Evening Star

That's a provincial matter, isn't it? And what sorts of issues related to private schools are you thinking of?

OK, I'm sorry for assuming you were being a partisan troll and getting defensive. So you are acknowledging that Harper did not have extensive experience in the areas you were asking about prior to being PM? If you are just looking for basic biographical info on the NDP candidates, honestly, their online bios (or Wikipedia for that matter) are as good a place to start as any.

I'd love to hear more. Do you mean "fiscal conservative" as in "fiscally responsible and concerned with balanced budgets" or "economically right-leaning"? Because my sense was that this government had increased low-income assistance, capped student debt, cut small business taxes, cut drug costs, but were also concerned with the budget, which is not unusual for NDP governments. Or have they implemented right-wing economic policies I'm unaware of?

There's not enough there yet to jump to conclusions as to who's responsible.

Reform practically wrote the 1995 budget!

He was a QC provincial Liberal. There is no provincial NPD and the left-wing provincial parties are all separatist/sovereigntist. In federal politics, Mulcair has played a major role in allowing social democracy and separatism to finally become separate in Quebec.

Mulcair is the only one in whom I have complete confidence that he could match or best Rae and Harper in a debate.

Those two things are not contradictory. In fact, raising taxes seems like a pretty straightforward way to raise revenue and make programmes affordable. Also, can you provide a source for that 50% figure? Despite all the talk of Mulcair being a centrist, I haven't seen much evidence that his policy views are further to the right than those of Layton or the mainstream of the party. I've definitely never seen anything that suggests that he opposed the NDP proposal to raise corporate taxes in their last election platform. And does anyone of any stripe ever advocate raising taxes unless they think it's necessary? And again, policy is determined by the party at conventions. The only policy idea you cite is one that puts her to the right of Layton!

Both statements are equally absurd, yes, thanks.

This has to be up there with the most incredible statements ever made on this board.

Tbh, I can imagine a situation where if certain CPC policy tendencies were enabled to go in certain directions because English Canada voted in one or two more CPC governments, I might prefer to live in an sovereign Quebec. However, there has been no sign that they are going to move in strongly socially conservative directions on abortion or same-sex marriage so it seems silly to make those out to be reasons for a current crisis.

Your lack of partisan allegiance is one of the things I respect most about your posts.

Well, yeah, it's worth talking about his idiocy because it's so idiotic. What I meant, and probably expressed poorly, was that I wish the Opposition would focus on raising the profile of a real issue like this instead of having an Opposition MP throw tantrums about minor or made-up things. (I remember your comments and they were very respectful! That's pretty lame that they were removed.)

It's the emphasis on abortion and same-sex marriage that makes these remarks so idiotic. I wouldn't find them nearly as problematic if he'd been actually pointing to real things the Conservative government has done or will do. This makes him seem less astute than the average political blogger though.

I mean, Charlie Angus does seem to be riding it pretty hard. But yeah, I wish they'd raise its profile higher than e.g. whatever tantrum Justin Trudeau is throwing this week.

Ha, apparently I am an NDP member. I just found my membership. Clearly, I'm very partisan and committed about it.

I was a little disappointed when I found out he wasn't running. I was thinking the trainwreck would be entertaining to watch.

Sure, I was just fact-checking there.

I was a DRO in the last election. We had to count spoiled ballots.

Ha, I had the same thought, Bill.

All I did was repeat things from my previous post. http://www.thomasmulcair.ca/site/about/?lang=en http://briantopp.ca/brian/bio I'm not sure what more you expect from me. I'm not a campaign manager (or even a formal NDP member, let alone delegate). I would only tell you the things that are already listed on those sites. I do think they answer your questions: I do think Mulcair has significant accomplishments and that Topp's work experience goes beyond the NDP. I don't think their resumes pale next to those of other Canadian political leaders or many PMs. Yeah, I'm really obsessed. I start threads on him every day. I think it's fair for me to ask this since apparently, it has been and will be asked by Canadians. Do you think he's done a good job as PM? If so, what qualifications did he have to make this possible? I just checked his own bio and failed to notice a lengthy history of world-changing achievements prior to his becoming PM. As far as I can tell, he did a little bit of computer programming and has otherwise mostly worked in political advocacy before he settled into a career as a politician. So if he was qualified to lead the country, what did he have that the NDP front-runners don't have? If you're a concerned and discerning voter and not a partisan who's trying to troll me, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem for you to consider and answer this. --- edited for grammar

Was it? The fact that they won a majority without winning almost any seats in Quebec suggests otherwise. Vote-splitting was not much of a factor in Quebec either: the NDP won the vast majority of seats there. edit: Maybe if you said that the collapse of the LPC or 'vote-splitting' between the LPC and NDP allowed a CPC majority, I could see where you were coming from.

Ha, three posters have now apparently concluded that the MP for Scarborough-Rouge-River represents a Quebec riding and are mocking her knowledge of the country! Oh, the ironing...

Yeah, I don't think her blunder is worse than thinking that Scarborough is in Quebec.

This makes no sense to me at all. The CPC won exactly 5 seats in Quebec in the last election. The collapse of the BQ was not what gave the CPC a majority.