romeo saganash – David Akin’s On The Hill

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

NDP insider: Saganash, Ashton should pack it up. Topp maybe, too

Ian Capstick is a smart fellow who knows a lot about the political backrooms that most journalists never get to see. He’s a former aide to Liberal Sheila Copps but who eventually left the Liberals to join the federal New Democrats and was, when I first met him in 2005, the very effective and efficient press secretary to the federal NDP caucus. He’s never afraid of a good political fight. Indeed, I believe he enjoys one. And, perhaps most importantly in a town where many inflate their sense of themselves to get ahead, Capstick, in my experience, rarely blows smoke.

So, here he is tonight on CBC’s Power and Politics, responding to some questions from my friend Evan Solomon about the departure from the NDP leadership race of the unilingual Robert Chisholm: Continue reading NDP insider: Saganash, Ashton should pack it up. Topp maybe, too