Sunday Afternoon Leadership 2012 Links

A few updates on the NDP's leadership campaign...

First, there's Pierre Ducasse's take on what he's looking for in a candidate - including various factors which might point to numerous candidates ultimately winning his support:



Meanwhile, Ipsos Reid offers up the latest polling on the Canadian political scene, and confirms that the NDP has had no trouble convincing voters that it's the real alternative to the Cons even as its leadership campaign is just getting started.

And finally, Cathryn Atkinson at Rabble has posted a new set of leadership links and resources - including committee and voting information from the contenders in Parliament. Which looks like a useful enough set of information to make the cut for my own reference page.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- The Cons are once again getting noticed in the world - this time thanks to Serge Schemann pointing out their callous treatment of asbestos widow Michaela Keyserlingk in the New York Times:

This summer, to Mrs. Keyserlingk’s surprise and in a rather peculiar way, her continuing campaign was thrust into the limelight. The Conservative Party, which is currently governing Canada and has steadfastly supported asbestos mining, sent her a sharp notice demanding that she cease using the party’s logo on the modest Web site for her campaign. It threatened “further action” if she did not comply.

Mrs. Keyserlingk had put the Conservative logo on her site and on ads for it, with a red “Danger” sign and the legend, “Canada is the only Western country that exports deadly asbestos!”

The Conservative salvo at a 72-year-old widow of a man she called a “true-blue” Conservative quickly spread through blogs, newspapers and television. People from across Canada, including physicians and politicians, began sending letters of support — and checks, all of which she returned.

“They couldn’t have done anything better,” Mrs. Keyserlingk said of the Tories. To the party, her reply was: “I am delighted that someone in the Conservative Party of Canada is finally reacting after years of work by chrysotile asbestos victims.”

The logo remains. Conservative officials have ceased replying to queries about asbestos.

All of which made me wonder when, exactly, the Conservatives are going to get the message.

- Trish Hennessy's latest Index documents how recent Canadian economic trends are demanding far more of workers while offering less security:

2.3
Percentage increase in part-time jobs from 2008 to 2009, countering the 2.5 per cent loss in full-time jobs.

37.1
Percentage of Canadians aged 25-44 who said working part-time in 2009 wasn’t their choice – there was no full-time work available. Compared to 27.7 per cent of workers over 45.

2.7 million
Number of self-employed workers in Canada in 2009, up dramatically from 1.3 million in 1979

2.3 million
Number of full-time workers in Canada who had rotating shifts or irregular schedules in 2005.

29
Percentage of shift workers who expressed somewhat more dissatisfaction with their work-life balance in 2005.

- Dennis Gruending offers his take on Jack Layton's legacy.

- Michel takes on the media's recent efforts to pile onto Thomas Mulcair.

- And finally, Rabble's efforts to place Karl Nerenberg as a progressive voice in the Parliamentary Press Gallery are well worth some support.

Thursday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jim Stanford challenges the Cons' spin on how Canada's economy compares to others around the globe:

In reality,...the claim that things may be tough here, but they’re better than anywhere else, has never been statistically valid. And it’s getting increasingly inaccurate, the more it is regurgitated on the hustings.

Among the more than 30 industrial countries that make up the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada’s performance has been middling at best. In real GDP growth, Canada tied for 10th in 2009, falling to 13th in 2010. As for the unemployment rate, Canada ranked a gloomy 21st in 2009, tying for 18th by 2010.

Since OECD countries account for a declining share of total world output, let’s consider a truly global sample. The International Monetary Fund reports annual real GDP growth rates for 107 countries, and quarterly data for about half of those. In 2009, Canada ranked 61st of 107. Over the first three-quarters of 2010 (year-end figures aren’t ready yet), we ranked 25th out of 53 countries reporting.

In labour-market terms, Canada’s relative performance is no better. The International Labour Organization reports unemployment data for about 70 countries. In 2009, Canada’s unemployment rate jumped 2.2 percentage points. That ranked us 56th (of 72) that year. Over the first three quarters of 2010, Canada ranked 28th by the same measure.

That’s not exactly a gold-medal performance. In fact, it sounds more like our ranking in international soccer (84th in the world, according to FIFA), than our glorious domination of world hockey.

- Fortunately, there are some competing visions on what parts of our economy need to be emphasized. And Andrew Jackson sums up the NDP's economic proposals, including by noting that the job-creation tax credit has been on the radar in the U.S. as well.

- Douglas Bell reminds us of the simple truth behind a possible coalition government:

(John Ibbitson writes) about the dangers lurking should the Liberals having won fewer seats than the Tories buck “the popular will” and form a coalition government with the NDP. But here’s the thing, two out of three Canadians voted against the Tories the last time around (and will again if Nanos the soothsayer proves correct).

The popular will as expressed in one party or another seeking the confidence of the House is clear.

- And finally, Joyce Green and Mike Burton weigh in with their take on the Cons' many displays of contempt for Canadian democracy:

This latest expression of contempt of the government for its parliament and its peoples is an indication of poor democratic health, but it is only one of a number of manifestations of that malaise. The widening gap between the very rich and the working and very poor is another measure of democratic and moral failure. The increase in propaganda at the expense of environmental science is another. The demonization of political opponents is a third. The lack of a serious medium and long term national economic strategy, other than obeisance to "the markets," is a fourth. The lack of policy attention to the social supports we all need, such as childcare, elder care, palliative care, and rational affordable health care is a fifth. Our collective inability to provide appropriate education, from post-secondary education to the trades, is risible. Our national lack of concern for Aboriginal peoples is an international embarrassment. We could go on.
...
The consequence of toxic levels of anti-democratic contempt has left many Canadians questioning the health of public politics. But they must do more than sit back on the sofa and change the channel. That would be contemptible. As we watch brave people in the Arab Spring risk life and well-being to obtain democratic change, we may want to collectively maintain our own democratic practices with rather more vigour.

Tuesday Afternoon Links

- Alison and EFL have each offered their own takes on the Cons' maneuver to force through the Colombia free trade bill. But I'd raise another question: if it's that easy to dictate Parliament's agenda on a majority vote with no notice, why doesn't the opposition do so more often?

- This week's must-read is Rabble's series documenting Jason Kenney's office's interference in George Galloway's planned visit to Canada.

- Auditor General Sheila Fraser is rightly concerned that ancient technology will make it impossible for the federal government to collect taxes or deliver benefits in the near future. Fraser of course isn't to be confused with the Fraser Institute, which is presumably giddy about the prospect.

- But don't worry: it's not as if the federal government is paying the costs of its own policy anyway.

- Finally, while there's been no lack of attention to the Cons' refusal to say when they might get around to supplying documents to the Military Police Complaints Commission, isn't it even more striking that the government has the nerve to whine that the MPCC is bothering to ask for them?

Mr. Prefontaine said numerous requests from the commission are making life difficult for government record keepers because they have to keep screening more of them as new demands are made.