Liberal Leadership Convention

[paisley]

whole lotta loud proud Canadiana! been lovin it all afternoon (wasn't plannin to watch)

great attitudes and speeches all around

Cretien came in swingin

[paisley]

now its actually gotten a little wierd with the (most likely) suprise upset by Dion over Ignatieff

Ignatieff looks like he just got dumped at the altar, and she took his dog with her

[paisley]

Stephane Dion, "Man of the People", it is.

first order of business, fire the music director they used for the leadership convention... second order of business, hire Michael Ignatieff

Edited December 2, 2006 by Guest
viva les Canada!

[Alexis]

you know pais, there is a politics forum

[paisley]

in the jambands.ca politics forum... no one, can hear you scream

[edger]

I hear you paisley, I hear you..

[ollie]

Cretien came in swingin

"Can I call you Steve like George Bush does?"

[ollie]

I hear you paisley, I hear you..

Please join us. There are some great discussions going on.

[Jared]

all the good shows were bumped for that on almost every channel,

way to lose my vote

[\/\/illy]

in the jambands.ca politics forum... no one, can hear you scream

Agreed. So; Stéphane eh? Good on him. Now it's time to get rid of these Conservatives and get this country back on track.

[MK]

Harper will eat him alive. He should call an election tomorrow.

[dave-O]

The underdog coming from behind and winning makes for great saturday afternoon TV. It does not necessarily make for choosing the best leader.

[\/\/illy]

Sadly I fear this is true. I don't think you can entirely count Dion out though; sometimes it takes extreme challenges to really make someone rise up and perform. He's a man with a very successful political career. Maybe he'll surprise everyone. (Let's hope.)

[popo weenie]

dion should be very good for canada

put all my trust in him

[popo weenie]

that was a good speech by Chretian

can i call you G W that was a good one?

[popo weenie]

Harper will eat him alive. He should call an election tomorrow.

we will all see

[bouche]

DION!

[Del]

That picture makes me want to puke...

[d_rawk]

Harper will eat him alive. He should call an election tomorrow.

I think you're underestimating Dion. On the environment and Afghanistan alone, he is going to score a lot of points with Canadians without ever evening opening his mouth.

The Liberal party is looking all shiny and new, people are tired of talk about corruption (and it wouldn't stick to Dion, anyways), and Dion seems to actually have something approximating a vision (which was part of Harper's appeal even to those who disagreed with what that vision entailed)

Dion is a solid, credible threat to Harper, Layton and May. Layton and May already know it. Harper will discover it soon enough, I think.

[MK]

I guess we'll see how much the environment means to voters in this next election.

Harper will have to unveil some sort of green plan during the campaign. I think it will be a well-crafted counter-strike to Dion's platform. It's too bad the environment is such an issue to voters, I guess it's the new responsibility of modern gov't.

A vote for the environment seems like a vote for an intangile cause that sees intangible results from 'mega-tons of money.'

The Liberal party is looking all shiny and new

A new leader does give the party a new look...but I don't think it is a shiny one. Rae or Ignatieff are shiny, Dion is dull.

Dion is a solid, credible threat to Harper, Layton and May.

Rather, the Liberal Party is a solid credible threat. I don't think Dion could lead the Green Party.

Why they would elect a francophone that can't win in Quebec is beyond me.

[allison]

Mk please tell me this means something other than it's face value

It's too bad the environment is such an issue to voters

I'm in the camp that sees concern for the environment as intinsic to concern for life- and ya,"life" is on my political agenda.

[d_rawk]

A vote for the environment seems like a vote for an intangile cause that sees intangible results from 'mega-tons of money.'

This is an angle that I expect the other parties will probably want to hit home with. Dion, after all, does have a record as Minister of the Environment -- and it is a record that can be painted as heavy on expenditure, light on results. I suspect that Dion himself seems so genuinely committed to environmental causes, however, that they won't get too far with that (but who's to say ...)

Rae would have been shinier, I agree. Ignatieff, to me, would have been about as shiny as a spot of mud. But both the Chretien and Martin camps had their money on losing horses, and there are a lot of up and coming new faces that are going to play a heavy duty role in the (shadow) cabinet - ie. Kennedy. There's a bit of a new era-ness about the whole party right now, and the party hasn't looked this fresh and clean for a long time. The faux 'renewal' of the handoff to Martin just never washed with anyone outside of the party itself.

This is the first time in awhile I haven't felt something akin to contempt for the Liberal party. Probably I'm just trying to savour it while it lasts :laugh:

Why they would elect a francophone that can't win in Quebec is beyond me.

I've been back and forth on this. You might be right, and all the pundits at the moment seem to agree with you. But the same thing was said about Chretien -- a francophone unpopular in Quebec, and he ended up doing pretty well for himself

What remains to be seen is whether, in the end, he'll prove to be as unpopular with actual Quebeckers as he is with the francophone media. The one sometimes surprises the other.

[MK]

I think Dion being an ex-Enviro Minister could work against him. Rona Ambrose has been pointing a well-manicured finger at the Martin gov't since she got the job. She's right about a 'made in Canadan solution.' Dion will have to do the same. We can't just hop back into Kyoto can we? Would he?

I was really hoping for Rae to win. Dion almost seems like a protest vote against the 'establishment' Liberals. It just as easily could have been Kennedy - what's that worth?

[\/\/illy]

We can't just hop back into Kyoto can we? Would he?

I don't know; he named his dog Kyoto after all.

[Hux]

and there are a lot of up and coming new faces that are going to play a heavy duty role in the (shadow) cabinet - ie. Kennedy

Kennedy doesn't have a seat so he can't be in the Shadow Cabinet. There is a new seating plan today so I suspect a bit of a new look on the front benches, Iggy should be right up there. I hope Kennedy eventually runs against Olivia Chow (sorry drawk)

I don't think Harper can just wave a wand and re-brand himself on environmental issues, he has made his bed on that issue, he will be the pinata on this issue with the sticks coming from all directions.

And funny enough, the first poll has the selection of Dion highest and disapproval lowest - in Quebec.