Newfoundlander

Now she's lost a former minister to the BC Conservatives. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/26/bc-van-dongen-to-conservatives.html?cmp=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter The BC Liberals may go down in history as the pary of Gordon Campbell.

Nope.

The Liberals have done a good job of posing as a left wing party recently.

The PCs and Wildrose are now tied. http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/the%20race%20is%20on%20ipsos%20poll%20shows%20pcs%20and%20wildrose%20neck%20and%20neck/6442608473/story.html

I find the Liberal Party has just drifted to far to the left and has not had a leader since 2006 that understood, or who was at least willing to speak about, economics. They need to stop this centrist mumbo jumbo and start looking at things from a more pragmatic view that reflects Canadians, whether it be considered left or right. I found it odd last year during the Canada Post strike that while some Canadians were open to privatizing the crown corporation no party brought that forward, while this may be considered "right-wing" or "conservative" by some I think supporters of all parties would have been open to the idea. Last year's platform never even mentioned when the party was going to balance the budget, even though they planned to raise corporate taxes. The number one issue since 2008 has been the economy and jobs but the Liberals haven't discussed it. I think their next leader should be someone with a background in economics or business. They should also end these big national program ideas and start brining in policies that represent each region and province. Instead of being against the Conservative's crime bill I would have liked to someone come out and say that it should be up to the provinces. Governments in western Canada, including the NDP government in Manitoba, were open to many aspects of the crime bill, while some other provinces were totally against it. From what I've seen the Wildrose Party in Alberta have been the best opposition party in Canada and the Liberals could learn a lot from their organization. You can go to the Wildrose website and watch video of policies, but the one thing they've done that I think is great for an opposition party is releasing their own provincial budget. They should how they would govern if elected and other parties should take notice. While Bob the re-builder has been doing a great job the Liberals need probably a three election leader. If they had someone who was young enough to stay around for at least 10 years they'd likely have the longest serving leader which in my opinion can be very beneficial in an election.

He seemed to say he wouldn't make any big changes till the Fall, don't know what his thought process behind that is. I guess he just wants to get comfortable as leader but I would think he'd know his MPs well enough to put them in critic positions now that they could hold for at least a year.

Is it good politics? Having someone you've publicly criticized and called for to resign as your co-deputy leader (even if it is a useless position) instead of having someone you have a good working relationship with. It didn't end up being good politics for Chretien and Martin.

Anyone else shocked by the pitiful showing by Dewar and Nash?

I heard they did. I believe you said there was no need of it though, and I disagree.

In western Canada it was between the Conservatives and NDP. Ontario is more Conservative/Liberal races but that could change. If the Conservatives don't attack Mulcair now they could likely miss their chances. Layton was basically un-attackable in recent years because Canadians new him so well and Conservative attacks on him didn't work. One reason Bob Rae has been attacked was because they knew Canadians were warming up to him and that he could end up becoming the permanent leader. If they allow Mulcair to become well known to Canadians they may lose their chance of defining him as a communist.

No way. He's not going to choose two from BC. Paul Dewar, Robert Chisholm or even Jack Harris may have a shot, but seeing neither are fluently bilingual it's a bit complicated when Davies is also unilingual. I think having Davies as a co-deputy is a bit weird. I understand wanting to keep the peace but it just looks a bit ridiculous when he has openly criticized her. I think he should have went with Peggy Nash and Nathan Cullen and give Davies a good critic portfolio, probably keeping her in Health.

I never heard that, I googled her to see if any news articles mentioned it and never anything. I don't know why he would seeing he wanted her booted from cabinet not so long ago.

So what will happen in the Mulcair caucus, who wll be his major players going forward? He will be choosing a deputy leader, or leaders, as well as a shadow cabinet. Layton had a ridiculous shadow cabinet(I beleive there were 70+) with associate critics and deputy critics but I feel Mulcair is more serious about the NDP forming government and will likely appoint a smaller shadow cabinet. Who will he appoint to th ridiculous post of Quebec lieutenant, Nycole Turmel? What will happen to Libby Davies, will she even remain an MP for the next 3+ years?

He may have had support from some members of the NDP in the west but that's different then say the "Western Left".

He cut spending, he cut the public service, he cut taxes and he balanced the budget, what's un-fiscally conservative about that?

There's a big difference in winning the NDP's seats and winning their vote.

Fiscally he has been, I hope.

Paul Martin went to the left as Prime Minister, one could argue, but as finance minister he was fiscally conservative.

How was Chretien not fiscally conservative?

I didn't notice much difference in him, I always found him extremely likable.

Will Topp be to stubborn to give up if he finishes second on the third ballot and Mulcair has 47% or more?

I thought Rebecca Blaikie was going to start crying when she was being asked about the voting problems.

Pat Martin says he sees the attack ads already over the voting issues.

No need to get defensive, I just asked a question.

Is she aloud to speak?