The view from Calgary (and the Toronto Star) “The NDP grassroots won’t even go door knocking anymore . . . the party only appeals to the mushy middle,” says Mitch Diamantopoulos, head of the journalism school at the University of Regina, a longtime activist and observer of Saskatchewan politics. For Diamantopoulos, the problems began in [...]
Michael Ignatieff
Brian Topp a bully?
I think Doug McArthur misses the point of any campaign. “The strategy of the Topp machine is to run over every candidate before they have a chance to really get going.” The danger of such tactics, which Prof. McArthur blames for the ongoing sag in Liberal fortunes, is the hard feelings it engenders among activists [...]
Getting Schooled.
Warren Kinsella takes on Michael Ignatieff’s essay on what it means to be a Canadian. Before he brought in the gaggle of geniuses who helped him to pilot the once-great Liberal Party of Canada into history’s ditch, I was an adviser to Michael Ignatieff. I didn’t know the guy, particularly, but I was friends with [...]
So who is the leader of the Liberal Party?
I found this fascinating Liberals responsible for the election war chest turned down a desperate plea for nearly $3 million for new advertising in the last week of the campaign because internal polls showed Canadians had rejected Michael Ignatieff and the party wanted to save a few bucks, QMI Agency has learned. A request for [...]
What I learned
Local MPs performance don’t matter much : NDP’s Vegas candidate won, their English speaking candidate in a 98% francophone riding won, Ken Dryden and Lawrence Cannon lost. Never bring down a minority government when you are behind. Ignatieff thought it was because Canadians weren’t paying attention to him, in truth, we just didn’t like him [...]
Why being a politician is no fun
Great post by David Atkin And now we have Stephen Harper’s rock concert. For the last several weekends, the prime minister has been having some buddies over to his house to play a little music in the basement. They managed to put together a decent little five-song set and thought it would be fun to [...]
Ken Dryden gets his stick up
In a new book, Ken Dryden delivers a blunt analysis of his own party’s political woes and his boss, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff "When Ignatieff was only ten years old, he didn’t only dream of being Beliveau or even Rocket Richard or Gordie Howe, as other boys did, he dreamed of being prime minister," Dryden [...]
Meet Michael Ignatieff
I am not sure if these make a big difference (anyone remember the Stephen Harper sweater vest commercials) but this does show a picture of Michael Ignatieff that isn’t often shown in the media. I am actually a little surprised that other political leaders haven’t done similar videos. Unless I missed something it was one [...]
Is Michael Ignatieff the next Tony Blair?
Apparently I am not the only one not impressed with the Michael Ignatief tour. According to Thomas Walkom, even when things are going well, all is not well. Most of all, however, he emphasizes that he is at one with his audience. “Everything good that happened to me happened because I had a publicly funded [...]
Why the Liberals Decided to Pull the Plug
From Jane Taber in the Globe and Mail. The bottom part of the quote is what interested me. The strategy, ironically, was set with the help of Mr. Harper during his negotiations with Mr. Ignatieff: In return for supporting the Tory budget bill last June, the Prime Minister agreed to Mr. Ignatieff’s request for a [...]
