Here, on how Robocon may damage the Harper Cons' reputation for years to come - so long as the opposition parties seek out better ways to reach voters in the meantime.
For further reading...
- Again, the focus on the "least informed, least engaged voters" comes from Susan Delacourt.
- Annick Papillon comments on the need to turn outrage into engagement and action.
- And there's plenty more on Robocon itself here (and elsewhere through the links you'll find in my earlier posts).
Greg,
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this new interview with Thomas Mulcair & Nathan Cullen? Planet S Magazine
Some highlights from Thomas Mulcair...
"Other people have said that I’m going to move the party to the centre, but I’m not going to move the party to the centre; I’m going to move the centre to us."
"When Ed Schreyer endorsed my candidacy, he asked that we hold the press conference in front of a Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) building in Winnipeg because it was symbolic of what was being lost across Canada because of Conservative policies. Like the loss of other manufacturing sectors in Ontario and Québec, this one’s going to hurt. A lot of the people who voted for the Conservatives will realize that we weren’t crying wolf. To quote Joni Mitchell, you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone."
"The people who brought that crash are still in charge and they’re still making the same decisions. I can tell you that a lot of the analysis that is being done by leaders of the Occupy movement has a foundation in fact, and it’s the first time since the environmental movement in the ‘60s that the public has taken such direct action. But it does seem to have run out of steam. More long term, the answer is going to have to be political."
Some highlights from Nathan Cullen...
"We’ve never been here before, with a government that doesn’t represent the views of a majority of the country. These are not your parent’s conservatives. Stephen Harper is not John Diefenbaker."
"The loss of the CWB is going to be a devastating blow. Long after this government is gone, we will still be feeling the pain of that decision. It’s very easy to destroy, but very difficult to create. Many of these farmers voted on emotional issues such as the gun registry, and now they’re facing a government that may have destroyed the CWB illegally."
"It [Occupy Movement] opened up a question for many people: how did we end up with such a rigged system? The movement has tapped a sentiment and asked the questions that are important to people, but it remains to be seen what we all are going to do about it."