Laytonmania

[bcholmes]

I popped out early after work to catch the rally:

Comments

[trouble]

I heard a rumour that Layton's seat isn't considered safe, and that distresses me. Is the any truth to the rumour?

[bcholmes]

I don't know, is the correct answer. I have heard that:

1. Support for the NDP at the moment isn't stellar
   
2. Olivia's seat isn't safe (she's my MP)
   

Layton actually gets high marks across the country for likeable leader. But I haven't heard that his seat was at risk.

[trouble]

Oh gosh, I hadn't heard about Olivia's seat. :(

*sigh*

I'm fairly certain Megan's seat is safe here, because the alternatives are people who run with such stellar comments as "If you don't elect me, Prime Minister Harper won't support Halifax in the future" and the Liberal candidate this time around is... um... Well. But there's a lot of distrust at the current NDP provincial government and I wonder if it's going to transfer over. *sigh*

[frandroid]

Olivia never had a safe seat anyway. She just won by a few hundred votes last time, and lots of dumb people want to vote Liberal because they want to vote strategically. Also, the waterfront is condofying at a rapid rate, and I would say, for having canvassed there, that the Liberals and Conservatives are getting support there. (Not enough for the Cons to get elected, but you get an idea of the crowd.)

BC, I was at the rally too. We'll have to meet at some point!

[trouble]

This is distressing me because we're moving to Olivia's riding and I like living in NDP ridings. :( *sigh* Ah well. Nothing I can do from here. :(

[frandroid]

If you haven't given money to the NDP this year, you can give $400 to Olivia's campaign today and get $300 back on your tax return next year.

[trouble]

Sadly, only in the world in which I have that amount of money, and pay income taxes. I'm a student and my partner is disabled, so our household income isn't high enough to afford the outlay. :( I do honestly wish I could.

[frandroid]

Sorry :(

[maize]

I don't have any major objections to Jack Layton (well, I don't like his style at debates, but otherwise), but I kind of wish Canadian politics could step back from the focus on who the prime minister will be / is. I don't think that that's how our system was designed. Admittedly, it's hard to avoid since a focal person makes for great media and also because we get so much U.S. media that it's hard to not model our thinking on theirs. But I find it disappointing. (Harper's insistence on calling the government while he was PM, 'The Harper Government,' was particularly appalling to me.)

[bcholmes]

Yeah, I totally agree with what you're saying, and I often make the same point to other people. When people make choices to, for example, vote for a really good candidate in their riding who happens to belong to a different party than the one I might support, I think that's a Good Thing.

Although they clearly didn't have a big a role in the event, both Andrew Cash (candidate for Davenport) and Peggy Nash (candidate for Parkdale-High Park) were also at the rally. There's no denying that it was a "Let's Hear Jack Layton Event", though.

(It was also a bit weird know that, as an attendee of the event, what the campaign wanted of me was to be a prop. They wanted me to be part of a thronging mass of people, to the extent that they were encouraging us to stand behind Jack's podium, where we'd appear in the media camera footage, rather than in front of the podium where were could get a good view of Jack's speech. There's no forum; no discussion. We're there to be a visible audience for Jack's speech. Disappointing, but I get it.)

[the_siobhan]

Andrew Cash signs are all over my neighbourhood, so I think he has a really good chance. This makes me happy. I really like Cash.

[frandroid]

Actually, considering the amazing concentration of power in the PMO these days, I think the focus on the leader makes total sense. (I'm not saying I like it, though...) I mean do you think anyone in the Conservative caucus has any say in Harper's decisions? Maybe a Layton primeministership would be somewhat decentralized, but don't think we'd roll back to pre-Trudeau times either.

The good thing is that even if the NDP puts the focus on Layton during elections because he vastly outpolls the party itself, the caucus is very strong and everyone gets lots of exposure (proposing bills, leading criticism of the gov't, etc) inbetween elections, and PM Layton (okay, I know) would give his cabinet lots of exposure. There's already more skill in governance in the NDP caucus than in the entire Conservative caucus, after all.

[bcholmes]

Good points. Thanks.