The loss of this extraordinary bookstore is an unmitigated disaster for anyone who loves (and needs) books. With the exception of Ben McNally’s spot on Bay, there just aren’t many book sellers like Nicholas Hoare anymore.
I had two book launches at Nicholas Hoare, and both were special. I am very sad to see them go.
“Liberal front-runner Justin Trudeau has raised more than $1-million as a candidate for leadership of the third party in the House of Commons which “says a lot,” say a number of political observers and insiders.
“Money isn’t everything, but the fact that Trudeau has raised such an extraordinary amount—when his party is in a distant third place—says a lot. I don’t think anyone has ever done that before. It’s a huge amount of dough, raised by a guy who is just an MP with the third-place party,” said Warren Kinsella, president of the Daisy Consulting Group and a former adviser to prime minister Jean Chrétien. “That’s amazing, frankly.”
Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) has raised $1,001,060.37 from 7,009 contributors, according to the first of four weekly financial reports filed with Elections Canada. Political observers told The Hill Times last week that this is a feat because of the restrictions on political fundraising the Conservative government introduced when it came to power in 2006.
While former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff raised $1,037,186.24 in 2006 in his first weekly filing with Elections Canada, he did so from 1,959 people when the individual fundraising limit was still $5,000 and when the Liberals were still the official opposition. In 2009 when he ran again, Mr. Ignatieff raised $547,628.85 from 2,113, as shown in his first weekly filing, under new rules limiting individual donations to $1,000, adjusted to inflation. Today’s limit is $1,200.
Mr. Trudeau’s average donation is $143, which some people said last week is a reflection of the overall support he has across the country…
Mr. Kinsella said if the candidates have the money to spend the maximum, they should. “If you’ve got it, spend it. Otherwise, the party will just claw it all back, anyway,” he said.
Mr. Powers agreed: “Most good campaigns will get there. If they have the money there’s no real benefit in saving it. If you have the resources, and people have given you resources to run a campaign, then you should maximize every opportunity you have to do that because you only get one shot at it, and that’s the campaign, so you try and use the resources effectively to get that win.”
One insider said, however, that Mr. Trudeau will likely try not to spend all the money on his campaign, but rather save to it be in a good position to defend the party against Conservative and NDP attacks.
“I think the thinking is based on Dion’s and Ignatieff’s experience, he’s going to get hit with everything but the kitchen sink from the Tories, so he needs to frame and define himself and defend himself against that. That’s where that money will come in handy over the next year,” the insider said.
Mr. Kinsella said the “Just Visiting” ad campaign against Mr. Ignatieff in 2009 cost the Conservative Party approximately $4-million. The Liberals don’t have that kind of money yet to mount their own campaign, Mr. Kinsella said, but “I am confident they will get it—paradoxically, the attacks are often useful in generating funds. We’ve learned that from the Conservatives, in fact.”
Suckered, apparently, were Lono, Calda (briefly), Bruce A., Friesen, and Patrick. Gotcha!
(And, yes, the timestamp is off. And, no, I don’t know how to fix it.)
…and appeared for the last time on the network.
It’s a long (and perhaps interesting) story. Details to come.
And, as I remind my children all the time, the lead singer has a Ph.D and teaches at Cornell.
“I will not go negative.”
Justin Trudeau had been warming up to saying those words for a few minutes, as he sat before a sold-out crowd of hundreds at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel.
And then he finally uttered those words.
He will not go negative.
At a table near where I was sitting, a former Liberal cabinet minister, a former senior adviser to a former leader and assorted party luminaries exhaled as one. “Jesus Christ,” one hissed. “Did he actually just say that?”
He did, he did. Justin Trudeau — the guy who everyone expects to become the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada next month — just told everyone that he won’t use negative ads against his political opponents.
At the back of the room, the media furiously scribbled away in their notebooks. This was news.
And so, later on that day, they reported Trudeau’s statement that way.
Trudeau takes aim at negative politics, read the Toronto Star’s headline.
“Yes, there are a lot of fault lines we can play up to divide this country,” the Star quoted the Montreal MP as saying. “But for me, it’s much more interesting to look for those common values that define Canadian identity.”
Global News reported likewise: “Trudeau declared he would ‘not go negative’ in any election campaign if he becomes party leader.” They went on: “Trudeau said he fully expected the Tories to come up with vicious attack ads after the Liberals choose their leader, because ‘that is what they do.’”
Now, as you may have surmised, a few of us think Justin Trudeau has made a really big mistake here.
If anyone has any doubts about that, they can ask Stephane Dion or Michael Ignatieff, who learned the lessons of modern politics the hard way.
Both men said they wouldn’t “go negative,” too. And both paid for it with their political lives.
At a speech he gave at York University a year ago, a defeated Ignatieff admitted as much. He tried to be a nice guy, he said. But, likening politics to boxing, he said he had learned to “get your (fist) in first.”
Dion, meanwhile, was blunter in a statement he made after the 2008 election campaign.
“I failed,” he said, simply. He needed to counter the Conservatives’ negative ad barrage, and he didn’t. The anti-Dion attack ads were, he said, highly “effective.”
And those ads defeated him.
So, a few of us who like and admire Justin Trudeau would like to ask him, what the hell were you thinking?
If there is anything the Liberal Party should have learned in the past decade or so — anything at all — it is that you don’t show up to a gunfight with a knife. You don’t turn the other cheek, over and over.
And you don’t ever, ever say you won’t “go negative.”
It’s not “negative” to tell the truth about your opponent, as he or she is seeking high public office. Telling the truth about their public record — their votes, their quotes, their expenditures and missteps — isn’t “negative.” In a democracy, it’s the right and proper thing to do.
It’s your job, in fact.
After his talk — in which Justin Trudeau placed his head on the metaphorical chopping block and dared Stephen Harper to swing the same bloody axe he used on Dion and Ignatieff — I spoke with one of Trudeau’s confidantes. This person is one of the smartest players in Canadian politics.
“What the hell did you guys just do?” I asked this person. “You should’ve talked to Dion and Ignatieff before making that kind of a promise.”
“Don’t worry,” said the player, smiling. “This guy’s a fighter. He will fight.”
Liberals hope so.
Otherwise, Justin Trudeau’s been knocked out before he even gets in the ring.
I am so sad to learn of his death.
He used to say that he wanted to turn me into a New Democrat. With more guys like him, I’d say, it’d be easy.
He was one in a million, this guy. A huge loss to this province.
[Son Three points at one of the members of Calgary’s first punk band, pictured on my bedroom wall.]
Him: Who’s this guy?
Me: Who do ya think?
Him: You? Ewwwwww!
Me: Don’t worry. I’ll be embarrassing you for many more years to come.
