Perhaps there is a clue in the fact that the gun registry was not actually run by the Department of Justice but was farmed out to (wait for it)… HRDC!
While I think that HRDC got a (mostly) bum rap on the “billion dollar boondoggle” issue, I also think that the department’s operation of the gun registry was significantly incompetent over and above the politically mandated inefficiencies. (Note that the registry was moved to the Solicitor General’s department two years ago, so current incompetance is no longer HRDC’s fault.)
I think Martin’s smart enough not to make this kind of declaration if he knows he can be tied to it – he’s not dumb enough to force himself to retire this soon after he’s gotten the big prize he’s always wanted. Still, the article is a bit telling; people are angry at The Liberals, whether it’s Martin’s fault or not. I wonder if we are going to get that spring election like we thought.
Nice little boobytrap that Chretien left for Martin, at any rate.
This is getting ever more exciting for me … who will win the election? An as-yet-unnamed conservative, or Mr Layton?
Although I love Jack, I can’t help but suspect that he may not be ready to be PM. Personally I would be happy to give him the chance, but as we all know, the NDP can’t win ;). Doesn’t this dearth of leadership at the national level make parliamentary reform and government by coalition-building much more attractive?
Heh. I feel like I’ve landed in some kind of Bizarro world, where the NDP is the only party with a leader people care about.
I like it. I’m staying.
As for experience, it’s not as though he’s a greenhorn. He’s spent 20 years in municipal politics, was president the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and holds a PhD in political economy. He’s also part of the environmental studies faculty at the University of Toronto, so he’s good on ecological issues, which have always been grossly ignored.
He is an outsider to Ottawa, though. Some of us might consider that a good thing
Hey, Hamish, have you always been in Canada? If not, then, welcome ! you’ve come at a good time.
I agree that Layton rocks, I did Env Studies at U of T and have run into him more than once. I first encountered him at an event promoting rooftop gardens and he nearly brought tears to my eyes …
But he’s very much a municipal politician to me, I can’t see Canadians embracing a man who proudly bicycles to work and attends demonstrations. (Especially in the West.) He’s also got kind of a politician streak, eg following the cameras and assuming he’s always the centre of attention. Which is par for the course for federal politicians, I suppose, but some locals who know him are less than enthusiastic about him because he sometimes seems to care more about exposure than the issues. (Although he does care more about the issues than any of the other two …)
Sorry for rambling. I really do heartily approve of Mr Layton and I really wish him all the best. I just don’t anticipate a win. Today’s poll showed that NDP support hasn’t really changed
From here (the online edition doesn’t show the poll graphic, but NDP support is pretty much a straight horizontal line)
sigh
The hypothesis that “the NDP can’t win” seems to be holding true … people would rather vote for someone who has not yet been decided than for Layton and the NDP.
No, I was joking that it seemed like a different country, because people actually care about the leader of the NDP.
I was born in Vancouver, and grew up in a small town outside Victoria.
He does come across as slick sometimes. I think it’s his greatest liability. But if he was really just after the power and exposure, he could find easier ways to do it than join the NDP, that’s for sure.
I chalk up the Tory surge to the Belinda effect, which is the Stockwell effect, rehashed. And just like the Stockwell effect, it’ll blow up in their faces. No one takes her seriously because she works at her dad’s company, and because it’s already a running gag that the Tories are placing their bets on her sex appeal.
The Alliance tried that with Stockwell – selling us a balding, paunchy, middle-aged ex-minister as a sex symbol in a wetsuit. And even if he had had sex appeal, what made them think we’d vote for him? This country voted in Jean Chretien for a decade. Clearly, we do not place a high value on sex appeal.
As for the Bloc, they’re gaining because no one in Quebec wants another Liberal government after Jean Charest, and especially not a right-leaning one like Paul Martin’s. So far, the Bloc is seen as the only alternative, although no one’s talking separation. If we kneedippers can make inroads in this province, as we hope, maybe we can make ourselves a viable alternative to the Bloc.
Yeah, this stall in NDP support given the scandal is a little disheartening. I wonder if all the new Consevative support would be there regardless of which leader they choose(I doubt it)
The NDP has to get taken seriously by the stuffed shirts. Get those guys at Alternative Federal Budget to whip up a socially concious budget that appeals to some of the CEOs and accountants in the audience. Can’t please them all of course.
(or am I crazy to think that a party could publish a ready-to-go budget before getting elected)
