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Posted by Scott Tribe on September 1, 2011, at 7:19 am |
A new poll is out that shows the Conservatives and the NDP in a virtual tie – unsurprisingly linked to the recent death of Jack Layton:
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey pegs support for Layton’s NDP at 33 per cent — tied with the ruling Conservatives and well ahead of the Liberals at 21 per cent. That’s almost a three-point gain for the New Democrats since the May 2 election, which vaulted the party into official Opposition status for the first time in its 50-year history. The Tories are down almost seven points while the Liberals are up two. Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg said the NDP gain is most [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 28, 2011, at 10:21 am |
I thought I’d reflect a bit on yesterday’s funeral service of Jack Layton. I could go into a bit more detail of why I think certain right wing media columnists are lashing out at the public reaction or Jack’s farewell letter, but I think I’ll leave that for another day next week. Today, it’s about reflection.
Certain things that stood out yesterday for me include:
-seeing the personal side of Mr. Layton through his 2 children. -seeing the political side as orated by Stephen Lewis -a very powerful political statement that may have made some uncomfortable, but I don’t think could or should have been avoided. -seeing some of [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 24, 2011, at 3:12 pm |
There has been lots of ink, tweets and blogposts written and spilled over Christie Blatchford’s rather controversial National Post column about the public and media reaction to Jack Layton’s death and/or his farewell letter.
What I’ll say is this; she of course has the right to say whatever she wants – we live in a free country after all. Some are questioning if this was the proper time to say it, but I’m looking at it more from the angle that if this had been a Conservative high ranking politician, or a high ranking General or Policeman who had died far too young and who had left words of [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 22, 2011, at 4:29 pm |
Thank you for contributing to Canadian politics. Thank you for showing Canadians how to be courageous when fighting an election campaign even with a disease like cancer. Thank you for your good-bye note – it was sad to read, but also a message of hope and inspiration.
Thanks Jack.
Posted by Scott Tribe on July 26, 2011, at 7:29 am |
It was with some shock that I saw yesterday that Mr. Layton was temporarily stepping down as NDP leader (and leader of the Official Opposition) because of new cancer discovered in his body. The only good news about that is that its apparently an “unrelated” bout of cancer to his prostate cancer, and isn’t a metastasized form of it, but he still has a battle on his hands, and he didn’t look very good in his brief press conference yesterday.
I’m not going to speculate on what this does to the NDP in the Fall as others have done; I’m just going to wish Jack all of my best [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 9, 2010, at 12:05 pm |
Just a little follow up on yesterday’s Nanos poll: While the Conservatives obviously are getting nailed in the polls over the cumulative affects of their various actions, the poll sends a warning to the NDP that they too are suffering the affects of a bad decision – namely, Jack Layton’s decision not to whip his caucus over the gun registry vote and ensure it survives:
..But the NDP is also having a difficult time. The poll suggests that because of divisions within their caucus over the long-gun registry issue, support has fallen from 21 per cent to 16 per cent…New Democrats will be able to vote independently on the [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 31, 2010, at 8:00 am |
You might have seen Jack Layton’s press conference yesterday, where he hemmed and hawed on what his party was going to do on the upcoming gun registry vote – or more accurately, how they would vote on the Liberal motion to kill Bill C-391, and if that failed to pass, the actual vote to pass C-391, which kills the long-gun registry (or at least, would then pass it in the House and have it move to the Senate, but chances are it would pass there). It was probably the worst press conference I’ve ever seen Jack hold. The media didn’t buy what Jack was trying to sell them for [...]
Posted by Scott Tribe on August 24, 2010, at 12:52 pm |
Just a note to Jack Layton and company in the NDP’s leadership circle over the upcoming vote(s?) on the “private members bill” to try and kill the long-gun registry (actually, the first vote will be a Liberal amendment motion to kill Bill C-391 off entirely):
- A regular private members bill does not get unprecedented advertising from the sitting government in key ridings of opposition members urging their constituents to tell them to vote to support the “private members bill”, as has happened here.
- Yes, a private member’s bill normally doesn’t get whipped by the party leadership, but as related over here in Impolitical’s update and according to London Liberal MP Glen Pearson, he’s been told privately by some Conservative MP’s that they’re being whipped to vote for this “private member’s bill” privately behind the scenes, which would be a good reason why you didn’t see any urban riding MP’s from the Conservatives – areas that are more likely to support the long-gun registry then against – break ranks last time to vote for this, and likely won’t again, if there’s a secret whip being done on them.
In short, this is what I’ll term a PMBINO – A Private Members Bill In Name Only – and Jack and the NDP are letting themselves get suckered into allowing a key piece of Harper’s agenda to pass via the Private Members Bill back-door – a move Harper and CO. did, because they calculated they could get this through, knowing the conventional government bill would fail on whipped party-line votes. The Liberal Party fell for this trick once, and smartened up, enforcing the Party whip this time.. but only after making key proposals/compromises to their cause to modify the current long-gun registry so that fines are not enforced on those who register, etc.
Rather then whining in the papers that the voters who support keeping the long-gun registry should not be blaming the NDP if the registry gets killed, Jack should stop being naive and realize the Harper government is playing the NDP for suckers. The NDP has always claimed it is the party that stands up the most against the Harper agenda in the House of Commons; well, here’s it’s chance to really walk the walk – a chance to make a difference, rather then a symbolic vote or putting forth a symbolic motion/amendment against.
As for electoral considerations, and if those are also what’s in play here over principles, the NDP should remember that for every rural riding the NDP fears it may lose because of that member voting to keep the gun registry, it’s going to be pummelled in its urban ridings and in its lone Quebec riding as failing to keep the registry. Rest assured that the Liberals will be reinforcing that message in every NDP held riding in Urban Canada and in Outremont, if the NDP fail to stop Bill C-391 from passing.
Do the right thing, Jack; put forth some compromises like the Liberals did to their members, and then whip your vote, to kill this farce of a Private Members Bill. Don’t allow a part of the Harperite agenda to be put in by back-door stealth.
UPDATE: A normally sympathetic blogger to the NDP who’s ticked with Jack’s hide in the sand manoeuvrer on this bill lists the NDP’s key members who need to be lobbied by the public. I’m not sure if that will work or not, since there are at least 2 or 3 NDP members who truly believe the registry should die, while others might be too scared to vote against the gun bill (without having a whip used), because of what more nasty things the Harper Conservatives might say in their ridings, but it can’t hurt to try.
IMO, writing a note or calling Jack Layton’s office to argue this is a sham private members bill (for the reasons listed above) and to urge him to whip the vote is the better tactic. Heck, maybe twittering him would work as well.
UPDATE 2 @ 3:53 pm: On a related note, Jeff takes a look at that Angus-Reid poll today, and finds the findings aren’t as discouraging for pro-gun registry advocates and pro-gun control advocates as some Conservatives would have you believe… in fact, those findings are purposely left out.. and for good reason:
Continue reading To Jack Layton & NDP on the gun registry vote; don’t get played by Harper on this.
Posted by Scott Tribe on February 5, 2010, at 2:15 pm |
Some days, political differences need to be put aside. Today is one of them:
CBC News is now reporting that Jack Layton will announce that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will be undergoing treatment.
I’d like to offer my best wishes to Jack and my hopes for a successful recovery.
UPDATE: Jack’s statement to the media today.
Posted by Scott Tribe on September 8, 2009, at 7:30 pm |
At least, that’s what it appears to me to look like, as these statements and actions from Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe today seems to indicate he and his party doesn’t intend to support the Conservatives on any non-confidence vote (at least, not beyond any theoretical Ways and Means Motion trickery the Conservatives might try to table in order to blame the Liberals for killing the Home Renovation Tax Credit, as Mr. Duceppe has said his party would vote for that). I don’t see a lot of wiggle room here from Monsieur Deceppe’s statement today to back off a “no-confidence in the government vote” by the Bloc:
A federal election [...]
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