I first had the pleasure of meeting Imran at a Edward Blake Society event in Toronto a few weeks before the convention. I was really impressed and after perusing his website, I decided to vote for him. His speech at the 2012 LPC Biennial Convention was one of the best of any of the exec candidates. Mr. Ahmad is now V.P Francophone for the Liberal Party of Canada. After the convention I sent him 5 questions to find out more about his convention experience and his plans for helping to rebuild the Liberal Party.

What was the highlight of the convention for you?   

One of the highlights was when Liberal members opted to allow “supporters” to choose the next Leader of the Party.  While there may be risks involved with this initiative, it proved to me that the Party is ready to think outside the box.

There were other highlights such as seeing a huge delegate turnout, a large youth contingent and delegates coming to Ottawa despite the challenging weather.  It demonstrated to me that Liberal members care and wanted their voices to be heard.

What would you change about the election process for the executive of the Liberal Party of Canada?

First, I would move to a one-member-one-vote approach.  Second, I would ensure that we adopted a preferential ballot voting mechanism.

What do you believe will be your biggest challenge at V.P Francophone?

The key challenge will be to make the Party relevant to Francophones across the country.  As of January 2012, a majority of Francophones do not believe that the Party represents their views or offers a vision that resonates with them.

That said, I still believe that the Party is the best political organization to represent Francophones from coast to coast.  However, we must first engage them in a meaningful dialogue.  This will require us going into all parts of Canada, even those where we have traditionally not been competitive.

Another big challenge will be to rebuild many of the “dead EDAs” in Quebec from the ground up by providing them support and resources.

What should activists like me be doing to help with the rebuilding process now that the convention is over?

First, your blog site is an important tool in spreading the message of what liberalism and being a Liberal means to you. In the past, many Liberals have felt that they no longer know what being a Liberal truly means. By highlighting these core values and perhaps comparing them to the values other Parties espouse, it can provide individuals who frequent your blog site a clearer picture of where they stand and what political party best represents the majority of their needs.

Second, get involved in your local riding association if you haven’t done so already. When you remain involved at the local level, your ideas and opinions can be more readily expressed and heard by other like-minded Liberals. Also encourage youth to get involved in your local association.

Third, if you have concrete strategic ideas on how we can re-build our Party from the grassroots up, share these ideas with your members of the National Board and other Liberals (MPs, supporters, members).

How do you plan on engaging French-speaking Canadians who live outside of Quebec?

Being a Francophone minority outside of Quebec, one of the aspects which has bothered me the most about all political parties is their lack of coherent and consistent communication in both National languages. I am in the process of discovering how the Liberal Party has communicated to Canadians in the past, and I hope to use this information to further streamline the communication process by ensuring that only qualified translators be utilised to ensure that all documentation that is put out by the Liberal Party is delivered in both the French and English languages consistently.

When Francophones outside of Quebec (including those who are bilingual) receive communication in a language they feel most comfortable with, it is anticipated that this act will demonstrate how the Liberal Party continues to respect the traditions and language of French-speaking individuals across Canada.

Second, I plan on visiting regions of Canada where there are traditionally significant Francophone populations (e.g. New Brunswick, Alberta, Ontario etc.). I hope to converse with individuals from these areas to ask them how the Liberal Party can once again ensure their inclusion as we move forward in building a better political party and nation.

Third, I am committed to being accessible by email (imran@imranahmadvpf.ca), phone (1-888-808-3336), and my participation in online forums. I have already taken the necessary steps to contact all Liberal Provincial and Territorial associations by providing them with this information in return for their participation in providing me with the necessary information I would need to reach out to the various francophone populations in their regions.

The bottom line is that if we as a Liberal Party wish to re-engage the millions of  Francophones both inside and outside of Quebec, then we have to be willing to take the first step by reaching out to them, including visitations to those parts of Canada that have not traditionally voted Liberal in the past. Without doubt this will be a massive endeavour and it is anticipated that we may also meet with some opposition, but so long as we operate on the core Liberal values of inclusion, encouraging grassroots participation and most of all keeping an open mind, it is anticipated that we will be able to make some inroads by re-engaging many if not most disenfranchised Canadians.

(Photo by Melissa Martinez Leo.)

The 2012 Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) Biennial meeting was the fifth Biennial meeting I’ve attended as Liberal delegate from Toronto Centre. As with previous Biennial meetings, it was a great experience and offered some unique moments as these meetings always do.  I’ve compiled a few observations on some of the hard-working people I noticed, the excitement of the constitutional plenary session and the place where 3,000 Liberals from across the country gathered, Ottawa.

People:

As the Returning Officer for the Young Liberals of Canada elections, I was publically neutral for the LPC Executive Board race. This allowed me to sit back and watch what my friends and fellow Liberals were doing to support their candidates.  When various speakers or Liberal MPs noted at the microphone that the party couldn’t be dead with so many passionate Liberals they weren’t joking.  If this was a dead party, why would so many of my friends fight so hard for their candidates to win and help rebuild the party? Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the star volunteers I noticed:

Theresa Lubowitz – Whether it was Facebook posts or tweets, I was constantly noting that Theresa was highly engaged at promoting Mike Crawley’s campaign. The unique perspective Theresa demonstrated was that this was her first Biennial and likely the first time she’s got involved on an executive board campaign.  You wouldn’t have guessed she was new to campaigning given how much she was doing to reach out and let folks know what a new bold red would do for the Liberal Party. I’m confident we’ll only see more good things and social media content from Theresa!

Kaisha Thompson – Kaisha was passionate in her support for the Sheila Copps campaign. I don’t remember exactly when I met Kaisha but she’s from one of my favourite places in Ontario: Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound. Kaisha was extremely active on Facebook promoting the Copps campaign and her proposals for the Liberal Party. I found them to be relevant and certainly checked out the links she posted. Although the end result isn’t exactly what Kaisha wanted, she should be proud of her dedicated contribution to the Copps campaign and the energy she brought.

Hillary Buchan-Terrell and William Norman – It’s never easy to decide to support a candidate who isn’t as well known as the other candidates in internal party elections, but that’s exactly what Hillary and Will did. I probably wouldn’t have heard about Alexandra Mendes without the work of Hill and Will to promote her candidacy. They genuinely outlined to me why they supported her and why her being President would make the party stronger.  When you have Liberals like Hillary and Will who are experienced and awesome, encouraging you to vote for someone, it’s hard to say no! (Sidenote: they also let me stay at their place for two nights which I was very grateful for!)

(Chris Drew and Yuri Navarro (3rd from the right) with Team Hansra)

Team Hansra – Harpreet Hansra and his crew organized a coffee and conversation for Sheila Copps at the convention. It was a good turnout and drew a number of key Copps’ supporters including the Hon. George Smitherman and former MP Derek Lee. Harpreet is a terrific organizer and fully gets the concept of politics being a ‘team’ sport in that it’s important to get your friends and family involved to organize for change.

Andrea Micieli - Andrea worked on the Zach Paikin campaign and was constantly a source of optimism and energy. Zach was running in a very competitive election for Policy Director with several candidates. The campaign was long and required dedicated volunteers like Andrea to keep it going. The closeness of the result is a reflection of how hard the volunteers for the candidates in this race worked so great work Andrea!

Plenary:

I was a strong supporter of the Open Membership (IE the new “Supporter” category) constitutional amendments. The moment to make the decision finally came and I was struck by the quality of the debate and many of the Liberals who got up to the microphone. I was particularly impressed with some of the Alberta Liberal delegates who spoke about how Open Memberships helped to increase the number of supporters to the Alberta Liberal Party and that this proposal would make the federal Liberal Party grow stronger. Being the social media fanatic that I am, I immediately went up to some of these speakers after they were done at the microphone to snap a picture with them and congratulate them on their passionate speeches. Below are a few pictures!

(Chris standing with two Liberal delegates from Alberta who spoke in favour of Open Memberships: @corinaganton @coreyhogan)

(Another passionate speaker: @hapnoc. Best way to stop “hijackers”, get more people involved. Outreach!) 

One of the funniest moments came when there was an opportunity to debate the revote on the open membership proposal due to technical difficulties. The chair informed us that if there were 25 people standing the debate would reopen.  A group of about 8 friends and I were standing on the sidelines as they were no chairs. When we heard that “anyone standing” would count towards the 25, my friends and I grabbed each other and said “Down! Down! Down!” and quickly dropped to sit on the floor!

Places:

The planner in me is always looking around when I’m at a conference and making observations. So here are some quick hits for Ottawa.

The Canal – Was not open! I was hoping to skate the length of the canal while in Ottawa and didn’t get a chance. I blame climate change and Steven Harper for not believing in climate change. We’re going to replace your Government Mr. Harper!

Library of Canada – Absolutely my favourite building on the Parliament Hill complex. I had a chance on Sunday to snap this picture.

The Bus Stop - Rows and rows of OC Transpo lined the street beside the convention centre. The good news is that due to the leadership of Mayor Jim Watson, former Mayor and current Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli and of course Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ottawa is getting light-rail transit! LRT will ease congestion and encourage more people (and visitors) to take transit.

Final Thoughts:

Bob Rae’s closing convention speech was fantastic and a great end to the convention. Bob spoke about the Liberal Party embracing change and becoming a more open and welcoming party. He also worked in several key domestic and international policy issues and reminded us Liberals what we would do differently than Harper.

Sadly, I had to miss the Policy Plenary as I was in the vote count room counting the YLC ballots (note to candidates: make sure your scrutinneer shows up on time or they won’t be let in the room!). However, I was able to ask the Liberal transportation critic during the Caucus availability session if LPC supports high-speed rail in Canada. The answer was yes!

Biennial 2012 was a wonderful experienced and I’m excited to continue to build a strong Liberal Party!

(Chris and Denis Codderre, LPC Transportation Critic and supporter of high-speed rail in Canada.)

With my other obsession being politics I have been wanting to write about how two specific musicals, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson & Urinetown, should be watched by anyone trying to understand the Tea Party and Occupy movements in the United States. This evening I read an article on Fox News online that compared Newt Gingrich to President Andrew Jackson in a non-ironic, complimentary manner (whitewashing the fact that Newt Gingrich has never fought for his country and Andrew Jackson’s legacy of supporting slavery and wholesale slaughter of Native Americans.)

This article immediately made me think of ‘ Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’, a musical released in 2008 that made its Broadway premiere in 2010 that was written, in part, in response to The Tea Party.

In 2004, three years after ‘Urinetown’ premiered on Broadway, I saw a production at Canstage in Toronto. As I listen and re-listen to the soundtrack of Urinetown I am surprised by how well it presaged the Occupy Wall Street movement, not their methods but their critique of corporate control of politics, the disparity between the 99% and 1%, the societal divisions created by the politics of austerity and police reaction to large protest movements.

While BBAJ seems as manichean as the movement it comments on, Urinetown does an excellent job addressing the naivety/short-sightedness that mass movements predicated on distrust of all establishment entities sometimes suffer from.

“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and the Tea Party:

The style of this musical is as important as its subject matter. BBAJ is an “emo rock” musical. This is perfect for portraying the petulance and perpetual adolescence of the Tea Party. The show opens with “Populism Ya, Ya” which sets the stage for the political mindset in the U.S. at during “the age of Jackson” and in the Republican Party of today.

The most striking lyrics are:

“Take a stand against the elite
They don’t care anything for us
And we will eat sweet democracy
And let them eat our dust,
Eat our dust, eat our dust

Cause it’s the early 19th century
We’ll take the land back from the indians
We’ll take the land back from the French and Spanish
And other people in other European countries
And other countries too
And also other places
I’m pretty sure it’s our land anyway.“

The same faux-anger at a vague class of elites that is currently fueling New Gingrich’s campaign is what swept Andrew Jackson into power. Another parallel to the world of the musical and the TP is the underlying layer of racism and xenophobia that manifests itself in calls to “take America back” to a time that was as mythical in the 1820s as it is in 2012. With his constant usage of the term “food stamps President to describe Barack Obama and his anti-”European” rhetoric, Gingrich is playing the same kind of politics of fear as Andrew Jackson (though obviously less overtly racist.)

After “Populism, Ya Ya” the musical goes on to profile Andrew Jack’s frontier adolescence, a brief meeting with George Washington, his marriage to his wife Rachel and his frustration with the American governments failure, in his eyes, to defend the frontier and his rise as a military hero. Jackson’s time as Governor of Florida is hauntingly portrayed in the song “Ten Little Indians.” The 1824 election is wonderfully summarized by the song “The Corrupt Bargain.” This song is what initially attracted me to the musical. As a musical/history nerd, the fact that a comedic summary of the backroom deal that denied Jackson the Presidency on his first run existed in musical form seemed like it was written for me.

During the 1828, Jackson is seen as a Rock Star. When Jackson finally wins the Presidency he discovers, like the Tea Party Republicans elected in 2010, that governing is harder than he naively believed. The lyrics that most eloquently summarize the Tea Party after 2010:

“So we’ll ruin the bank, and we’ll trample the courts,
And we’ll take on the world for America’s sake.
And we’ll take all the land, and we’ll take back the country,
And we’ll take, and we’ll take, and we’ll take and we’ll take.

And this country I’m making cannot be divided,
The will of the people won’t stand in my way.
How can I tell you how deeply I’ll make them all bleed. “

As Gingrich has made “taking on activist judges” a cornerstone of his anti-elite narrative, the parallel to Jackson is an obvious one. The more subtle element in this song, is how, just like the TP, once Jackson gained power he turned against democracy. Republicans took over a large number of state governments in 2010 and have been passing vote suppression laws all over the United States. This song does an excellent job portraying the selfish nature of the TP movement. Instead of saying “how can we expand pensions and strengthen workers’ rights?” the Tea Party has engaged in the politics of envy by pitting non-union workers against union members. Another parallel between Newt and Jackson, both the real and fictional, is their neoconservative foreign policy. When Gingrich goes after Ron Paul on Iran, he might as well say “We’ll take on the world for America’s sake.” The largest delusion of the Tea Party is that, though they are statistically white and wealthy, they speak for all Americans. When Andrew Jackson says “the band plays on” he means that America isn’t for everyone.

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson does a superb job showing how the rage of a narrow group of individuals can propel a candidate into office and how the impossible, misguided and self-contradicting expectations of his supporters lead to a more divide and unequal America.

#OccupyUrinetown:

Unlike the Tea Party, the musical Urinetown is extremely self-aware. The musical seamlessly transitions between various musical styles and parodies. The show takes place in an unnamed American town in a postapocalyptic type future. There has been a 20 year drought and water is severely rationed. Private toilets have been outlawed and there is extreme punishment for those who don’t pay to use the privately owned toilet every day, “Urinetown.” It is revealed in the second act that, though the myth is that you are exiled to a fictitious place called Urinetown, the police simply murder you. All of the toilets are owned by a single megacorporation  called “Urine Good Company.” One of the first numbers of the show takes place in one of the poorest and filthiest public urinals.

Bobby Strong works at “Public Amenity #9.” His father, Joseph, asks the manager for a freebie and is rebuffed by her and everyone in line. This song illustrates, in a hilarious manner, how in times of austerity social solidarity breaks down. The idea that in a time of extreme, extended drought the government would give control of a precious natural resource isn’t that absurd. There are African countries that have privatized water, with prohibition being placed on collect water off of your roof. Similarly, it was private contractors that have swept in to Afghanistan and Iraq to profit off of war.

After Joseph Strong is arrested for public urination, the scene shifts to “Urine Good Company.” The owner, Caldwell B. Cladwell, explains, in song, to his daughter Hope, why his massive wealth is a good thing.

The whole song could be an ad for Mitt Romney’s campaign. Romney has made his time at Bain Capital the central reason for his why he is qualified to be President. This song does a spectacular job pointing out the nonsenscial arguements that corporations use to justify massive tax cuts, a complete lack of ethical business practice and the continuation of massive CEO bonousess during a time of recession.

The most salient lyrics:

“Gosh Daddy, I never realized large, monopolizing corporations could be such a force for good in the world.”

“All those coins
That we take from the throng
End up here
Where those coins all belong
Lots of coins
Make our company strong!

Charging fees
As we please
Is our right – it’s not wrong!

We’re not greedy as some make us seem
We need funds for our big research team

Men in labcoats and test tubes with steam!

What it shows
No one knows
But, hey, still we can dream!”

Bobby Strong ends up falling in love with Hope Cladwell. The next day he takes over (occupies) the urinal where he works and opens the doors for everyone for free (starting the “pee-for-free rebellion.” Hope is still not convinced that her father is right about the “positive” affect his business has on society, he argues that the poor are animals and if they can’t pay it is their fault. Hope begins to doubt her father.

The first act ends with the Bobby publicly debating Mr. Cladwell on the system they all live in and Mr. Cladwell ordering the police to violently suppress the protestors. The police/corporatist side call Bobby/the rebels short-sighted and label them “socialistic scum.” Hope pretends that Bobby is kidnapping her so she can join the revolution without her father knowing.

Act 2 begins with the rebels on the run. While Bobby is away, they contemplate killing Hope before the police find them. Bobby returns and reminds them what they are fighting for. Mrs. Pennywise bursts into the secret hideout telling Bobby that Cladwell wants him to come to the UGC headquarters. Cladwell tries to bribe Bobby and when Bobby refuses he is “sent to Urinetown.” Then Cladwell bribes a Senator to let his company raise the urinal fees. The Senator and Mrs. Pennywise lament being part of such a corrupt system while the police officers relish the opportunity to execute Bobby. Hope takes over the rebellion and executes her father. She declares the water rationing over.

The musical ends with a complete subversion of expectations. The narrator, Officer Lockstock reveals that “As cruel as Caldwell B. Cladwell was, his measures effectively regulated water consumption, sparing the town the same fate as the phantom Urinetown. Hope chose to ignore the warning signs, however, preferring to bask in the people’s love for as long as it lasted.” The town in the musical becomes “what is always was waiting to be”, Urinetown!

Urinetown, not the place, the musical, is as complex as the Occupy movement. The difficulty for me, or anyone, critiquing the OWS movement is that they are not as monolithic as the Tea Party, so bear with me.

The disagreement I have with OWS is also one of their greatest strengths. Though I believe that capitalism is flawed and needs reform, those Occupying public spaces around North America were arguing for a complete rejection of the traditional power structures that lead to the global financial collapse. This is the complete opposite of the Tea Party who called for more deregulation and more power to corporations.

To many on the outside, Occupy may seem like the pee-for-free rebellion. They are demanding such drastic change, in some instances, that it is impossible to comprehend such a paradigm shift.

The revolution in Urinetown is not similar to the OWS protests of the summer of 2011, but it does have parallels to the causes of those protests. The revolving door between the United States Congress and Wall Street, as personified by the deals between Cladwell and the government, are too real. With private contractors giving corporate entities the ability to raise their own armies, the idea that a CEO could violently suppress a protest isn’t out of the realm of reality.

Some concluding thoughts:

The end of Urinetown provides a similar critique of populism to the one Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson does. Both musicals explore what happens when the mob/99% take over. In BBAJ, the fact that the mob is not the real majority drives their leader into an incoherent attack once that incongruity is revealed. In Urinetown, the goals of the revolutionaries, like those of the Tea Party, ignored the reality of their scarce resources.

The lesson that I take from both musicals is that the temptation of the populist narrative is strong but should be resisted. The term “revolution’ means a complete change in all aspects of society. I believe that there are some power structures that have positive potential but are corrupted by money and corporate interests.

Musicals, like many movements, are driven by emotion. They are propelled forward by emotions that are so potent that they can only be expressed through song. Like the characters in both musicals, members of the Tea Party and Occupy are driven by some undercurrents that they fail to acknowledge.

Go see/listen to Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Urinetown and tell me what you think. Also, see Into the Woods, it’s really great.

Today is the 138th anniversary of the Canada’s 3rd federal election and the election of Canada’s first Liberal Prime Minister, Alexander Mackenzie.

PM Mackenzie’s short tenure as PM have us secret ballot, the Royal Military College of Canada, the Office of the Auditor Genera and he advised the creation of the Supreme Court of Canada. These all are things Canadians take for granted but have had a profound affect on this country.

Canadians need to give more recognition to our past Prime Ministers. Alexander Mackenzie was a humble stonemason turned newspaper editor and he became PM, like a boss.

“I have always held those political opinions which point to the universal brotherhood of man, no matter in what rank of life he may have taken his origin.” – Alexander Mackenzie

After two days of sessions on the economy, health care, foreign policy, the environment and evidence based policy, the 3200 delegates who attended the Liberal Party of Canada’s 2012 biennial convention arrived at Canada Hall to debate and vote on priority policy resolution.

That Sunday morning 77% of voting delegates courageously voted “Yes” to policy resolution 117. “Legalize and Regulate Marijuana.” Without hyperbole, I would argue that this has helped fundamentally transform the crime debate paradigm in Canada.

For the first time a major Canadian political party has put legalization on the table:

The Liberal convention was an affirmation that the Liberal party is down but not out. With more delegates in attendance than the most recent NDP and CPC conventions combined and a full 1/3 of delegates under 30 years-of-age, the Liberal confirmed we are here to stay, which makes policy resolution 117 so much more potent. Finally, a major Canadian political party will be talking about how to attack the real roots of crime instead of haggling over how many years a teenager should spend in jail because they owned two pot plants.

Contrary to the view of many Canadians, the New Democratic Party does not support legalization. During the 2011 election the NDP buried any progressive crime policies that they allegedly support. In fact, drugs/cannabis were not even mentioned in their platform. The NDP has yet to respond to the Liberal legalization motion passing. When it comes to crime policy, the NDP has spent the last decade tacking centre. Jack Layton even refused to whip the vote to save the gun registry and did not campaign on reinstating it in order to preserve the NDP’s rural seats.

The pro-prohibition side has been put on defense:

After the Liberal convention concluded the National Post’s editorial board endorsed legalization and regulation of marijuana. They also published a poll showing that the majority of Canadians support legalization. In a free society, governments should have to have a reason for keeping a substance/action illegal, not making it legal. The Liberal Party has now forced PM Harper and the Conservatives to defend a failed drug war that has cost Canada hundreds of millions and actually creates more crime in the process. Policy resolution 117 also gives cover to the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Canadians who support evidence-based crime policy but are afraid of being labled “soft-on-crime.”

Bob Rae embraced the policy in his convention closing speech:

Bob Rae did not shy away from legalization in his speech at the end of the convention (a speech he knew would be watched and re-watched online by hundreds of thousands of Canadians.) Mr. Rae put out the complex argument that supporters of legalization have been making for years but have been ignored in the simplistic sham of a crime debate put forward by the Harper Conservatives. He acknowledged that alcohol and cigarettes are the most addictive substances facing the youth of Canada. By using the legalization and regulation motion as a symbol of “evidence based policy” (the theme of the convention), Bob Rae helped bring new energy to a debate that has suffered from so much inertia.

———————————————————————————————-

For years advocates for Legalization, like myself, have been waiting for something to explode the current non-debate on crime and finally bring an end to the stasis in this particular policy discussion. It is up to all Canadians, Liberal, NDP, Conservative, Green or nonaligned, to make sure that the crime debate in Canada is based on facts.

“Let’s face up to it Canada, the war on drugs has been a complete bust!” – Bob Rae

Favourite quotes:

“Polls can impede our vision of the future.“

Laurier’s Definition of Liberalism: “I am a Liberal. I am one of these who think that everywhere, in human things, there are abuses to be reformed, new horizons to be opened up, and new forces to be developed.“

“At a time when global competition is growing and our crime rate is falling, it is smarter to invest in education than jails. At a time when global economic uncertainty is costing us jobs it’s smarted to get busy building a new foundation of growth than to lecture world leaders about their struggling economies. At a time when the reality of climate change is here, its smarter to tackle it in a way that create jobs rather than deny it. And at a time when Canadians are worried about the future of their medicare, it is smarter to bring us together to find a way forward than to tell the provinces and territories ‘you’re on your own.‘”

On what Liberals stand for:
“The Liberal party has always been guided by the best of Canadian charater, and so it is only Liberals who can renew social programs for the next generation. The Liberal party has always greeted the future with a sense of optimism and so it’s only Liberals that can seizes exciting opportunities for growth. The Liberal party has always been able to see all that Canadians are and so it’s only Liberals who can truly see all that Canada can be. These are the values and beliefs that we hold dearly as Liberals… Liberals have no greater desire, no greater ambition, than to put our country first.“

Should Premier McGuinty run for federal Liberal leader?

As the son of a teacher and a nurse, my childhood growing up under the Harris government was formative for a lot of my political views. From 1995 to 2003 my family felt the hammer from our provincial government. My first two years of high school were under a PC government in Ontario, there was a stark contrast with my last two years. To say that I have “drunk the Dalton McGuinty Kool-Aid” is an understatement. Though my first experience in political activism was during the 2004 election at the federal level, I have always admired Premier McGuinty.

I do think Premier McGuinty should run for the federal Liberal leadership. He has done a great job as Premier of Ontario, has a solid record on jobs, the environment, education and health care. He is also bland enough to succeed in the federal arena. I really liked what he had to say in this speech about the need for federal liberals to have a multi-election strategy and have patience with our leader. Dalton McGuinty was defined by Harris/Eves but he fought back.

The Liberal party needs a vigorous leadership race with a number of candidates with diverse political and personal backgrounds. I believe Premier McGuinty would bring a lot to that race.

1. You can run an honourable campaign and still win.
2. Paul Wells is right. The team having the most fun has the best shot at winning.
3. When you form a really strong team they will be your friends for life.
4. The greatness of most people is amplified in person.
5. The perceived flaws of most people are diminished in person.
6. You don’t have to be enemies with those you are competing with. You can learn to respect them greatly in contest and become friends regardless of the outcome.
7. Your potential is your own to come short of, meet or exceed. If you simply ask to play a role you will usually get to.  If you simply act, you will often accomplish. You can determine the impact you will have.
8. Talent is important but kindness and respectfulness are most important of all. If you campaign that way, volunteers and voters alike will flock to you. If you work that way, candidates will fight over you.
9. Journalists are human beings, and often not just lively people, but kind ones too.
10. Relentless faith in the merit of your cause can and does pay off.

(Theresa Lubowitz, delegate for Newmarket-Aurora, runs the civic engagement website “What Have You Done For Democracy Lately?“)

Hot:

Beards: The hottest accessory at the Tom Mulcair after-party was a beard. If you are showing solidarity with your leadership or simply waiting in the forest for the revolution to come, you need to get yourself a beard.

Transit City: The planning policy that would have turned “Toronto the good” into “Toronto the Awesome” is still alive in all our hearts, even it it was killed before its time.

The 2011 Election: The best federal election of the last 12 months! Let’s all ignore the fact that Stephen Harper has a majority because the NDP has more seats in parliament.

Jack Layton: If you can’t think of a creative way to reference “Le Bon Jack” (even if you are answering a question about sewage infrastructure) you have no business in this debate.

Not:

Stephen Harper: Bad Prime Minister or Worst Prime Minister ever? You be the judge. Stephen Harper is responsible for all for all of Canada’s ills (including the fact that he volume on your t.v. set goes up during commercials.)

Rob Ford: After a big loss in the budget battle two days ago “Stephen Harper’s pet mayor” is soooo 2010.

Disagreement: All 8 of the NDP leadership candidates were tripping over each other to agree that what they believe is great. A Toronto doctor confirms that Brian Topp did pull a muscle patting himself and his opponents on the back.

There was a beauty to last weekends’ Liberal Party Convention. I know, no one wants to hear or even believe that anything Liberal was beautiful. It is a stretch. However, for all the haters out there this article is not for you.

The beauty of the convention had everything to do with the tone throughout. Unlike many at the convention, I do not feel the need to bemoan Liberal existence (anymore), complain about the past (anymore) or ramble on about a motion very few have a clue about (as always). I will say however and quite emphatically, the youth, and specifically the spirited, intelligent, principled, lovely entourage of the #BCteam, and the young Liberals of British Columbia specifically, lent everything positive to every inch of the convention.

I know of other young Liberals, of the past and present, and I am not besmirching anyone but it does need to be pointed out that if the Liberals want to continue with the incredible positive momentum developed at #LPC12, a positive national attitude must prevail.

Organizationally, I suggest Mr. Crawley ensure there is BC, SK, AB, MAN representation at LPC before he hires anyone from Ontario or fires any existing LPC staff. If he needs to bring in his own “people”, he needs to remember the importance of building a national party. There are several good younger Liberals at LPC who worked their asses off to ensure the Convention was a success. They need to stay. So does anyone who works hard and understands their role.
Politically, looking to BC and the wonderful BC youth that were poised, well dressed, well mannered and a lot of fun to be around, and pulling in all those provinces in between, will ensure a victory in 2015.

I needed to remind people this weekend that not too long ago Saskatchewan had 35,000 Liberal members. You might want to ask where they went before assuming there are no Liberals in Saskatchewan and it is a write-off.

Anyway, politics is all about opportunity. Harper Conservatives are just a wack of meanies and the NDP have adopted bad tricks of the old Liberal Party that got us in this mess. It is up to us, once again, to work hard, BE NICE, and think big. Ya Liberals!

Oh btw, all those middle aged back room boys who have had their chance and once even had power, stay away! No one likes the way you do politics.