Much as it’s odd for me to recommend anyone other than the dear old Mother Corp, if you read this in time, tune into Canada AM on CTV at 7:40…
…it may be one of your only opportunities to see me in a suit 
Yay,!!!I knew there was a reason besides “I don’t feel like it” and “my son has a minor concussion” that I booked off work.
Go Matt! My stupid MP is Joe “I quit cabinet to vote the way the priest told me to” Comuzzi, and since this is the pit, I won’t post my thoughts on him. It was an NDP riding in the past, (20 years ago) and Im hoping it will be again.
Good on ya!
I wish you were in my riding or vice-versa. I can’t get terribly enthused about my NDP candidate (he’s a bit of a git,) the candidates from the fringey parties are all the worst sort of flakes, and while I’d cut off my own hand before voting Liberal, I’d cut it off with a piece of wet twine before voting Conservative. (God, I miss the days when I could just vote for Libby Davies or Joy MacPhail and sleep the sleep of the just.)
Doh… I’m up, but I’m also in at work already… (tries to think if there’s a television in the office somewhere.)
Darnit…
:: checks NDP website ::
Go Matt!
Are you being arraigned? What’d you do?
- This is not an endorsement of the NDP party, nor it’s platform - only revelling in the how-way-cool it is to know there’s at least one Doper that’s got a shot at sitting in the House!
So Matt… are Jack Layton’s hands as small as they look? It isn’t a knock but it was a weird thing I noticed in the last leaders debates.
Seeing as you are out there doing it… (GOOD FOR YOU!!!) I 'd like to know a few things? How does one get to run in a riding and how much does it cost? Have you been a member of the party for long?
Oy, sometimes it feels like it 
Weird, I heard someone the other day say he had huge hands. I’ve never really noticed, the face being a bit more preoccupying. (Don’t trash the stache!)
To run in a riding, you have to get the riding association to nominate you. Typically you are a member of the party and you campaign among the members of the riding association.
(For the benefit of non-Canadians, a riding association is a political party’s association of its members in one riding, or electoral district. We don’t have primaries or anything like that for our candidates; the choice of candidate is an internal party matter.)
Once you’re nominated, you must submit the appropriate forms to Elections Canada (including 100 signatures from electors in your riding) as well as a $1000 deposit (which, at least in the NDP, the party provides for you.)
In terms of what it costs, that can be as much or as little as you please and/or can manage to fundraise. There’s a campaign finance limit of something like $60,000 per seat, IIRC.
I’ve been a member of the party since 2000, as soon as I was old enough to vote; a few months after I joined, I ran for the first time (thereby becoming one of the only people who, the first time they voted, voted for themselves.) I also ran in a by-election in 2002, so this is my third time. I’ve also participated in two federal conventions, and I serve on the Quebec Section’s board of directors and as co-president of the section’s queer affirmative action commission.
Hey I caught the segment! And Matt ended up with 40% of the vote.
Well I would vote for you, but then again you’re preaching to the converted. Or uh, well, yeah a committed NDP voter. Even though Im not crazy about my local candidate.
As for the “undecided” voters, what was up with that woman they talked to? She sure as hell “prefered the liberals” and had no rationale to back her point. She might as well said “well I just like Red better than Orange” it would have made equal amounts of sense.
As for the Conservative candidate… well was it just a language issue or does he seem as constipated in person as he did on the screen?
So, Matt…
:: hauls out long list of questions, complaints, and querulous observations ::
:: pages through list ::
What are you and your party going to do about improving Canada’s local self-reliance?
Do you intend to encourage urban farming and food production? Local, neighbourhood, and household power generation, with grid intertie and power sales back to the grid? Increased energy efficiency?
What is your reaction to the news of a couple of days ago that the Atlantic conveyor currents seem to be slowing?
Do you support increasing urban public transit? Intercity rail? Better bus service to rural areas?
What are your feeling about NAFTA? Is it worth it continuing to try to get the Americans to play according to the rules, or do we bail? Should we threaten to sell our oil/wood/water to the Chinese instead?
Do you support legalising group marriage? Do you oppose reopening the same-sex marriage debate as Harper would have us do?
Do you support legalising, regulating, and taxing the production and sale of marijuana? Do you support making accurate information about the effects of drugs easily available?
Do you support re-equipping and repairing the military? What do you think the role of the military should be?
What do you think Canada’s foreign policy should be
- with respect to the United States?
- in general?
What do you/your party plan to do about social alienation in minority communities, especially in the big cities? What about the rise in shootings, especially in Toronto?
What is your policy with respect to supporting the arts?
Do you plan to require open file formats and communications perotocols for all government records and transactions?
Will you lift the Metric Moratorium declared by the Mulroney Conservatives in 1984 and let us finish converting to metric? It’s been thirty years already and I can’t stand this betwixt-and-between muddle!
:: pant pant ::
:: ause ::
I’m sure I’ll think of more in a bit.
I’m sorry to have missed it! I really need to get a TV …
Matt, from one politically-entangled Doper to another: I’m so happy you’re running. You’re an inspiration to all, and everyone who moans that “there’s nobody to vote for!” should sit up and take notice.
I was going to run in the 2005-election-that-almost-was, and it scared the living daylights out of me. (Belinda Stronach was my hero for at least a week.) The fact that you did it before and are doing it again is admirable to say the least. (Plus, voting for yourself the first time you voted is pretty cool.)
I wish I could vote for you; however I am pleased to live in one of the only ridings in Toronto where Orange may prevail over Red, and that’s almost as good. Almost.
What is this “Canada” of which you speak?
A strange, dark, and disturbing place. Do not come here, my friend. There is evil here that does not sleep.
Go Matt! I was at the rally for Jack Layton at U of T, but this is way cooler… 
Just bringing this one back for a bit, because I haven’t had the chance to do so for a few days.
Anyway, Matt, I also caught the Canada AM show the other day. Nearly fell out of my chair when they announced your name! Of course, I watched–it was nice to finally be able to put a face to the name.
You were very articulate and well-spoken, I must say. I’m not normally an NDP supporter, but I have to say that you were clearly the best candidate who spoke on that segment. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you swayed a few of the “undecided” viewers across Canada that day.
As for me, I have to admit that I am still Undecided, and there are many questions I have for the candidates in my own riding before I will come to any kind of decision. But nevertheless, I have to say that you did a great job on the show. Well done, Matt, and good luck!
Hey folks,
Things are going great! I’ve gotten more interest in the last week than I did in my last two campaigns put together. I’ve been on Canada AM nationwide, Radio Noon on CBC for a series of panel discussions, and a community radio station talking about the Casino issue. I’ve also been on the front page of the Gazette and I’ll be in the local papers in the next issue. I’m also making lots of links with community organizations. And the campaign has barely begun
And now, a bit of discussion of Sunspace’s questions…
Do you mean in terms of making the domestic economy more self-reliant, or reducing the amount of goods transportation necessary?
Funding for green infrastructure initiatives is essential. We’re open to lots of new solutions for saving energy and reducing pollution.
A lack of surprise, unfortunately.
Certainly. A large part of the $900 million for the environment we won in June will go to urban mass transit. My riding has one of the highest rates of asthma in the Montreal area, and of course there are personal reasons too, so this is an important issue for me.
Obviously we can’t just shut out the US altogether, but we have to protect our economic sovereignty. We certainly can’t put up with a country that has a different set of rules for things it produces and things other people produce, and we can’t be craven in taking action to have the regulatory boards’ decisions respected just because it’s the US we’re talking about. On first glance, I like the idea of taxes on energy exports as a sanction.
One thing that is sacrosanct is that foreign corporations must not be allowed to encroach on our provision of essential social services such as health care.
It presents a lot of legal challenges that we have to study carefully.
Certainly. Parliament voted on the issue after endless court battles and endless public consultation. It’s over and done with. We have our rights. I find it disturbing that Harper’s first campaign promise was to attempt to take away minority rights and equality.
Yes and yes.
The state of the military is lamentable. I don’t support a huge US-style fighting force, but in order to maintain our goals of peacekeeping, civil defence, and maintaining our sovereignty, the military must be properly funded and equipped.
Canada should be a good neighbour to the US; of course that doesn’t mean supporting the American government in its extravagances, kowtowing to its demands, or breaking off from our multilateral positions. The NDP fought hard to keep Canada out of the war in Iraq, and we see now that this position was, to say the least, right.
On a general level, Canada has had a commitment to multilateralism for years, and it has an essential role as a respected country that can bring together many sides of an issue. However, under the Liberals, our foreign prestige has been eroded in a number of areas, most crucially the environment.
I’m still smarting from the denunciation we received from all sides during the Hague conferences of 2000, where the government didn’t even send one sitting MP to the negotiating table. It’s great that we’re hosting the UN Climate Change Conference, but we are failing to meet our environmental commitments and our climate is changing faster than that of many other countries. This is an area in which we definitely have to get our own house in order.
Social alienation has worsened with the rise of the neoliberal agenda, founded on the principle that a person’s only worth is their success in an unchained economy. It’s not surprising that the status of disadvantaged and excluded people is worsening. Improving all aspects of our social system is a classic NDP plank. In particular, every dollar spent on early childhood education saves $7 in the costs of crime, unemployment, and illness caused by social alienation.
Canadian culture must be respected and funded properly.
I haven’t heard any particular plans on this, but you are the second person to bring this up and it’s an interesting proposal.
I’d have to see, first, what remains to be done on the federal side of things.
BTW, for the next little while, you can see my segment here (scroll down and click on “Battle for your Ballot”).
Dangit, this is the first time I saw this thread. I totally could have watched that (7:40 eastern? That would have been, let’s see, 5:40 am mountain - well, maybe I could have taped it. )
We need a write-in candidate for this election, since no one wants to vote for the clowns that are running the show.
Is it just me or does anyone else not see the “Battle for Your Ballot” link?
Best of luck, Matt.
Okay, now I’ve seen it. You were indeed the best speaker and best prepared speaker on the panel, matt. The Conservative guy (language barrier aside, and I guess it isn’t a barrier in Quebec) looked like he was just winging it. The incumbent looked bored and just spoke without saying anything (dare I say - typical politician?)