With one week remaining before the NDP elects a new leader, one of the party's "patron saints" Ed Broadbent appeared on the CBC Thursday to declare front runner Tom Mulcair essentially unfit for leadership. This was a last minute attempt for Eddy to swing party support towards his man Brian Topp, who has slipped since entering the campaign as the establishment favourite. In the event that Mulcair pulls out a victory next weekend, the Tories have been provided with some excellent clips for the next election campaign. Broadbent pretty much accuses him of having a hidden agenda, that nobody in the party knows what he's going to do.
If Brian Topp finishes on top, not only can you expect that pun to be ridiculously over-used, but many may look back on the Broadbent rant as a possible turning point. Although the Tweets popping up on the TV screen during the interview were more along the lines of Eddy coming across as a grumpy old man, so it remains to be seen how much damage he did to Mulcair's candidacy, if any at all.
Tommy is what you call "a soft nationalist".
ReplyDeleteI myself refer to them as closet separatists.
I also think Ed is being a bit disingenuous, Mulclair is making promises to people that the party and the media are wilfully ignoring (reopening the constitution). Promises specifically targeted to the province of perpetual grievance.
What Ed is really upset about is that he's just now realizing the danger and that the NDP is aiding and abetting the separatist takeover of the party.
Back room Eddie can't pull the strings of Mulclair so wants his Topp patsy wooden puppet elected. Is Broadbent trying to "suppress" NDP voters? Maybe he should try robocalling.
ReplyDeleteOntario Girl
Speaking as a Conservative supporter a fire-brand soft nationalist like Mulcair leading the NDP is exactly what I'd like to see going into the next election.
ReplyDeleteNow, if we could only convince Justin to run for the Liberal leadership.
This is the East - West split. Mulcair is the NDP's separatist Trojan Horse. Looks harmless on the outside but the contents are lethal. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteI think Ed got it right re Mulcair although imo, none of them are at all suitable for Canada. This is a party that at one time were actually in it for 'the working man' but now they are far to radical, protectionist and union motivated. All of them would be a train wreck for this country
ReplyDeleteMulcair cannot seem to stifle his Quebec protectionism tough and Earth to Mulcair, this is a VERY BIG Country, not just one Province.
His pandering would cause a rift even larger than the one that exists imo and make a bigger mess in his party.
I say under those cautionary opinions, let him at it. :)
Iceman, you may be pleased to know this blog post was included in a list entitled "Best of the Blogs" here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ipolitics.ca/
-- Gabby in QC