Power and Politics, Nov. 1: black screen edition
The CBC black screen of death.
Monte, Peggy and I had a great chat with Evan about U.S. mid-terms and their effect on Canada. But, when you click on this here link, it goes black at about the 22 minute mark. Our chit-chat was at the back end of the show. Kudos to whoever can figure out how to see it. I sure couldn’t.
Yaffe on Nicholls on Ignatieff
Stephen Harper, an official portrait.
From Yaffe’s column:
And so, concludes Nicholls, Liberals “simply don’t have a theory on how they can win an election.”
With the greatest of respect, I think that Barbara, Gerry and many others have misread the tea leaves, as it were, in campaigns here and South of the border. Anger, as I’ve said a few times before, is a political commodity that’s been around since Jesus was a little feller. Voter anger lurks behind every second door in every riding in every single campaign. It gets a lot more ink during bad economic times, to be sure, but it ain’t anything new. In and of itself, anger isn’t what wins you a race, either.
No, what “wins” – in the Calgary and Toronto mayoralty races most particularly – is the best-run campaign. Organization , discipline, message.
The Liberals, methinks, are underestimated on the campaign front. Chretien was, too, as I recall, in 1993. And we ended up doing not badly, I think.
In the campaign, everything gets equalized – most notably, the amount you have to spend and the share of media coverage you get. With parity, Ignatieff will do a lot better than the chattering classes expect.
What do you think, folks?
Two big Lilley scoops
It’s a scoop because my Sun colleague has fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff on the Khadr plea deal.
It’s also a scoop because the Reformatory cabinet has been leaking – in this case, to Brian.
Believe me: when that stuff starts to happen, it’s the beginning of the end.
Don’t forget!
Dobbin: How to avoid political groundhog day
The future, for the foreseeable future.
As found in the Tyee and the Hill Times this morning:
When will the Liberals and the NDP get it? Without some kind of accord between these two parties, the country is locked into a kind of political version of the movie Groundhog Day — doomed to repeat the same depressing, cynical and destructive politics day-in, day-out until our democracy is so damaged that no one will bother voting.
I don’t agree with everything he says – the throwaway line on Israel rankles the most, and is inconsistent with the policies of both the Liberals and the NDP – but there’s some food for thought on the broader issue, perhaps. Comments are open.
Don’t read this!
David Chen acquitted on all charges!
So what
Ignatieff is right, and the unelected Senator is not.
We won the 1993 election partly on a helicopter purchase that was for a lot less money, and which had a lot more transparency. So go right ahead, Reformatories. Buy ’em, and see what happens to you on the campaign trail.
We’ll see how far unelected Senator few have ever heard of gets you, won’t we?
From the archives:
Chretien sets out his priority list Jobs program would come first, then cancelling 2 Tory contracts
13 October 1993
The Globe and Mail
WELLAND, Ont.
An increasingly confident Jean Chretien laid out for a student audience yesterday the first three things he will do if he becomes prime minister after Oct. 25.
His government will immediately put into place its infrastructure program so municipalities can start projects and create jobs, he said. That will be accompanied by the cancellation of the EH-101 helicopter program in order to finance the public-works program.
Next, Mr. Chretien said, he will apply the brakes to the controversial privatization of Toronto’s Pearson airport.
“Everything that we will do as a party will be in relation to job creation. That has to be the priority of the government,” he said.
