Tag: liberal leadership

Leadership candidate Burton "extremely disappointed" about McGuinty

Wonder what Alex Burton might say about his rival for the Liberal leadership, Justin Trudeau?

In any event, here’s an “open letter” to Ottawa South MP David McGuinty about his anti-Alberta comments:

Honourable David McGuinty, M.P.
House of Commons
111 Justice Building
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Dear David,

As I sat in an RV park in Grande Prairie, AB, early this morning, I took some time to reflect upon your recent comments. Continue reading Leadership candidate Burton "extremely disappointed" about McGuinty

Ideas – and plenty of 'em — from Liberal leadership hopeful Deborah Coyne

Deborah Coyne launched her campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada today with a barrage of ideas. You can go through them on her Web site. We only got to a couple of them today — mandatory voting,  reforming the way we elect MPs, and eliminating supply management —  when she joined me earlier today on the Daily Brief: Continue reading Ideas – and plenty of 'em — from Liberal leadership hopeful Deborah Coyne

Your Liberal leadership choices so far: Merner, Geschiere and Coyne (no, not that one)

Yesterday, our pollster, Abacus Data, reported that if Justin Trudeau was leading the Liberal Party of Canada, a whole pile of Canadians would be prepared to vote Liberal again.

Right now, according to Abacus, just 20 per cent would vote Liberal if an election were held to today compared to 35 per cent each for the NDP and Tories.

But after asking its survey panel that question, it floated a hypothetical: If Trudeau was leading the Liberals, who would you vote for? Answer: Conservatives: 33%, Liberals: 32%, NDP: 24%. Talk about your reversal of fortune! Continue reading Your Liberal leadership choices so far: Merner, Geschiere and Coyne (no, not that one)

Ray Heard argues: NDP merger issue may be most divisive for Liberals

Ray Heard was John Turner’s communications director. He’s been around for a while, watching lots of internal Liberal Party of Canada fights — and participating in almost all of them. He says that the big issue in the nascent Liberal leadership race will be whether or not to merge with the New Democrats and that that issue will be more divisive than the Martin/Chretien or Chretien/Turner fights.  I talked to Ray about that tonight on my program with Zach Churchill, a Liberal MLA in Nova Scotia. (Zach, incidentally, was born in the same year – 1984 — that Turner was, briefly, prime minister):

Continue reading Ray Heard argues: NDP merger issue may be most divisive for Liberals

Liberal leadership race: Some details on the rules, please?

Following Bob Rae’s dramatic announcement this morning that he will not seek the permanent leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, the party’s national board met by teleconference this evening. The big news? Leadership race vote will sometime in April 2013. Also notable tonight: Not a peep in terms of a news release, etc. about Rae’s decision although Liberal Party prez Mike Crawley did put this on Twitter to his 2,493 followers: Continue reading Liberal leadership race: Some details on the rules, please?

Now on to that issue of who should be Liberal leader …

Sheila Copps, during what turned out to be an unsuccessful campaign to become the next president of the Liberal Party of Canada, was quite open about the fact that she thought Bob Rae would be perfectly suitable as a permanent leader.

That idea was controversial within the party. Continue reading Now on to that issue of who should be Liberal leader …

All right, then, let's vote for a Liberal Leader

The Liberal Party of Canada isn’t supposed to pick its permanent successor Michael Ignatieff until the middle of 2013. But interim leader Bob Rae gave such a fiery speech to his caucus today that many think — despite a rule set by the party leadership to prevent him from running for the permanent job — he may yet end up with that job. Continue reading All right, then, let's vote for a Liberal Leader