By New Democrats (Press Release) | Feb. 14, 2013: The NDP is standing with aboriginal leaders, civil society, and Human Rights Watch to demand a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. “A national, open inquiry is the only way to get justice for the women who have been murdered as well as READ MORE
 Canada, Canada Politics, Featured, First Nations, Government, Guest Blog, Human Rights Watch, Inside Ottawa, Justice, missing and murdered aboriginal women, Missing or Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls, National Inquiry, NDP, New Democratic Party of Canada, New Democrats, niki ashton, Press release, RACE CARD, RCMP, rights, sexual abuse, Status of Women Critic, War on Women TweetNew Democrats from across Alberta have gathered in Edmonton this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their party’s founding. Attendees at this weekend’s annual convention will hear from NDP leader Brian Mason, MLAs Rachel Notley, Deron Bilous, and David Eggen, Member of Parliament Linda Duncan, and federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. With only 4 elected MLAs [...] Forget Mark Carney. We need “electable” candidates like Jim Karygiannis in this race! Now that we know who can run for Liberal leader (namely, anyone with $75,000 and 300 signatures), the question becomes who should run: “We have to be careful not to think that somebody who wants to raise his or her profile or somebody who wants to pursue a particular single issue should see this as an attainable platform to do that,” New Brunswick MP and prospective leadership candidate Dominic Leblanc told Postmedia News earlier this month. “What I think Liberals want are a number of good candidates . . . → Read More: Calgary Grit: The Table Stakes Churchill MP Niki Ashton gave an impassioned speech at the July 11th Winnipeg rally for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. In addition to posing the video, I’m providing a transcript because it neatly sums up this ongoing tragedy and the Harper government’s decisions that have served only to make matters worse. Winnipeg, July 11, 2012: Churchill MP Niki Ashton speaking at a rally in support of provincial and national inquiries into missing and murdered aboriginal woman in Canada. Photo: Paul S. Graham Our message is clear. There is an epidemic of missing and murdered aboriginal women . . . → Read More: Paul S. Graham: Video: Niki Ashton – “Mr. Harper — if you’re not part of the solution, YOU are part of the problem.” Tweet Thomas Mulcair After weeks of warring words about the economic influence of Western Canadian oilsands development on the crumbling Central Canadian manufacturing sector, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair will visit Alberta on May 31 to meet with business and political leaders. This will be Mr. Mulcair’s first visit to Alberta since being selected as his party’s leader in March (he visited Alberta at least once during the NDP leadership contest). In a media release distributed this morning, provincial NDP leader Brian Mason was quoted as saying “Tom and I had a conversation over the phone a couple of days . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: life after dutch disease: thomas mulcair to visit alberta on may 31. Aaron has already listed and commented on Thomas Mulcair’s shadow cabinet assignments. But there are a few additional points worth adding into the mix. First, while others have pointed out Nathan Cullen’s promotion to House Leader, the exact choice of positions is very much worth emphasizing. As the leadership candidate whose message centred on how to approach other political parties, Cullen has been put in charge of…approaching other political parties, at least to the extent of managing business in Parliament. And if “cooperation to defeat Harper” continues to be Cullen’s guiding principle, then it will be well worth watching . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: On shadow boxing Danielle Smith with Wildrose MLA's Paul Hinman, Heather Forsyth, and Rob Anderson in 2010. Despite questioning climate science and refusing to remove one candidate who railed against a policy to protect sexual minorities in public schools and another who claimed his skin colour as a political advantage, Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Party appears set to form a government after April 23. If the Wildrose Party does succeed in electing enough MLA’s to form a government next Monday, unseating the 41-year governing Progressive Conservatives, Albertans should be asking themselves about which parties are best positioned to form effective opposition . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: a wildrose government will need a real opposition. With the NDP’s leadership convention set to start tomorrow (and assorted hospitality suites already starting up tonight), I won’t be able to finish off my initial plan to put together full policy reviews for each of the candidates. But instead, I’ll take some time to highlight a few innovative ideas which haven’t received a lot of media attention, but stand out as deserving more discussion within the NDP regardless of who wins the leadership. Judicare, proposed by Niki Ashton: Ensuring that all Canadians are genuinely equal before the law starting by creating a dedicated federal transfer for “judicare”, modelled . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 – Policy Highlights Another day, another set of NDP leadership campaign stories. - Niki Ashton won the support of the NDP’s Socialist Caucus. - Nathan Cullen expanded on his joint nomination proposal with a far more appealing discussion of co-operation in general: Cullen isn’t shy about what he has in mind. “If the explicit question is put to me: Am I willing to work with the Liberal party in a coalition government, then yes. I was last time.” Moreover, he said the parties should make it clear while they are seeking votes from Canadians that a coalition is a “possible scenario.” . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup Let’s just get it over with: Nathan Cullen Brian Topp Peggy Nash Paul Dewar Niki Ashton Thomas Mulcair Martin Singh These rankings are not necessarily who I think is best as the leader, but are for a variety of strategic reasons as written below. The major choices involved where I am showing a distinct preference for leadership are “not Mulcair” and “Nash over Dewar of the various not Mulcairs”. These are the decisions that I think will be relevant in down ballot considerations which will most likely result in a race between Mulcair and one of the other contenders, . . . → Read More: Progressive Proselytizing: My NDP leadership ballot rankings Following up on my candidate questionnaire and previous posts about party organization, I’ll offer my own observations on the final two questions I posed to the leadership candidates. I start from the premise that the primary goals of a leader are to serve as the party’s public face and chief strategist. And while all of the candidates have shown at least some obvious ability in either or both of those areas, the biggest issue facing members this week will be to sort through the fact that there’s such a wide range of strengths which may not all be applied under . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: The decisive question Since last week, we’ve seen the NDP’s leadership campaign win plenty more attention in the media. But has any of the news managed to change the positioning of the candidates? 1. Thomas Mulcair (1) Well, we’ve certainly seen Thomas Mulcair under the microscope more than he’s ever been. But while the week gave rise to a couple of points which may not help his cause (with controversy over his positions on marijuana decriminalization and Syria among the points which may lose him later-ballot support), he still looks likely to hold a significant first-ballot lead over the next tier of . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Rankings – March 18, 2012 Finally, Niki Ashton had this to offer in response to my party organization questionnaire: 1. As leader, what changes (if any) would you seek to make to the NDP’s:(a) caucus management and discipline? Caucus members are elected as New Democrats, and I believe that, where there is a clearly established party policy, they are obliged to vote accordingly. That was the case, for example, with equal marriage rights for same sex couples. But on issues where there is no party policy, the issue needs to be open to debate; it should not be up to the Leader’s Office to . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Questionnaire Response – Niki Ashton The latest couple of days worth of news as the NDP’s leadership campaign enters its final week – aside from multiple candidates including Niki Ashton, Paul Dewar and Peggy Nash all taking the opportunity to call for unity in the wake of the continued overreaction to Ed Broadbent’s latest comments. - Ashton made the case for the NDP to hold a prairie breakthrough conference. - Cullen was profiled by Allan Woods, while earning endorsements from Stephen Elliott-Buckley and a noteworthy set of Saskatchewan stalwarts including Peter Prebble and Nettie Wiebe. - Thomas Mulcair won a number of endorsements for . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup A couple more days’ worth of developments in the NDP’s leadership campaign… - Niki Ashton argued that Canada’s grain supply should be considered a strategic resource in evaluating takeover bids for Viterra, and earned a glowing profile from Carol Goar. - Nathan Cullen unveiled another caucus endorsement from Bruce Hyer (who also listed Thomas Mulcair and Paul Dewar as his ballot choices), while earning some fund-raising support from former B.C. Premier Glen Clark. And as pointed out by Dan, he also clarified that joint nominations aren’t the only possibility on the table to beat the Cons: Yahoo!: Are . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup Followup commentary from the final NDP leadership on Sunday, as well as a couple more days worth of developments in the campaign. - Most of the post-debate coverage focused on a Thomas Mulcair-vs-the field contrast, while Quinn and Adventures in Socialism offered a few more interesting observations. - Niki Ashton released her arts and culture policy, including a couple of proposals which could offer far better rights for art consumers and producers alike: •Promoting ideas like the “creative commons” which provide a means for artists to protect the use and integrity of their work while allowing others to . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup The NDP’s final leadership debate wrapped up today in Vancouver in advance of the March 24th leadership convention. It has been a long road since the first debate back in Ottawa, and every candidate has managed to both improve their debating skills as well as set out key policy and stylistic differences between themselves and their competitors. Between watching a couple debates and reading platforms online, I believe that everyone can make an informed choice on March 24th. The following is my rankings and commentary for the Vancouver debate. 1) Tom Mulcair: It is always difficult to win a debate . . . → Read More: Progressive Proselytizing: Vancouver NDP leadership debate candidate rankings Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen what look to be a couple of noteworthy efforts among the NDP’s leadership candidates to reach out to other campaigns’ supporters in order to win over the down-ballot support that will likely decide the outcome of the campaign. So how have those efforts changed my rankings as to who’s most likely to emerge as the winner? 1. Thomas Mulcair (1) Not much at the top, as Mulcair still looks like at least an even-odds candidate to win. He didn’t offer a great deal in response to a series of direct questions as . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Rankings – March 11, 2012 Assorted news and notes from the NDP’s leadership campaign as we approach today’s final debate… - Niki Ashton pointed out how the NDP should be able to tap into the desire for democratic decision-making that once motivated the Reform Party before it was turned into a top-down organization under the thumb of Stephen Harper. - Nathan Cullen is suggesting that he may have enough momentum to come up the middle at the leadership convention. And in an interview with Planet S, he had this to say about some of the major challenges to the Cons’ corporate-driven agenda: PS: Are you . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
Any good pundit (for is that not what I aspire to become?) must dispense with caution and modesty from time to time and, in godlike fashion, attempt to predict the future. It is a virtually risk-free enterprise. If my prediction turns out wrong, no one will notice or care, because the political commentariat never gets these things right anyway. If, however, my prediction is borne out, I will be showered with fame and fortune as a prophet and soothsayer, notwithstanding the laws of statistics which dictate that even the unlikeliest of occurrences is bound to be correctly guessed by . . . → Read More: Song of the Watermelon: Reading the NDP Tea Leaves As we enter the last few weeks of the NDP’s leadership race, we’re of course seeing loads of attention. But what from the flurry of activity might actually affect the results of the leadership race as well as the party’s future development? - Niki Ashton took questions at Rabble, including this on how to fight back against the Cons: I have dealt with the Conservative attack machine directly. In 2006 I was targeted because i was nominated and campaigned in support of same-sex marriage. In the 2011 election I was targeted by Conservative robocalls because I support trans-gendered rights. I . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup With the voting window open and the second-last debate having just finished, we’re into the home stretch of the NDP’s leadership campaign. I’ve posted on the outcomes I’d like to see – but since that’s a separate question entirely from how I think matters actually will play out, let’s see if anything has changed since last week in my weekly ranking process. 1. Thomas Mulcair (1) Once again Mulcair ranks well ahead of the second tier of candidates following another week packed with endorsements and another strong debate performance. Unfortunately nobody seriously questioned what his plans are in structuring the . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Rankings – March 4, 2012 I haven’t done a roundup post in quite some time (having focused instead on candidate analysis and preliminary endorsement posts over the past week). But in advance of today’s Montreal debate, let’s take a look at some of the noteworthy developments from the week. - Niki Ashton spoke to the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance about her rural priorities while observing again that the eliminating of the single-desk Wheat Board without any input from producers could be a huge turning point when it comes to prairie support. - Paul Dewar was the latest subject of a Joanna Smith profile while adding . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup Let’s finish my series of relatively brief NDP leadership candidate evaluations with a look at Niki Ashton. 1. What direction will she set for the NDP? There’s plenty to like about Ashton’s central themes of pursuing equality, engaging younger Canadians and non-voters and mounting a direct challenge to the Cons in the West: if anything, the “new politics” mantra she’s repeated throughout the leadership campaign may undersell the significance of those plans. And Ashton can also point to a few of the campaign’s more noteworthy policy proposals amidst a generally strong (if slightly inconsistent) platform. 2. How will she respond . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Analysis – Niki Ashton Starting today members of the NDP (New Democratic Party) will start to receive their voting information in the mail. Members can choose to vote immediately upon receiving their information. Below are the details on how to vote as released from Leadership 2012 How To Vote There are four ways you can vote for the next Leader of Canada’s New Democrats: [...] |
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