facing...Kennedy is a pussycat.
ReplyDeleteI go with Ignatieff and Kennedy. Kennedy has the expeience of the Ontario legislature. which could help. Ignatieff has the experience of the world and he is charismatic....may I say "a little like PET " that way and very scholarly.
ReplyDeleteThe Liberal party hasn't seen one of those for awhile, so I think we should really take a good look and listen to him.
He could really do Harper in!
Dave,
ReplyDeleteWelcome back and nice new looks. I'm sure Gerard will be back in Edmonton before April 10th if all is a go. I'm sure Edmonton is in strong consideration as a potential launch point for a campaign. There are quite a few Albertans who know him from his days at the U. of A. and Edmonton Food Bank.