The Next Liberal Leader

Stephane Dion officially announced that he will not continue on as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada beyond its next Leadership and Biennial Convention (likely in May 2009). With this in mind, I’ve decided to come up with a blueprint for who I think the next Liberal leader should be.*

The next Liberal leader should be able to speak both official languages fluently. Our last leader was unable to effectively express his ideas in english, and that became his Achilles’ heel. If there is no suitable candidate who can speak both, then the right candidate should speak english.

This person should have a long political background. Dion had only been in politics for a little over a decade and his riding was so solidly Liberal that he never really had to run a contested campaign. As a result, he disintegrated under the constant pounding of Conservative money and media. On the other hand, this person’s political experience doesn’t necessarily need to be in federal politics. The bottom line is this person needs to be war tested.

The next Liberal leader needs to be capable of being powerful and empathetic at any time, whenever necessary. Dion came across as a bit weak and he didn’t seem to be capable of being assertive without sounding whiney. Stephen Harper is perfectly flat. He sometimes sounds a little bit assertive and sometimes sounds a little bit empathetic, but no one can ever really tell. His demeanor is so flat he seems robotic at times. The next Liberal leader needs to be able to expose that weakness by showing a personality. A friend of mine said Canadian politics needs an injection of charisma. I agree.

Like it or not, Ontario and Quebec are still the major battlegrounds in Canadian federal politics. The next leader doesn’t necessarily need to be from either province, but must have a high profile in both. If not both, then Ontario is the more important province. It has more seats in Parliament, and Quebec can be left to the Bloc (just as long as the Conservatives don't take it). Further, Liberal support in Montreal remains strong, so Ontario plus Montreal is more likely than Quebec plus Toronto.**

The combined vote total of the Liberals and the NDP outweighs the total Conservative vote by over 800,000. The next Liberal leader needs to be slightly leftist. I’m not necessarily saying Bob Rae, with his NDP background, but, in this respect, he’s a good example of the type of person I’m talking about. By retaking a significant percentage of leftist votes, and by retaking lost votes, the Liberal Party would break the Conservative hold on power.

Finally, and most importantly, the next Liberal leader must know how to raise money. The NDP raised nearly the same amount of money as did the Liberals prior to the last election. The Liberal leader needs to be able to deliver the money required to counter the Tory ad barrage.

That’s the type of person who should be the next Liberal leader. Gender doesn’t matter. Where the person is from isn’t nearly as important as where they enjoy a high profile.

If I’ve missed anything, leave it in the comments. I need to know who to vote for should I find the money to attend the Leadership and Biennial Convention (it’s likely going to be in Vancouver, which makes it very expensive).

*****

* This blog post is actually the result of a spur-of-the-moment request I made of my good friend Patrick McIver in a comment on his blog.

** This may not sound like good politics, but Toronto and Montreal make up about 1/3 of Canada's population. Add scattered support in various provinces, some seats in Vancouver and Atlantic Canada, and you have a strong Liberal party.

"Perfect Symmetry" by Keane

Do I like this album or not? I've listened to it multiple times and have been unable to decide.

I recently read a review of Keane's Perfect Symmetry that touted it as a new sound for the band. This review convinced my to buy the album. Previously, Keane was to Coldplay what Silverchair was to Nirvana - an undesireable derivative. But Perfect Symmetry is a new sound; Rolling Stone calls Keane the new Thompson Twins (for me, not a flatering comment, but it works for Keane...I think), and likens one of the hooks to David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes.' As much as I generally dislike 80s pop-rock, I do appreciate its outrageous excess. This album comes up short of that excess, but it does leave you, as Rolling Stone puts it, "in good cheer." Unfortunately, the album occasionally reduces itself to Coldplay mimicry.

I'm so conflicted.

As an aside, isn't it interesting that Coldplay and Keane have both tried to shake the piano-balladeer stigma?

Great Canadian Political Scandals of the Past Decade

Near the end of the 2008 federal election, I read a comment on CBC's election website that mused about the $200 million wasted through the Canadian government's sponsorship program. The program was designed to promote Canada and the federal government to Canadians, especially in Quebec. The dollar amount ($200 million) is not entirely accurate since that is the approximate value of the program, and not all program money was misspent. Having said that, this still ranks as one of the most expensive examples of corrupt politics.

What is the most expensive example of corrupt politics? The 40th Canadian General Election. The Parliament of Canada passed Bill C-16, An Act to Amend the Canadian Elections Act on November 6, 2006. C-16 was the result of the Conservative Party's campaign promise to give Canada fixed election dates. The first election was to be held on October 19, 2009. Since then, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on September 7, 2008, had Governor General Michaelle Jean dissolve Parliament thereby forcing an election. Less than 3 years after promising Canadians fixed election dates, Stephen Harper broke his own law. We went to the polls (some of us...begrudgingly) on October 14, 2008 - a full year before we were legally supposed to. This blatant violation of Canadian law cost taxpayers (approximately) $300 million. This is the most expensive abuse of power and taxpayer money in Canadian history.

So why don't Canadians vote? The answer seems obvious enough - corruption. The Liberals were corrupt during their last reign as governing party and the Conservatives are corrupt now. So who do Canadians vote for? The NDP - a party that offers all-encompassing social programs without concern for how to pay for them? The Greens - a party whose raison d'etre begins and ends with protecting the environment? The Christian Heritage Party? The Marxist-Leninist Party? The Marijuana Party? The Communist Party of Canada...?

Maybe now we know why voter turnout is so low.

Let's hope we don't get asked to vote again until the next legislated date (October 15, 2012 ).

Invalid Vote

I am officially declaring yesterday's election invalid.

Taxpayers shelled out $300 million or so to stage an election that meant nothing, proved nothing, and changed nothing. The Conservatives still have a minority government. The Liberals are still second. The Bloc are still third. The NDP is still fourth. And the Elizabeth May still doesn't have a seat.

I could probably still accept all this if Canadians had bothered to show up, but they didn't. The last estimate I saw yesterday predicted a voter turnout of somewhere around 56%. That's despicable. Almost half the vote-eligible population chose to remain voiceless. That's not democracy. If my math is correct (and if this prediction proved accurate) less than 20% of eligible voters gave Stephen Harper a de facto majority. Why not just go back to the good ol' days when the wealthiest 20% of the population ran everything, and the other 80% had no voice? It would be cheaper to run irrelevant elections.

Locally, Tim Fugard and Andy Bruziewicz, even if combined, couldn't fell encumbent Pat Davidson. What makes this so hard to swallow is that barely half the vote-eligible population of Sarnia-Lambton bothered to vote. What a joke.

For these reasons, I am officially declaring yesterday's federal election invalid.

Vote on October 14

Tomorrow is election day, so I decided to post some links for my loyal readers.

If you don't know where to vote, click here.

If you want to know when you can vote, click here.

If you're a young voter, and want information, click here.

If you are out of the country and want to vote, click here.

If you want more information about the candidates in Sarnia-Lambton (and their party):

AndyBruziewicz (New Democratic Party)

Pat Davidson (Conservative Party of Canada)

Christopher Desormeaux-Malm (Christian Heritage Party)

Tim Fugard (Liberal Party of Canada)

Alan McKeown (Green Party)

Take the time to look at the parties and their candidates, then go vote for the party/candidate you think speaks best for you.

I'm a Liberal. I will be voting for Tim Fugard and I've been working on his campaign from the start.

Go vote on October 14!