It's actually a positive, that two impressive figures want to carry the Liberal banner. Let those two individuals appeal to the grassroots, and may the best person "win". The LAST thing you want is a process that leaves bitter feelings, that effectively turns off people that will be crucial in an election. Why would you want to shutout Cauchon, and alienate what I assume is a large following of Outremont Liberals?? That type of process essentially volunteers unnecessary weakness and benefits Mulclair. I see this debate as a question of arrogance- only a fool doesn't put their best foot forward, maximize every intangible to present your strongest hand. Hard feelings, excluding Cauchon and his pedigree, is frankly NUTS in the grand scheme.
If Liberals are "determined to win back Outremont", then put aside silly turf wars and have a spirited contest. Get it right in Outremont.
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Its bigger than Outremont: there's a democratic deficit, hell, a debt on this planet, and Capitalism: A Love Story will trigger an uprising in the American people, they will create a more egalitarian economy, ignore the word socialism, and simply make their country more democratic. Harper blew it the first week and has blown it every week since, May and the Greens are already there, and with their leader too. Get onboard little children, get onboard,' Babylon has fallen' the time has come in which the sheep will be separated from the goats by the graciousness with which clothe people when they are naked, feed them when they are hungry... it's now or never time.
"we" clothe them
You are quite right. I lived in that riding when Cauchon was MP and he won 3 times by wide margins. Lapierre could barely hang onto it, despite being Martin's Quebec lieutenant. Dion took it for granted his hand-picked unknown candidate could take it in the by-election and suddenly the NDP has a toe-hold in Quebec. The Libs would do well to let Cauchon go for it. Otherwise, don't hold your breath waiting for Outremont voters to unseat Mulcair for whatever candidate gets dropped in by the leader. But Coderre is right to be wary of getting his own ambition thwarted by a Cauchon return.
So it's the same old story for the Liberals: until egos and internecine battles are put aside, watch yourselves be divided and conquered.
This needs to stop. On top of everything else, it only promulgates every stereotype out there about the Liberal Party. Changes need to be made to the Liberal constitution to prevent appointments except under extraordinary and very specific circumstances.
Does anyone know exactly how many appointments have been made so far? (besides Deb Gillis in Halton)
The average party member has very little say. Taking away the power to choose candidates is very demotivating.
If appointing candidates worked well then these machinations might be defend-able.
Given that they backfired in Outremont and in D/M/Churchill River they are stupid in addition to being anti-democratic.
btw: to Dion's credit, he did force Justin Trudeau to fight for his nomination in Papineau. Battling for that surely helped him get a feel for retail politicking, and helped him overcome his highly competent BQ rival to win that seat last year. Jussayin
Ignatieff has decided to back Coderre and is letting him appoint his do-hickey:
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/elections-federales-2009/partis/parti-liberal/200909/21/01-904018-ignatieff-met-un-terme-aux-ambitions-de-cauchon-dans-outremont.php
The NDP is delighted!!
Well, she is still a good candidate: http://bit.ly/8aPIn
"Nathalie Le Prohon, MBA 99, has enjoyed a distinguished career and leant her considerable skills to many volunteer organizations.
After Nathalie earned a BComm from McGill University in 1984, she spent the next 19 years with IBM Canada, climbing the rungs to VP, Strategic Outsourcing Sales. While at IBM, Nathalie earned an MBA from Concordia’s John Molson School of Business. In 2003, she became president of Nokia Canada in Toronto and occupied that position for two years.
But in 2004, at the age of 42, Nathalie was diagnosed with an advanced and aggressive breast cancer. She went through two years of intensive treatments and is still under hormonal therapy. She has been cancer-free for four years.
This profound experience led Nathalie to refocus her career and life priorities. She now dedicates more of her time to her family and community causes.
Nathalie, her husband and two children recently returned to Montreal after 12 years in Toronto. Today, she serves as corporate director for Hydro-Québec and Bentall LP and was recently appointed to the Audit Committee of the Department of National Defence.
She’s also a director for several, non-profit organizations, including the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation and the Vanguard Development Fund."
I wonder if Cauchon might go for another Montreal riding, or if this is too much of a snub.
She seems like a fantastic candidate, but the process stinks.
appoint as many as you like. worked for Dion right?
Sheila liked the appointment process too ;)
NDP bravado, how amusing.
Here's a thought: see how much of a team player Cauchon wants to be - ask him to run in Mercier (Duceppe's riding). Maybe not, but there are certainly others up for grabs that could go to the Libs with Cauchon and his profile on the ballot.
Maybe that's what Ignatieff meant by Cauchon having "a tremendous future" in the Liberal Party. Whatever, I think it's a net negative, and entirely avoidable.
Regardless who they pick and how it's done, this time around could the Liberals vet their candidate to make certain they didn't make any anti-Isreal comments? Kind of an important consideration, especially in Outremont. At least this way you'd keep the Gazette from running editorials against you. I still say this was the only reason Mulcair won this riding, it was either him or vote for the Bloc.
Jocelyn Coulon never said anything anti-Israel. Period.
He lost big-time, and that wasn't the biggest reason.
People who were ultra-pro-Israel who wanted to protest against the reporting of Coulon's views on the Middle East had an easy alternative - they could have voted Conservative. But for some reason their support went NO WHERE in that riding. in any case only 10% of the riding is Jewish and how many of them are bohemians living on the Plateau who don't give a hoot over which candidate is 95% pro-Israel and which one is 99% pro-Israel?
This is bloody ridiculous. There were many who wanted Martin Couchon to run FOR THE LEADERSHIP of the Liberals for crying out loud. He's one of my favourite Liberal cabinet Ministers.
Has Iggy swung so far to the right that he's determined to side swipe any of the progressive people in the party? I'm a Laurier Club member and I am absolutely fuming about this decision.
Everyone needs to write Ignatieff and tell him what we think..it might Work
Spud
Cauchon was offered this summer, but apparently couldn't make up his mind. So, this wasn't a covert attempt to usurp the progressive wing of the party. Please with the silliness. That said, when he finally did decide, I believe the party needed to react, even though they had already settled elsewhere. Let's not forget the message was out, get ready and get ready quickly. Cauchon hesitated, someone else emerged, but in the final analysis, none of this precludes a grassroots vote now, we have the time and it's just the fair thing to do, especially because of Cauchon's pedigree.
Litz
Too late now I'm afraid. To reverse himself, after today, it's just horrible optics.
Where is there evidence that the preferred candidate has accepted and is running? This kind of bad press will not only put a dose of cold water on the grass roots, but it may also end up discouraging other possible candidates from running when they see that it's "who you know" ie coderre that gets you the free pass.
A candidate selection process isn't just about letting the little peons practice their sign waving and cheering, its also an opportunity for candidates to stoke up those campaign muscles and work out the bugs of inexperience, rustiness etc. It doesn't always end in the way the higher ups want, but in the end the process serves a real invigorating experience for the grass roots, the candidates and the party.
This appointing thing only serves to distract from the real work needed. Put me down as disappointed.
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