NDP MP Romeo Saganash admits alcohol addiction; will go on sick leave

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

NDP MP Romeo Saganash apologized after the CBC reported he was escorted off a flight last Friday after Air Canada deemed him too drunk to fly. He later issued this statement:

STATEMENT BY MP ROMEO SAGANASH (ABITIBI—BAIE-JAMES—NUNAVIK—EEYOU)

Both as a Member of Parliament and a member of the New Democrat caucus, it is my duty to follow a code of conduct in keeping with my role as a Member of Parliament and the confidence that my constituents placed in me when they elected me.

Last Friday, my behaviour caused an unfortunate incident that delayed an Air Canada flight between Montreal and Val-d’Or. I want to apologize to the other passengers and staff for what happened and for any inconvenience I caused them. I would also like to offer my sincere apologies to Air Canada and the Aéroports de Montréal.

Neither fatigue nor stress can justify what I did. I need help to overcome a medical problem, a dependence on alcohol, like far too many other Canadians.

I am not looking at excuses, but I know that profound scars were left on me because of my time in residential school. I never shied away from that. The death of my friend and mentor, Jack Layton, also greatly affected me. Like him, I needed a crutch. The leadership race wore me out, on top of taking me away from my children and my loved ones even more often.

Life on Parliament Hill can be hectic and exciting, but it is also full of obstacles and pitfalls. Many of my colleagues can attest to this.

I have asked my leader to give me leave so that I can take the necessary time to treat this illness. I am deeply grateful for his support and the support of all my colleagues in this difficult period of my life.

I would like to thank the citizens of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou for their constant support in this difficult period of my life and ask for their understanding. I can assure them that my office will continue to serve them and that my New Democrat colleagues will be available to help while I’m on sick leave.

My priority is to serve my constituents to the best of my abilities and it’s with deep humility that I say thank you and see you soon.

NDP Leadership: a final word from Brian Topp

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

Former NDP president Brian Topp, who finished second to Thomas Mulcair in his unsuccessful bid to lead the party, has sent a message of thanks to supporters of his campaign (which his spokesman emailed to me at my request).

The statement does not include a promise -- or anything at all -- about running for the NDP in the 2015 election, although he does call for unity and talks about the campaign to replace the Conservative government.

Given this might be the last you hear from Topp for a while, I thought I would share it here.

Dear friends,

I have said it on Twitter and on Facebook, and now I'd like to say it in a letter to you:

Thank you so much for your friendship and support during the 2012 leadership contest, just concluded.

When it's over, it's over. And like all New Democrats all across Canada, there must be only one thing on all of our minds from now on -- unity behind our new leader, Tom Mulcair; strength; and an absolute focus on the task at hand, which is to offer Canadians a better government.

Still and all, perhaps I'll offer a few parting thoughts on what we've all just been through.

National campaigns are always intense experiences -- but they usually last for seven weeks or so. And then we go whew! that was quite a ride. This seven month marathon was of an entirely different magnitude. And so, it was a unique opportunity to see our country, to get to know our party in its deepest grass roots, to get to know my colleagues in the race, and to renew and make friendships I will treasure for the rest of my life.

This really is a remarkable country. It's an ocean of land. It is an archipelago of communities. And it is something more -- a country of citizens who share some powerful communitarian values and principles that our current government does not understand. Canadians are looking for something better. That's going to be us.

Our party is remarkably strong -- Jack Layton's gift to Canada. It is bursting with young people; crackling with ideas; it is asking good questions; it is smiling, optimistic, and serious about its role. I will always be grateful to the many hundreds of members who came to talk to me during this campaign I was honoured to have my time with you.

Martin Singh with his passionate commitment to national pharmacare; Robert Chisholm with his deep experience as a successful provincial leader; Romeo Saganash, one of Canada's most accomplished First Nations leaders, with much to teach us; Nikki Ashton with her remarkable polylingual prairie determination to renew politics; Paul Dewar with his passionate decency, engaging family and impressive grassroots campaign; Peggy Nash, my fantastic MP here in Parkdale High Park, the rassembleuse; Nathan Cullen, who reminded so many of Jack, challenging us to think new about what it's going to take to unseat Mr. Harper; and Tom Mulcair, my colleague on the last ballot, now my leader, who lived up to his reputation as a truly formidable opponent -- not a bad thing to put up against this Conservative government. All of my colleagues in this race were members of the "Layton generation" -- and collectively, they have proved that we have the leadership under Tom Mulcair and the team  to not only challenge Mr. Harper but to replace him. I was very lucky to have been allowed to stand with them on those stages.

Finally, I hope you won't mind if I take a moment to thank the many people who helped me in this campaign.

I was blessed to have the support and endorsement of some of the most impressive and accomplished Parliamentarians, past and present, federal and provincial, in our party. I will find my way to each of you in coming weeks to thank you personally. I was deeply honoured and moved by your support. I hope you won't mind if I say what a particular thrill and honour it was to see Shirley Douglas stand up to nominate me and to remind us all, once again, why we are here -- and why we will never give up.

My campaign manager Raymond Guardia is the architect of our electoral victory in Quebec, a goal he has worked towards all his adult life, so much of which he has devoted, passionately, to our party and our cause. He headed an extraordinary team of organizers, writers, web-warriors, phone bankers, videographers, and many many others who gave their hearts and souls to my campaign through grinding hours. To all of those who helped me in so many ways: I will always be grateful to you. I will always treasure your help. And what a treasure it is to have such friends, now and for the rest of our lives.  

My brothers and sisters at the United Steelworkers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union led a fine labour team. I was just about as proud to stand with you in this campaign, as I will be in the many campaigns we in the labour movement will work together on in the years ahead. A special thank you to Leo Gerrard, Ken Newman, and Dave Coles for your help and support -- and to all my labour colleagues in many unions across Canada who stood with me. Now we stand together with our party and our leader, Tom Mulcair.

I am blessed to have a remarkable partner, Rebecca Elbourne, and two remarkable sons, Simon and Alex who, fortunately, take after their mom. They were pretty hoarse after convention (twelve hours or so of chanting slogans will do that to you), just a little taste of the support my family gave me on this journey. Paul Dewar's partner told the media after convention, "we have each other, we're ok". That's exactly how I feel about things, and am so lucky that is so.

So this campaign is over and the next begins -- our campaign to replace this Conservative government with a better one.

To work, friends.

All my very best,
Brian Topp

NDP Leadership: Nathan Cullen ahead on Twitter, says media monitoring firm (Google searches too)

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

It's hard to say whether Twitter is having an impact in the New Democrat leadership race (or determine the size of that impact), but Ottawa-based media monitoring firm MediaMiser has nonetheless been tracking how much attention each of the seven current candidates have been getting on the social networking site.

Who knows what it means, but it's some interesting trivia for geeks like me (and you, because you know that's why you're reading this) to chew on. If you want to see this done on a bigger scale, check out @mentionnachine, where the Washington Post is tracking Twitter traffic for the Republican primaries.

The company collected all tweets referring to the NDP leadership candidates from Feb. 1 to early afternoon on Tuesday (Mar. 13) and found that B.C. MP Nathan Cullen had the highest proportion of mentions in the tweets collected during that time period, followed closely by Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair.

Here are the statistics:

Nathan Cullen: 23.4 per cent

Thomas Mulcair: 21.4 per cent

Peggy Nash: 18.2 per cent

Brian Topp: 15.1 per cent

Paul Dewar: 13.7 per cent

Niki Ashton: 6.2 per cent

Martin Singh: 2 per cent

MediaMiser also considered what sort of tone or sentiment was associated with the top three candidates on Twitter (ie. Cullen, Mulcair and Nash) of tweets taken in a random sample on Mar. 13. Positive language contributed to a positive score, negative language to a negative and tweets that included simply a news headline and/or a link to a news story were considered neutral.

The results on that front:

Nash: 59 per cent positive; 38 per cent neutral; 3 per cent negative

Cullen: 54 per cent positive; 43 per cent neutral; 3 per cent negative

Mulcair: 37 per cent positive; 50 per cent neutral; 13 per cent negative

Jim Donnelly, director of content at MediaMiser, said the existence of anti-Mulcair Twitter accounts are probably contributing to some of the negative tone, but likely so is the perception that Mulcair is the frontrunner and therefore coming under attack from fellow candidates and their supporters.

“I would say right now it’s looking like Mulcair has had a lot of momentum in the last few weeks, but to me it looks like the other candidates and other supporters are trying a tactic of almost an ‘Anybody but Mulcair’ sort of thing," Donnelly said Wednesday. "So you’re seeing that in some of the negative comments, but I think right now it’s just looking like it’s going to be a bit closer race than people are thinking at the moment.”

MediaMiser also took a look at the Twitter hash tag most commonly associated with the NDP leadership race (#ndpldr) and found that between Feb. 1 and Mar. 13 it was mentioned 32,166 times.

Here is how that hash tag compared to other ones used for other tweets about the NDP leadership:

Hash Tags	Mentions
#ndpldr	32166
#cdnpoli	6611
#ndp	6151
#ndpdb8	994
#tm4pm	572
#lpc	477
#bcpoli	471
#cpc	407
#cullenplan	254
#hw	167

 

And here were the most commonly mentioned words (including hash tags):

Words	Mentions
#ndpldr	32166
#cdnpoli	6611
#ndp	6151
nathancullen	5570
peggynashndp	4920
thomasmulcair	4423
pauldewar	3176
ndp	2874
briantopp	2674
support	2187

 

MediaMiser also looked at the "top influencers" for the #ndpldr hash tag, measured by the "retweet ratio" (number of retweets measured against number of original tweets including the #ndpldr hash tag). Here are the top 15 (with yours truly at the bottom of that list):

1) @ThomasMulcair                29.4

2) @LaurinLiu                           17.7

3) @PeggyNashNDP              16.2

4) @BrianTopp                           12.1

5) @CraigScottNDP                   9.2 

6) @PaulDewar                         6.9

7) @NDP_HQ                            5.4

8) @aaronwherry                       4.9

9) @nathancullen                     4.6

10) @fitzpatrick_m                     3.9

11) @acoyne                              3.9

12) @LibbyDavies                     3.4

13) @RachelNotley                   3.2

14) @matness                           3.1

15) @smithjoanna                    3.1

In other NDP leadership fun-fact news, the Cullen campaign is drawing attention to what Google Insights says about how many searches have been done for the candidates over time.

It appears one can analyze only five search terms at a time, so here is the report comparing searches for Mulcair, Topp, Cullen, Nash and Dewar in Canada from September 2011 to this month (the link sent by the Cullen campaign ran from October to April). You'll notice a big spike for Topp in September, presumably when he launched his campaign, then spikes for Dewar, Mulcair and Nash in October, when they launched theirs. Things remained pretty calm from then until now, when there is a sharp increase in the number of searches for Mulcair and Cullen (hence the Cullen campaign sending this around).

Again, it's hard to say what this means, but it has been shown there is a correlations between Google searches for flu symptoms and actual flu outbreaks, so at the very least it shows that people are have been more curious about Mulcair and Cullen of late.

I took a look at the searches for Ashton and Singh over the same time period. There was a big spike for Ashton in November, which is when she launched her campaign, then a small bump for both around the time of the first official all-candidates debate on Dec. 4 and then increased interest in both candidates this month as voting began and the convention draws near.

It is interesting to note that search volume for Ashton was high in Ontario (see regional interest section). For Singh, search volume was high in B.C. and medium in Ontario. But in Manitoba, where Ashton is from and represents the riding of Churchill, and in Nova Scotia, where Singh is a pharmacist, interest was low. So low, in fact, that Google Insights reports "there was not enough search volume to show graphs". Ouch.

Before the other five candidates feel too confident, they should know that they too are all ranked "low" in search volume for every province except B.C., Ontario and Quebec. (Dewar is "low" in every province but Ontario and Cullen is "low" everywhere but B.C. and Ontario).

Now go have fun entering your own NDP leadership search terms to see what you come up with.

NDP Leadership: a round-up of policies from candidates in the race

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

As the New Democratic leadership race picks up pace this winter, more and more candidates are releasing more and more policy proposals to let members know where they stand on given issues. I wanted to collect them in a central place to help me compare/contrast/keep track of them and figured I might as well share it with you.

Below is what I hope is a comprehensive list of policy proposals on a number of issues the candidates have released so far. I will try to update this list regularly as more are released. Please note there is no analysis here, and the summaries are more like keywords to help me sort them out. I have provided links to the campaign websites so that you can refer to the primary sources for more details. Please also note that I tried to keep this list to actual proposals (with varying levels of detail) and excluded vague "calls" for this or that or general statements on the topic of the day. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

I hope you find this useful as the race progresses. Please feel free to tell everyone what you think of them (and let me know if I am missing any) in the comments section.

ECONOMY/JOBS

Niki Ashton: Dec. 3 - A 10-point plan that takes a wholistic look at how the economy can be more inclusive, including plans for child care, a job growth fund, affordable housing, engaging the labour movement along with business in developing the economy and making education and training more accessible.

Nathan Cullen: Feb. 19 - appoint a minister of manufacturing, annual report to industry minister that sets targets for job creation, increase capital cost allowance to five years, increase corporate tax rate to 20 per cent, differentiated corporate tax rate of 25 per cent for oil and gas companies, reduce tax treatment for stock option capital gains, require shareholder approval of executive pay packages, go after tax havens, introduce new personal income tax bracket beginning at $300,000, national poverty reduction plan

Paul Dewar: Dec. 2 - national infrastructure program, support for small and medium-sized businesses, promote renewable energy industries, better national training program for youth

Peggy Nash: Dec. 2 - increase value of natural resources while decreasing their environmental impact, long-term federal investments in infrastructure, transport and energy projects, improve access to modern telecommunications technologies while boosting Canadian content, better income security programs, strengthen links between social programs and economic goals.

Brian Topp: Nov. 28 - higher tax rate (35 per cent) for those earning more than $250,000, reform capital gains tax, modernize treatment of stock options, increase corporate tax rate by 1.5 per cent each year until it reaches 22.12 per cent

Jan. 13 - enhance federal legislation for credit union, renewed federal labour-sponsored venture capital program, allocate five per cent of Export Development Canada programming to small and medium-sized businesses.

HEALTH CARE

Niki Ashton: Jan. 11 - national standards, Pharmacare, accessible dental care, more focus on primary care teams, rural health care, strategy to improve health in First Nations, Metis and LGBT community.

Paul Dewar: Nov. 24 - include hospitals and health equipment in proposed permanent national infrastructure program

Peggy Nash: Feb. 23 - federal support for midwifery in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, Expand the role of midwives in maternal and newborn healthservices at the federal level

Martin Singh: national pharmaceutical strategy that includes pharmacare and bulk purchasing

Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - home and community care accord, national pharmaceutical accord (to supplement newly negotiated health accord), national child nutrition program

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY

Nathan Cullen: Nov. 24 - A list of ways targeting the better use, production and sourcing of energy, including energy-efficent homes, a national public transit strategy, training for clean energy jobs, eliminating subsides to the oil and gas sector, cutting them for nuclear power, appointing a minister for energy security, mapping renewable energy resources in Canada and getting the premiers together for a meeting on energy competitiveness.

Paul Dewar: Jan. 11 - cap and trade system, permanent Green Retrofits Fund (residential/commercial), remove tax benefits for oil and gas industries, investments in renewable energy sector, improve grid to reach goal of 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030, reduce government energy costs

Thomas Mulcair: Dec. 8 - cap and trade plan that includes all major sources of emissions and uses revenue to help families reduce energy use and costs

Peggy Nash: Jan. 18 - focus on cities and green jobs, national transit strategy with 10-year funding horizon, new Canada Green Buildings fund, permanent inventory of pre-approved green infrastructure projects and speed up funding to stimulate economy when needed, mandate CMHC to support investments in energy efficiency, revise national building and energy codes and bring all federal buildings up to these higher standards and Feb. 23 - reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent 1990 levels by 2050, cap-and-trade system, restore ecoENERGY Retrofit with focus on low-income housing and new financing options for single-family homes, direct incentives for renewable energy technology, end federal subsidies for oil and gas sector, enhance Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and Species at Risk Act

Martin Singh: Feb. 1 - expand National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, cap-and-trade system, improve and expand ecoEnergy retrofit program, Green Trust Fund to help businesses become more energy efficent and engage in renewable energy sector, national sustainable transportation strategy, national conservation plan, national water strategy, remove amendment to Federal Fisheries Act that allows natural water bodies to be converted to waste dumps for mines, make federally funded environmental research accessible and independent through integrity policy for communicating science, Canadian Centre for Climate Change Science, improve environmental assessments

Brian Topp: Feb. 16 - reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, end federal tax subsidies for oil and gas producers, cap-and-trade system, home and industrial retrofit program, phase out "carbon-intense" fuels like coal and invest in renewable energy, national transit strategy, get gas-burning cars out of cities, Canadian Energy Strategy that includes slower pace of oil sands development and phasing out toxic tailing ponds within a decade, $200 million a year for five-year Great Lakes Initiative, legally binding ban on oil tankers off northwest Pacific coast, Safe Chemicals, Safe Kids Act, stop producing and exporting chrysotile asbestos

DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Nathan Cullen: Nov. 29 - hold a national referendum on reforming the electoral system (Cullen supports mixed-member proportional representation), abolish the Senate, restore political subsidies, hold a plebiscite on the future of the monarchy in Canada

Paul Dewar: Dec. 7 - Link per-vote subsidy to number of female candidates

Peggy Nash: Feb. 27 - make replacing first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional representation a top priority, target message at non-voters as a way to get them to vote for NDP, Royal Commission on Electoral Reform

Brian Topp: Jan. 10 - abolish or reduce power of Senate, mixed-member proportional representation, forbid prime minister from asking for a prorogation to avoid a confidence vote

FOREIGN AFFAIRS/INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Niki Ashton: Jan. 25 - Remake the Canadian International Development Agency (perhaps renaming it Solidarity Canada) and give it the mandate to reduce poverty in the poorest countries

Nathan Cullen: Dec. 21 - includes renegotiating trade agreements to include "real" labour and environmental standards, ensuring Canadian goods have access to foreign markets for new agreements and building support for a currency speculation tax and Feb. 19 - modernize Investment Canada Act to block foreign takeovers in key sectors without transparent net benefit to Canada

Paul Dewar: Feb. 10 - Centre for Peacebuilding and Human Security, oppose Canadian engagement in military conflict with Iran, Responsibility to Protect, work towards devoting 0.7 per cent of Canada's GDP to fighting global poverty, promote Canadian International Development Agency to full department, focus on empowerment of women and girls, reinstate funding for NGOs that perform abortions, make climate change a focus of foreign policy, free trade agreements that protect human rights, corporate social responsibility

Thomas Mulcair: Feb. 7 - focus on preventing rape as a weapon of war, merge CIDA into DFAIT, cancel purchase of F-35 fighter jets, strengthen military's ability to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises, preferential trade to countries that respect human rights and climate change, corporate social responsbility, develop global treaty to replace Kyoto, include Brazil and India on UN Security Council, better benefits for veterans

Peggy Nash: Feb. 10 - 0.7 per cent of GDP to fighting global party with increase of $500 million per year, export generic medications to impoverished countries, implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, reinstate funding to NGOs providing abortions, support global campaign to end conflict-related gender violence, leading role in climate change negotiations, promote LGBT rights foreing policy priority

Romeo Saganash: long-term, preventative, global approach to diplomacy

Brian Topp: Feb. 24 - work with United States and European Union on developing balanced taxation policy, fair trade agreements, abandon the construction of pipelines to increase exports of bitumen to the U.S. and China, truth and reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian dispute, re-engage in Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, invest 0.7 per cent of GDP in UN Millennium Development Goals, gender analysis for humanitarian aid, pass Canada's Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) legislation, better benefits for veterans, review military procurement procedures

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Niki Ashton: Dec. 21 - lower dollar value for screening

Peggy Nash: Jan. 3 - reduce review threshold to $100 million, explicit and transparent criteria for "net benefit to Canada" test, community involvement in decision, public disclosure and enforcement of all commitments by potential investors

EDUCATION

Paul Dewar: Dec. 15 - monthly stipend, relocation cost and scholarship for students who spend a year volunteering for a non-profit organization ($200 million for first year of implementation), dedicated transfer of $800 million to provinces to reduce tuition fees, expand student grant program, reduce interest to student debt to the prime rate.

FAMILIES/CHILDREN

Peggy Nash: Jan. 26 - policy framework and funding commitments to guide provinces/territories in developing and maintaining more and better early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs.

Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - national child nutrition program, reverse moratorium on family reunification applications (and clear up backlog)

ARCTIC/NORTHERN CANADA

Nathan Cullen: Dec. 15 - strategy includes input from First Nations, Inuit and local people in decisions on infrastructure and natural resource development, reducing reliance on diesel, making finishing modern treaty negotiations with Northern Aboriginal people a priority, an Arctic University

Peggy Nash: Feb. 1 - access to water, education and housing for Aboriginal communities, passenger rail to connect communities, forgive student loans for doctors who commit to practicing in the North for at least 10 years

WATER

Paul Dewar: Jan. 24 - includes federal ban on bulk water exports, funding for public water infrastructure and delivery projects, safe drinking water on all reserves in 10 years, research and development in water conservation systems, global leadership on water issues

ARTS AND CULTURE

Paul Dewar: Nov. 7 - income tax averaging for artists and cultural workers, extending federal income support to self-employed, freelance and part-time workers, remove federal income tax on first $15,000 professional artists earn from copyright and residual payments.

Brian Topp: Jan. 20 - cultural industries investment fund for the rest of Canada (like SODEC in Quebec), overhaul the CBC on television and the Internet (including a suggestion to provide multiple channels), modernization of the Broadcast Act and better enforcement of Canadian content requirements, improve federal income support and taxation policies for professional artists

MUNICIPALITIES

Paul Dewar: Oct. 24 - give municipalities a seat at the table for federal/provincial/territorial negotiations that affect their interests.

Thomas Mulcair: Feb. 19 - dedicate one additional cent from the gas tax to public transit in municipalities, devote $500 million annually to public transit and eventually increase to $2 billion annually and Feb. 21 - make co-op housing a priority and reinvest in rental housing through Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation

AGRICULTURE/RURAL CANADA

Niki Ashton: Feb. 24 - more federal funding for community-based economic development organizations, allow producers to vote on future of marketing boards (eg. Canadian Wheat Board), encourage New Generation Co-operatives to give producers bigger share of profits from crops, support shortline rail to reduce costs of transporting goods to market, improve rural access to clean drinking water, family doctors and Canada Post, keep CBC stations open in rural and northern communities

PENSIONS

Thomas Mulcair: Jan. 11 - double maximum pension benefit to $1920/month, increase Guaranteed Income Supplement, create a new pension exchange ("CPP+/QPP+") to give all Canadians access to a defined benefits pension plan, develop a national pension insurance program

Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - double CPP (discuss parallel reinforcements for QPP with Quebec), reinforce Old Age Security program

LABOUR

Paul Dewar: Feb. 22 - end federal interference in collective bargaining, bring in federal version of Manitoba's "60-day rule" that mandates the Canada Industrial Relations Board to settle a strike or lockout with binding arbitration after that time period, ban the use of replacement workers, reduce injury rate in federal workplaces, federal minimum wage, reject bill C-377, extend language rights to all Quebecers in federally regulated industries, enforce "Westray Bill" enabling criminal charges for workplace deaths

INNOVATION

Peggy Nash: Jan. 13 - new Canada Innovation Fund, a new Canada Development Bank for pre-commercial and commercial fiscal support, tax credit for investing in high-tech new machinery and equipment, make it easier to commercialize university-based research and development

Martin Singh: national strategy for innovation and entrepreneurship

WOMEN

Paul Dewar: Feb. 1 - new proactived pay equity law and expand pay equity coverage to include women, Aboriginals, workers with disabilities and workers of colour, national child care plan

Thomas Mulcair: Jan. 22 - 50 per cent of all appointments to boards of Crown corporations and federal agencies go to women, implement recommendations from 2004 Pay Equity Task Force, improved maternity benefit rules, six months leave from work to care for ailing relatives, restore Court Challenges program, improved firearms registry, national plan to end violence against Aboriginal women, universal child care program, re-establish Status of Women Canada as a full ministry

Peggy Nash: Jan. 11 - return an amended version of the federal long-gun registry and protect its data through legislation, Royal Commission on the Status of Women, employment equality, focus on violence toward First Nations, Métis and Inuit women and girls, increase support for women and families

LGBTQ

Niki Ashton: Jan. 13 - endorses the proposals put forward by the 'Regina B Team', including ending homophobic bullying in schools, funding for anti-homophobia organizations, reversing blanket MSM ban for donating blood or organs, add gender identity/expression to Canadian Human Rights Act, endorsing the Montreal Declaration on LGBT Human Rights to protect queer rights in foreign countries

Peggy Nash: Dec. 11 - implement the NDP's Trans Rights Bill, restore long-term federal funding for HIV/AIDS/HCV epidemics in Canada, advocate for LGBT rights in foreign affairs, support provincial and local anti-bully initiatives

 Brian Topp: Jan. 26 - implement the NDP's Trans Rights Bill, national anti-bullying strategy, review legislation/policy on assisted human reproduction and ensure access for LGBTTQ families, inclusive and non-discriminatory health care for seniors

How to get the national media to show up at your campaign event early on a Friday morning when the weather is terrible.

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

Late Monday night I received an email from Joe Cressy, who is the media spokesman for NDP leadership candidate Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre).

The subject line: "Joanna - you'll want to be at this announcement".

That caught my attention (even while knowing it is the job of a media relations person to tell me that I want to be at every announcement, no matter how big or small I as a journalist might think it is), but I asked for more details before deciding whether to make a note in my calendar.

The reply?

The announcement on Friday has two parts:
1. Paul will announce what we believe is the biggest endorsement of any of the leadership campaigns yet.
2. Paul will articulate the theme and next phase of his leadership campaign

Not bad.

A couple of colleagues in the Ottawa Bureau and I began brainstorming. Who could be a bigger endorsement than Ed Broadbent, who had already come out in support of Brian Topp? We started trying to think of someone of that stature.

One idea that came to mind was NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina), who was married to the late Jack Layton and would provide symbolic weight to any campaign. She had already said that she was going to remain neutral in the leadership race, but people have changed their minds before. Cressy knows her well and co-chaired her campaign last year, so it was within the realm of possibility. I called her up and asked and the answer was a clear no. She wasn't even aware that Dewar was holding an event Friday and she still plans to remain neutral. Scratched her name off the list.

Another name that came up was former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis, whose work to help people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa would fit well with Dewar's passion for international and humanitarian affairs. Cressy is director of communications at the Stephen Lewis Foundation, so there is a connection, and Lewis would be at the level of Broadbent when it comes to "big" names in the NDP world.

So I came right out and asked Cressy.

He replied:

"...(It's) not Stephen.  It's also not Batman or Obama as I've read on twitter. 

The endorser is someone who the grassroots of our Party (Paul's whole campaign focus) like a great deal."

That ruled out Lewis, but the "grassroots" mention was another clue. We needed to think of someone outside the NDP "establishment" but still popular with members.

I tried another couple of names. David Suzuki? Maher Arar?

Cressy replied:

"Neither...but that's the end of our guesses.

Though when you said Arar, I can't help but note that Monia Mazigh (Maher Arar's wife and a leading activist) has already endorsed Paul."

True. She has.

So, still scratching my head (Naomi Klein? Elizabeth May?) I trudged through the slush and snow/rain to the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa (where Liberals were milling about the hallways for their policy convention) by 8:15 a.m. to cover this big, surprise announcement.

And who was it?

Drumroll please...

NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins--James Bay), who Dewar said will also be his deputy leader if he wins the leadership race.

Now, don't get me wrong. Angus, as far as caucus endorsements go, is a catch. It is true that he is liked by grassroots members of the NDP and his deft handling of the G8 infrastructure spending issue and the housing crisis in Attawapiskat made him one of the stars in the House of Commons last year. His past life as a punk rock musician makes him an interesting character and he helped his party make gains in Northern Ontario. He's a good addition to the Dewar campaign team.

But "the biggest endorsement of any of the leadership campaigns yet"? That's debatable.

What is more certain is that this was a pretty smart way to get the national media (and there were quite a few of us there) to show up for a campaign announcement early on a Friday morning. And even if it's likely not what Cressy had in mind when he sent me that first email, here I am still writing about it.

UPDATE:

Cressy noticed this blog post, of course, and gave me a call to explain the thinking behind all the hype.

"Our true belief that Charlie is... in the context of a leadership race, he is certainly one of the biggest 'gets' that anybody will be able to get the whole campaign. Remember: leadership races are one member, one vote. And Charlie, within our party, he is somebody who many people were hoping was going to run for leader. If he was running, he would be a frontrunner right now, but he also brings lots of support with him. Lots of memberships, lots of folks, big and small names," said Cressy, going on to say that he realized the speculation had run more rampant than he had expected.

"So, I know it wasn't what people were expecting. The minute the Twittersphere went a little nuts, it was like 'Uh, Tim Tebow? Do we have him?' But it was an honest calculation of ours that he is one of the biggest MPs and certainly the biggest that we have," Cressy said.

Surprising, but not a surprise: NDP learned of MP's defection through the media

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

The defection of rookie NDP MP Lise St-Denis (Saint-Maurice--Champlain) to the Liberals Tuesday morning was a surprise to her former party, but not by the time she told them about it.

Karl Bélanger, senior press secretary to NDP Interim Leader Nycole Turmel, said he received a phone call from St-Denis about 10 minutes before her 10:30 a.m. news conference with Liberal Leader Bob Rae and Quebec Liberal MP Denis Coderre.

“She gave me a call and then told me as she was probably on her way to the press conference," Bélanger said Tuesday afternoon. "By that time the cat was out of the bag and her name was being widely reported by different media, either on social media or the networks."

As for Turmel, Bélanger said that St-Denis never spoke to her directly.

"She was not able to reach her," said Bélanger, who speculated that St-Denis likely called him after trying unsuccessfully to contact Turmel, but he did not know what time she had first reached out.

St-Denis had said at the news conference that she had "called" Turmel and "spoke" to Bélanger.

While her phone call to Bélanger may have been anti-climactic, the defection itself -- and the stated reasons for it -- threw the NDP for a loop.

One senior NDP source noted that while St-Denis told reporters it was differences in opinion over the Senate, the mission in Libya and a public-private partnership for the Champlain Bridge that drove her to abandon her party for the Liberals, she had never aired those complaints in caucus or to anyone else in the party.

“Watching her on television was the first time that we heard about that,” said the source, later adding that she was not a prominent voice of dissent on any issue.

 

"You can't get a haircut in this town without speculation," says Paul Dewar.

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

When New Democrat MP and foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) sent an email to supporters Wednesday morning and posted on his Facebook wall that he had some news to share, everyone assumed that he was going to announce a leadership bid.

That became obvious when a smiling Dewar emerged from the NDP caucus meeting, playing coy with the reporters in the scrum around him as he told everyone to wait and see.

One more clue? His new haircut:

“What do you think you will bring to the race?” CBC Newsworld's Julie Van Dusen asked in the scrum.

“Well, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?” Dewar said by way of a non-answer.

“Well, I figured that’s why you got the haircut, right?” Van Dusen persisted, which got everyone in the scrum laughing, as many were wondering the same.

“You can’t get a haircut in this town without speculation!" said Dewar. "I get a haircut from time to time. It’s something I do and I like to be well-groomed as a Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.”

Comartin's to-do list: Work, health and a grandaughter to play with

-posted by Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa bureau, 15/09/2011

I didn't see NDP justice critic Joe Comartin in shots of the caucus on stage at the Quebec City news conference earlier Thursday which struck me as odd.

When I tracked him down, I joked it sounded like he was at a daycare centre. I could hear the sounds of children's laughter. Not quite.

He was just coming out of a clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. He'd been referred there a few months ago for a specialized procedure to treat - as he called it - a couple of patches of "skin cancer" on his nose and neck.

NDP Jack Layton's struggle with prostate cancer was the most high profile health battle fought by a public figure of late. Many MPs have dealt with cancer or other serious illnesses. Joe downplayed his, and said he will be back at work when Parliament resumes next week.

As a deputy house leader for the Official Opposition and an MP on the selection committee reviewing potential Supreme Court of Canada candidates, Joe said it's a bad time to take any more time off.

His cancer, he said, is not melanoma, and not life-threatening. He has 5-6 stitches on his nose and the same on his neck where the doctor excised patches of "pre-basal" cell carcinoma. He's bandaged up, but doesn't need reconstructive surgery, and in "98 per cent of these cases" the doctor doesn't need to do more.

"It's not a big deal," he told me. "The doctor told me today that his Thursdays are the light cases. It's like a production line. There were probably 20 or 30 other patients there this morning."

Comartin had attended the caucus meeting but it was extended only after he'd booked his medical appointment. All that over with, he was "going to go play with my grandaughter right now."

-30-

 

Feathers of leadership

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

New Democrat MP Olivia Chow (Trinity--Spadina) presented Interim Leader Nycole Turmel with a special gift as the 102-member caucus gathered for the start of a two-day strategy session in Quebec City on Wednesday: two eagle feathers that were sacred to her late husband, Jack Layton.

Chow said she hoped the feathers would give Turmel wisdom and strength as she leads the party until a new leader is chosen in Toronto next March.

"He used these feathers to guide his decision-making," a tearful Chow told her colleagues, who she thanked for love and support when Layton was battling cancer. "May Jack's spirit guide us, now and in the future."

An aide told The Canadian Press the story behind the feathers:

One of the feathers fell from an eagle that circled Layton and Chow while they were kayaking in the Queen Charlotte Islands shortly after the 2006 election. Haida Gwaii elders told Layton it was a "feather of leadership" and blessed it. The other feather was given to Layton later by an aboriginal leader.

 

When in doubt, leave it out.

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

The New Democrat powers that be did something today that has left me gaping at my computer monitor with some combination of admiration and disbelief.

You may remember there was some controversy during the recent spring election when the CBC's Leslie MacKinnon tried and failed to find the NDP constitution.

Ahead of the NDP biennial policy convention in Vancouver in June, I reported that the party was getting ready to rid said constitution of references to "democratic socialism" in an attempt to update the language. While researching the story, I was able to finally get my hands on the most recent version of the constitution (2009), which you can read here.

The move did not go over smoothly in Vancouver, with a last-minute interjection from newly elected NDP president Brian Topp suggesting the matter be referred to the executive for retooling saving everyone from a divisive debate on the convention floor.

Now that the NDP is heading into a leadership race that will in part be governed by rules set out in that constitution, the party has finally decided to publish its constiution on the NDP website.

Those of you hoping to catch a glimpse of the original preamble (which has yet to be formally changed) will be disappointed, as it has been replaced by a conspicuous blank space.

There is an old saying in journalism used for when a reporter cannot confirm something ahead of the fast-approaching deadline: "When in doubt, leave it out."

It looks like the NDP just gave it a new meaning.