Monday, August 07, 2006

Long Weekend Notes

A few thoughts, some of them from old news, on this holiday Monday:


1. The Tories will only let candidates who have lost in the past two elections run for them if they defend themselves to the party. It's a good thing they didn't have this rule back when John Diefenbaker was getting started.


2. The Liberals are within one point of the Tories! Err...within twelve points of the Tories!


3. Riley Hennessey has a good post up about the prospect of a fall election in New Brunswick. I haven't heard much out of New Brunswick lately but I take this to mean that Lord's popularity has been resurrected in recent months.


4. Voting in the first round closes tomorrow at noon in the Greatest PM...We Never Had contest.

The U of O Liberals and (shockingly) Manley for PM, are trying to drum up support for the former Deputy PM; I profile his first round battle with Ed Broadbent here (at last check, Broadbent leads by 2 votes). Daveberta weighs in with his endorsements here.

The ballot is below, and I've included the bracket as well for those who were asking about seeding:





Greatest Prime Minister We Never Had - Round 2
Matchup 1
bio
Robert Stanfield
bio
D'Arcy McGee
Matchup 2
bio
Deb Grey
bio
Preston Manning
Matchup 3
bio
Ed Broadbent
bio
John Manley
Matchup 4
bio
George Etienne Cartier
bio
Bill Davis
Matchup 5
bio
Louise Arbour
bio
Tommy Douglas
Matchup 6
bio
Frank McKenna
bio
Lloyd Axworthy
Matchup 7
bio
Stephen Lewis
bio
Roy Romanow
Matchup 8
bio
John Crosbie
bio
Peter Lougheed

(view results)

19 Comments:

  • CG I'm so excited you care about NB!

    Thanks for linking me. The scary thing is Bernard Lord is the WORST Premier ever... and he's likely to walk away with this election because the provincial libs are pretty much out of steam.

    Lord has singlehandedly gut education in his years in office and gotten away with it because of ineffective opposition. It's really too bad. Is that what it is like in Alberta with Klein? I never understood why he was popular.

    By Blogger Forward Looking Canadian, at 3:18 p.m.  

  • Must...ensure...Broadbent wins.

    By Blogger bza, at 3:43 p.m.  

  • riley; Klein's popularity...is a mystery to me. He took over at a time the economy boomed and always had that "common man" touch. Throw in the usual campaigning against the Ottawa boogeyman and I guess his success shouldn't be too surprising.

    ferret; Yeah, the provincial Libs could certainly use some fresh blood in some ridings but I'm not sure restricting nominations is the way to go. If someone is a bad candidate, one would hope they'd lose the nomination (yes, I know that's not always the case).

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 4:01 p.m.  

  • It'll be either Stanfield vs. Manning or Broadbent vs. Douglas in the final.

    By Blogger Michael Fox, at 6:41 p.m.  

  • I think there's a significant anti-Axworthy vote...

    By Blogger The Tiger, at 1:56 a.m.  

  • Riley should swoop in here and explain why McKenna is awesome and is rightly beating Axworthy. Having heard McKenna speak only a couple weeks ago, I can tell you that the guy is good and has good ideas.

    By Blogger RGM, at 8:57 a.m.  

  • RGM,

    Thanks for the intro.

    McKenna is one of those leaders with the rare combination of extreme intelligence and charisma. The man can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

    This is why he won such a large majority in New Brunswick when he became Premier, that not ONE opposition party candidate was elected. NOT ONE! To counter this, the guy let opposition people in for question period even though they weren't elected. The guy is a class act.

    As ambassador to the U.S. he was extremely effective and he just knows his domestic and foreign policy like the back of his hand. He's a pure realist and I think that's what we need back in the Liberal leadership.

    The guy's intelligent, charming, level-headed, personable and well experienced and an EAST COASTER! I think he's trounce the competition in a real race, and I think he should WIN this online race.

    The end.

    By Blogger Forward Looking Canadian, at 9:12 a.m.  

  • My vote is anti-Axworthy, no question. And proud of it.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 10:23 a.m.  

  • People who could still be Prime Minister should have been eliminated from this race. So Arbour, McKenna, Manley should not even have been allowed.

    By Blogger S.K., at 10:46 a.m.  

  • "This is why he won such a large majority in New Brunswick when he became Premier,"

    The reason he won the complete majority was because the Hatfield Tories were a scandal-ridden, tired government. Much like the federal Tories in '93, the public was in a mood to throw the bums out.

    By Blogger nuna d. above, at 11:53 a.m.  

  • sb; To a certain extent, I did that (hence, people like Bernard Lord and Martin Cauchon were excluded). Arbour, McKenna, and Manley are all almost in their 60s and since they took a pass at the current Liberal leadership race, I think it's very unlikely that any of them will ever run for PM.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 12:25 p.m.  

  • I've actually started blogging because of the verge of an election in New Brunswick.

    Feel free to take a gander at my blog at nbpolitico.blogspot.com

    By Blogger nbpolitico, at 2:36 p.m.  

  • What's astonishing to me is that Louis Arbour could be so far behind Tommy "Eugenics is progressive" Douglas and that Bill Davis isn't eclipsing Cartier or at least closer to him.

    Ted
    Cerberus

    By Blogger Ted Betts, at 5:01 p.m.  

  • What's astonishing to me is that Louis Arbour could be so far behind Tommy "Eugenics is progressive" Douglas and that Bill Davis isn't eclipsing Cartier or at least closer to him.

    It's a hell of a choice. Louise Arbour, one of the most left-wing jurists in Canadian history, and none too subtle in her Anti-Israeli leanings, vs the father of socialised, rationed medicine who wrote extensively in the benefits of eugenics. I guess I'd rather go for the dead guy.

    By Blogger The Rat, at 5:19 p.m.  

  • I'll have the next round up on Thursday but, with this round closed, the matchups will be:

    Stanfield vs. Lougheed
    Manning vs. Romanow
    Broadbbent vs. McKenna
    Cartier vs. Douglas

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 5:22 p.m.  

  • Ted, I am with you. I voted for both Arbour and Davis.

    By Blogger nbpolitico, at 5:22 p.m.  

  • Ouch - tough match ups. My early preferences: Lougheed, Manning, McKenna and Cartier

    By Blogger nbpolitico, at 5:23 p.m.  

  • CG check this out... http://pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=1268

    Harper has appointed MP Wajid Khan as special advisor on South Asia and the Middle East. Does this mean Khan has crossed the floor!?

    By Blogger nbpolitico, at 5:41 p.m.  

  • I've only been back in AB for 5 years, but I'm not under the impression that Klein gutted education. Of course, I'm only able to compare it to the BC education system, which is truly a disaster, so I could be wrong about that.

    Arbour vs. Douglas - I could only bring myself to vote for Douglas once. I skipped it the other times.

    By Blogger Candace, at 9:52 p.m.  

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