Back in December on my program the Daily Brief, we invited psychic Blair Robertson to join us to give us a heads-up on what was going to happen in 2012. Though Robertson now lives in Arizona, he was born and raised in Toronto. Among other things, Robertson predicted in December that Mulcair would win the NDP leadership. But he also said at the time that, in his view, the Mulcair win was not going to be a good thing for the NDP, suggesting that the win will produce a great deal of backstabbing. “I feel the NDP is going to be in total disarray. We are going to see a big mess in the future no matter who wins.” Continue reading In December, psychic predicted Mulcair's win — followed by NDP backstabbing
Category: Politics/NDP
NDP Leadership Convention: The numbers
I’m in Toronto this weekend to cover the NDP leadership convention.
There are 130,000 people eligible to vote. The party has just announced that 55,659 ballots were cast ahead of time using the preferential ballot. The balance will be cast in real-time during each round of voting. The first round of voting begins tonight at 5 pm EDT. The results from the first ballot will be announced Saturday morning at 1000 EDT. (We’ll have all the results live on Sun News Network)
There is an army of media here. The party says nearly 700 “media” credentials have been provided.
And there is also an army of New Democrats here: 4,212 registered delegates at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Back and forth with the NDP leadership race
A few interesting developments today in the NDP Leadership race:
- Leadership candidate Martin Singh is telling his supporters that after marking him as number one on the preferential ballot being used in the race, they should mark rival Thomas Mulcair as number two. This comes after a week in which the Brian Topp Continue reading Back and forth with the NDP leadership race
Vote now: Who won the Vancouver NDP leadership debate?
There are nearly 40,000 New Democrats in BC who have voted/will be voting in the NDP leadership race. This afternoon in Vancouver, leadership candidates engaged in the final and perhaps most important all-candidates debate of the campaign. Did you watch? Who do you think won? Vote right here and then tell us why in the comments section: Continue reading Vote now: Who won the Vancouver NDP leadership debate?
NDP Leadership hopeful Martin Singh: "We're getting support from all quarters"
There ‘s no getting around it: Martin Singh is “the outsider” in the NDP leadership race. He’s never held office. He’s never been in party establishment’s “inner circle.” But he’s raised more than $50,000 from supporters by year-end (MP Niki Ashton had raised just $10,000) and you wouldn’t know he’s not had practice as a politician if you’ve seen him in any of the debates. Continue reading NDP Leadership hopeful Martin Singh: "We're getting support from all quarters"
The Topp campaign responds to the Dewar poll
Earlier today, the Paul Dewar campaign released an internal poll of NDP supporters which purported to show that, on the first ballot of the NDP Leadership campaign, Thomas Mulcair would come in first with about one in four voters. Brian Topp would finish fifth.
The Topp campaign released this e-mail which campaign manager Raymond Guardia sent around in the wake of the Dewar campaign release (This if formatted as I received it): Continue reading The Topp campaign responds to the Dewar poll
Dewar campaign release: Mulcair leads in the NDP Leadership Race
It may seem odd for one candidate to release a poll that shows that candidate to be trailing in a particular political race. But I think the Paul Dewar Campaign wanted to show a couple of things by releasing poll data which shows Dewar to be in third spot when it comes first-place spot on the preferential ballots of NDP voters though he is in first spot when it comes to second-choice on that preferential ballot. Continue reading Dewar campaign release: Mulcair leads in the NDP Leadership Race
Enough of the candidates, let's hear from some NDP voters!
We’ve been doing our darndest to cover the NDP leadership contest on the Daily Brief because we think it’s important. Whoever wins will get the keys to Stornoway (a more comfortable home than 24 Sussex Drive, if you ask some who’ve lived in both). That person will also be the Leader of the Official Opposition. And, throughout Canada’s political history, leaders of the official opposition have tended to be the chief combatant for the job of prime minister. So this is a big deal. Continue reading Enough of the candidates, let's hear from some NDP voters!
Peggy Nash on her fundraising numbers
Last night on the Daily Brief I asked NDP Leadership candidate Peggy Nash about her fundraising numbers for the the last quarter of 2011. They were pretty good. Her campaign has raised $108,000. But a couple of candidates were, at Dec. 31, a long way back. Niki Ashton’s campaign had raised just $10,000 and Romeo Saganash had raised $18,000. I asked Nash about those numbers as well. Continue reading Peggy Nash on her fundraising numbers
A nasty online dustup in the NDP leadership race about speaking French
You think the NDP leadership race is too polite? How about this dustup between supporters of Romeo Saganash and Brian Topp. It starts when a Saganash supporters gets a phone call from Topp’s team and, in that call, Topp’s canvasser suggests that Saganash, who represents a northern Quebec riding, cannot speak French. Topp, on Twitter, quickly tries to put out any suggestion that that’s what his team was implying. Not good enough, says Saganash’s campaign manager, who, also on Twitter, calls for an apology.
Continue reading A nasty online dustup in the NDP leadership race about speaking French