Many have predicted that the NDP will have great difficulty performing without leader Jack Layton, and their first day back to work since his death only helped solidify this belief. First, the NDP needs to have their leadership convention as soon as possible because Nycole Turmel is a terrible public speaker. She was painful to watch in Question Period. Her English is harder to understand than Stephane Dion so most of her questions are in French, and she has to read all of her questions off of a piece of paper. Bob Rae by comparison is bloody Shakespearean.
Then you had Peggy Nash demanding that the government stop cutting taxes to businesses and instead focus on "the real job creators". I suppose in the wonderful world of "social democracy" the government becomes the most important and "efficient" employer (especially those positions which are unionized). Yes it is looking like the NDP's fall jobs plan is about creating more public sector jobs. CUPE, not small business, is the real job creator in this country. Either we could hire more unionized public employees, or we could just funnel money directly into CUPE. I doubt the NDP would complain.
Also today, Mulcair threatened not to run for leader unless the party does something to "rectify" Quebec's lack of card carrying NDP members. Since half the NDP's seats are in Quebec, then the province should be guaranteed 50% of the influence in selecting the next leader; regardless of how many memberships Team Mulcair is able to sell. But since rumours have it that Layton's inner circle does not want Mulcair to be the next leader, don't expect the rules to be changed to increase Tommy's probability of victory.
Day 1 was interesting to say the least.
Agreed: And it's going to get better...er worse for them.
ReplyDeleteNothing like organized disarray!
Mulcair and Nycole both brag that 5 yrs of hard work in Que led to the breakthru. 5 yrs and only 2000 members is not a great breakthru.
ReplyDeleteSo, who voted for those que mps, and as they did not get into power via a coalition, who will they vote for next time.
Nycole better take some oral reading classes to learn how to read out loud with expression, correct prounciation etc.
I don't see Mulcair staying if he is not leader, so will he take his que contingent and form a new party. Will he sit with Lizzie. And it appears he can't count on 100% support from his que MP. And what if the new leader does not make him deputy leader, or house leader or critic of some important file.