UofGPolitico

There definitely is an environment being created that could be ripe for a whole host of problems. Mulcair will have some work to do to make sure the party is behind him. People like Libby Davies are probably having strokes over the possibility of a Mulcair NDP. I use her name because she I think definitely is the face of the radical left in that party.

So Ed Broadbent in multiple interviews today went on a tirade warning against a Mulcair victory citing his temperament, the fact that the majority of seasoned MPs have not supported him in this race and that he will move the party too far to the centre. Clearly Broadbent is throwing a hail mary for his little pet project, Brian Topp, but what will this do IF Mulcair is victorious? Setting the party up for some pretty divisive times me thinks. Broadbent's public comments today are just a Tory attack ad waiting to happen.

Or a divided vote on the right in Ontario. Neither of which are available anymore for the Grits. The Liberals know if they are to survive, Quebec is where they must begin their rise from the grave. This Dion thing being discussed in another thread is no side issue. Its clear the Liberals are trying to play wedge politics in Quebec in hopes of catching up the whole swath of support the NDP stands to lose no matter what side they appear to be taking on the issue of Quebec sovereignty.

You hit the nail right on the head. They know full well their "wave" is primarily comprised with disaffected Bloc voters. They captured some federalist voters as well, no doubt, which will also create another problem for them if they are seen to be placating sovereigntists. God bless Pierre Trudeau. I am not a Liberal, and in retrospect, disagree with a whole host of Trudeau's policies as PM, but he is truly the last Prime Minster to show true and effective leadership on the Quebec question. And a side note, I am so glad to have provided a topic that has been met with such response lol. 6 pages in 24 hours!

Anyone noticed too Martin has been muzzled in QP? Charlie Angus has stepped up as the supplementary questioner after Turmel. How does humble pie taste, Mr. Martin?

Profession is IT, hmmmm. Sona claimed he has limited computer and math skills. Perhaps Sona gave birth to the idea and Prescott applied it.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/12/stephane-dion-ndps-separatist-pandering-threatens-national-unity/ Those are just two of the points Stephane Dion makes in his op-ed piece. He was on Power & Politics tonight being very aggressive with Peter Julian. It was pretty heated. Stephane Dion as we know does get a little dramatic sometimes, but he does have a point. The NDP are a predominantly Quebec-based party now, at least for the time being, and there are people in that party with known ties to the sovereignty movement. Their own interim leader for god sakes used to be a card carrying member of the Bloc! Stephane Dion obviously has his own reasons for attacking them on this, least of which is he was the author of the Clarity Act which challenges many of the views the NDP has expressed at least tacit support for in the past. Its interesting to finally see the Liberals CHALLENGING the NDP as opposed to standing in agreement with them on almost every issue. It can only help re-define them.

Exactly. When the system favours you, it only makes sense you would be advocating for the status quo.

I am sure if they ever were to gain power again, that policy would quietly disappear.

As with any party lol. There were Liberals openly musing about electoral reform in the days after their humiliating defeat last May.

It will be interesting to see if Turmel leads off QP today with robocalls. I think there is a chance this may be the first QP in 3 weeks she won't. There is the CBC report out last night that civil servants pay outs will cost 2 billion and of course the drug shortages. Should be interesting. With word we may not know anything for months or years, this robocall story is losing its legs quick. Not that it still isn't important, and maybe after months and years a bombshell will be dropped, however, more pressing things are emerging as concerns for both the media and the opposition.

Nope. New poll out last suggests the NDP is back out front, albeit in a tight 3 way race between the Dippers, the Grits and the Bloc. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iiEu3x6ef8w/T1oN9DRsKcI/AAAAAAAAHYc/ejtQyiMPcNM/s1600/Forum.PNG If Mulcair is declared the leader, the NDP no doubt will experience a honeymoon surge there. There is no point assessing the Quebec situation until much closer to 2015. It will be volatile. A lot will happen before then. The Quebec provincial election, new NDP leader, new Liberal leader, and I am sure the Tories have a trick or two up their sleeve to try and appeal to Quebec as well.

Well the NDP and Greens have always cared because it would benefit them more, but I suppose you could be correct. Well, not really. Because they'd be seizing power from another party which did not command the votes of the majority either. To be fair, no political party with power in Ontario wanted that referendum. An interest group was able to go through all the loop holes to force it on the ballot.

You are correct, it does not (coalition governments), but there is a general perception out there with mainstream voters that it does. I fall in the middle on the issue. I think I would be comfortable with a coalition government made up of parties where none of which received the greatest number of seats if the "winning" party only won a handful of seats more than the 2nd place one. With a 63 seat spread in 2008 between the first place party and the 2nd place one, the prospect of a coalition power play seemsed a lot less appealing and the majority of Canadians felt so at the time. Not the mention the fact that it would have made Stephane Dion Prime Minister less than 2 months after he was rejected overwhelmingly by Canadians when he was running for that job. The fact that it would have been propped up by a party determined to break up the country is a side issue, but it made it all the more questionable. So here is a hypothetical. With the Bloc out of the equation now that stick cannot be used by Harper next election (assuming they do not mount a huge comeback). If Harper does get bumped down to a minority, preferably a thin one (20 seats or less) and the NDP combined with the Liberals eclipsed the Tories by the same number, or more, I think a coalition government would be far easier to stomach. If the Tories though came within 5-10 seats of a majority, I think it would be a far more difficult sell for the opposition parties to make, just like in 2008. Of course, the answer to this dilemma is really electoral reform. Mixed-Member-Proportional, and that way coalition governments will most likely be a necessity for anyone to govern. I think that's where the real education should be.

Confirmation the majority of the 31,000 "contacts" made with Elections Canada were from online forms. Remember, this number was reported BEFORE Elections Canada put up their own form on their website. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/online-form-letters-behind-majority-of-31000-robo-call-complaints/article2366825/ I am sure there were several people who used those forms because they may have been affected by one of these robo-calls, but it definitely muddies the waters even more. The opposition would be wise to back down from spouting that number. We don't know how many duplicates there were. Someone could have sat at their computer one night and filled out 100 forms for all we know.

If Mulcair wins, and Rae does end up permanent Liberal leader Harper will be the baby. Assuming Harper doesn't pull a Mulroney in 2015 that is. In 2015 Rae will be 67, Mulcair will be 61 and Harper will be 56.

I find Charlie Angus annoying sometimes, but I've always been under the impression he is one of the hardest working MP's for his constituents on the hill. Hasn't he won an award for it?

Turmel is embarrassing enough outside of the Commons as Interim Leader, but in QP when she constantly is reading her script, she seems even more so. Rae really is de facto Opposition Leader right now. He never reads from a script and has such gusto.

Oh, I am sure Che was represented. You clearly have never been to a Guelph protest

LOL, I know, right? Stunning revelation! Just making sure people are aware of it, that's all. I was asked to come to the protest by a couple of friends, but I knew it would be entirely partisan based. I had no interest in that. Also of note, not really relevant here, but, Garvie has led calls to action on rising tuition in Ontario, but during the latest CSA elections he endorsed referendums calling for additions to every student's tuition next year to support activist initiatives across campus.

One of the lead organizers of the protest in Guelph is Drew Garvie, an elected official on the Central Student Association at the University of Guelph. An individual who has ran for the Communist Party on more than one occasion. http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/685298--guelph-residents-demand-a-public-inquiry-into-robocall-scandal

Yeah, the "poll location" would have to be different. The script otherwise would probably read the same though.

If Cullen can manage to read a question without a piece of paper in front of his face all the time, he will already have a leg up!

Poor NDP. You are the Official Opposition, but the government doesn't even pretend that you exist

Yeah, and I know this is superficial of me, but I find him kind of odd looking. Its something about his eyes.