Saturday, August 27, 2011

"Who is NDP leadership contender Brian Topp?"

On the day of Jack Layton's funeral, Jane Taber wrote a flattering piece about Brian Topp and his emerging candidacy to become the next permanent leader of the NDP. I first took notice of Mr. Topp's existence in February 2010 after he appeared on the Soloman Show to promote his book "How we almost gave the Tories the boot", where he detailed the attempted coup of December 2008. He was one of the primary architects of the NDP's move to form a coalition with the Liberals to overthrow the newly democratically re-elected Conservatives. After the attempt to seize power failed, Mr Topp suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. Far be it from me to dispute or belittle the diagnosis, I just don't think that someone who has a nervous breakdown after his own party's failed effort to seize power is a strong candidate to one day become Prime Minister. My apologies to anyone who suffered PSTD after a genuinely traumatic event.

Scott Reid seems to think that Topp's candidacy is a sign that Layton's inner circle is trying to keep Thomas Mulcair out of the leadership chair, and Scotty might actually be right on this one. Topp would be a good candidate for interim leader rather than permanent leader. The best possible replacement is Gary Doer, but his candidacy is unlikely unless he wants to leave his diplomatic post in Washington. It is also likely that Doer is considered too far to the right by many of the NDP membership. Peggy Nash should get the most support from the unions given her past as a high profile union leader. If there is indeed a strong movement within the NDP to keep Mulcair out of Stornoway, then perhaps there is hope for them. I would support Topp over Mulcair without a moment's hesitation, but neither of them are in Gary Doer's league.


11 comments:

  1. Mr Topp would do well to consider that it was the voters of Canada he was "giving the boot to"
    I never forgave any of the conspirators their role in the attempted Coup, nor will I.
    I expect the next little while the grieving double dippers will be to busy savaging one another to do much else. Good.
    cheers Bubba

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  2. I will never be convinced that que voted ndp because ndp was a party of their choice. They expected a minority, and the Bloc would never be accepted in a coalition, but as ndpers they could make Jack pm and blackmail canada for years.
    Until they elected 50 some mps in the next election, with whoever is leader, then maybe they have given up on separating.

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  3. Bang on, Mary T.

    Michael St.Paul's

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  4. All good points of which I concur.
    There is no strong leadership presently available in the NDP or Liberal stalls at this time and it behoves to me to see any strong candidate emerge for either party for a long time.
    Looks like the Conservatives will have their way for the foreseeable future of which they fully deserve.
    When you work hard to achieve goals and deliver your mandate, you deserve to reap the benifits.
    This is the government I see before me today.
    You cannot please everyone all the time but showing great leadership sure helps.
    Why do you think billions of people are knocking at Canadas door hoping to get in?
    We must be doing something right!

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  5. The quebec voters are still clinging to the concept of the two $olitudes. As long the seat distribution in the hoc stays where it is they will continue to do so. But on the day that there is no longer a power vote subsidy and the riding distribution is reflective of a nation of ten provinces, they will, as Manning once said, have to get with the program.
    The blackmail isn't working anymore, they just haven't figured it out yet.

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  6. Typo, that should say per vote subsidy.

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  7. I am sure there are a lot of disappointed dippers and media honchos, as they expected/wanted a resurrection three days. Don't be surprised if you see large life size cut outs of Jack at leadership campaigns, and maybe in the foyer of the HofC.
    But will the next leadership wannabes want to be reminded of Jack, or will they want to be their own person.
    And if we hear Jack wanted, Jack would/ve etc, that will tell us the ndp/bloc is living in the past.
    How long will they allow Nycole to stay in that chair, and lose support for them in the ROC.

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  8. Well before the May 2 election, there was a guest from Montreal on a Vancouver internet radio talk show, Stirling Faux's show,that explained why Layton's popularity was increasing in the polls in Quebec.

    I can't remember his name,but he was a person well connected to the Quebec MSM. He said Layton was preaching the old Bloc routine to Quebecers,"sovereignty and solidarity",while preaching an entirely different message to the rest of Canada.

    I expected the story to make it to the MSM at least in the ROC,but it never did. It makes sense that the Dippers did so well in Quebec,when they heard exactly what they wanted to hear from Jack.

    But I've still not heard a word about this from anyone in the MSM.

    I'll do some digging later today,and see if I can find link to the radio show.

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  9. http://talkdigitalnetwork.com/2011/04/why-quebec-wants-layton/

    Ah,that didn't take too long.I found this link in an article at "Rebel With a Clause", April 28/11.

    Howard Galganov, former talk show host in Montreal, said that Jack Layton promises Quebecers sovereignty within Canada.

    Listen and weep.

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  10. But will Jacks replacement promise the same thing in 5 yrs and will he/she get away with it.
    I still wonder how those voters knew who the ndp person was to vote for, as it has been reported numerous time that they didn't campaign, send out literature, or even visit their riding. And some still don't have a constituency office or even a phone line.
    Without Jack they will be lost.

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  11. Dmorris, Howard Galganov has a right to express his opinions, but he was wrong on a couple of items in that April 28 interview.

    • Galganov said that PQ leader Pauline Marois was very popular in Quebec and that she would win the next election with a vast majority. Maybe so, but right now she’s fighting to remain as leader, with some PQ party members demanding she step down. I don’t know what’s in her future, but right now she’s far from the popular figure Galganov said she was.

    • He also said he didn’t think the NDP would take many votes away from the Bloc. That turned out to be incorrect, didn’t it?

    • Also, in talking about the NDP’s policy of requiring Supreme Court justices be bilingual, both Galganov and Stirling Fox implied that if that bill becomes law judges would be appointed only from New Brunswick or Quebec. However, he seems to have forgotten this convention:
    http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/faq/faq/index-eng.asp
    12. How are judges chosen for the Supreme Court of Canada?
    “Of the nine, the Supreme Court Act requires that three be appointed from Quebec. Traditionally, the federal government appoints three Judges from Ontario, two from the West, and one from Atlantic Canada.”

    That convention may eventually change, but perhaps to the benefit of Western Canada. Just as the number of Western MPs may increase if the Conservatives' Bill C-12 passes into law, so too they may consider appointing three from the West rather than the current two. However, that means another region would have to lose one. A prickly problem.
    -- Gabby in QC

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