XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics, ont.politics   
   From: doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca   
      
   In article ,   
   =?UTF-8?B?Q29uyYDGpkNvbsmA?=   wrote:   
   >  . . .   Because this country needs a leader who cares about its people   
   >before anything else.   
   >   
   >Harper cares about corporate profits, spy agencies and access to   
   >Canadians' privacy, backing Israel and the U.S. in their wars, and   
   >changing Canada's penal system to mirror that in the U.S.   
   >   
   >Justin Trudeau cares about his hair, how to charm the ladies, how to   
   >curry votes of any any group he might campaign within, and adjusting his   
   >political speeches to match the wants of those particular audiences.   
   >He's charming and insincere.   
   >   
   >Thomas Mulcair can get our strength back; in job creation, in   
   >environmental protection and in the respect of the world for our honesty   
   >combined with the pride of autonomy.   
   >Neither of the other leaders can - or will.   
   >   
   >If you're planning to vote for the New Democrats in the next election,   
   >give them your support financially to whatever extent you can.  They're   
   >up against some very dirty players when it comes to election campaigns   
   >and they will need every dollar we can give, to not only advance their   
   >policies, but to fight the negative ads that will be coming at them.   
   >_____________________________________   
   >January 11, 2014 - Globe and Mail By John Ibbitson   
   >   
   >   
   >NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair's next task: Win over the country   
   >   
   >He's no charmer. He has no name cachet. And his party is often maligned   
   >for its tax-and-spend legacy. But Mulcair may just be the candidate to watch   
   >   
   >   
   >He has emerged from Jack Layton's shadow, won over his party and earned   
   >the respect of people who follow Question Period. But now Thomas Mulcair   
   >has a bigger battle – to win over the country. And he must do it this   
   >year, long before the 2015 election campaign. He must also raise money   
   >at a rate his party has never known, and connect with a suburban middle   
   >class unsure of who he is. Most important, he must find some way to   
   >steal the spotlight from the hyper-charismatic Justin Trudeau.If he   
   >succeeds, persuading Ontario to swing left – and Quebec to stay there –   
   >he will offer New Democrats their best-ever shot at power. If he fails,   
   >he may lead them to the back of the pack.   
   >   
   >High stakes. But Mr. Mulcair is supremely confident after his brilliant   
   >performance during the Senate expenses scandal; his relentless,   
   >prosecutorial grilling damaged Mr. Harper's credibility and solidified   
   >his own reputation as a tactician.   
   >   
   >"In 2015, people are going to be looking for somebody able to run the   
   >country," he told The Globe and Mail during a wide-ranging conversation   
   >in his spacious Centre Block office above that of the Prime Minister.   
   >"I've got 35 years' experience."   
   >   
   >The question is whether, even with those 35 years, Canadians are ready   
   >to hand the reins to the tax-and-spend social democrats, and to a leader   
   >often portrayed as impersonal and inaccessible?   
   >   
   >His chief rivals have problems. Mr. Harper is battling scandal and voter   
   >fatigue while Mr. Trudeau is untested and still struggling to revive a   
   >party not far removed from its deathbed.   
   >   
   >But both are much better known, and even the oft-maligned Prime Minister   
   >is more popular, a deficit Mr. Mulcair must overcome quickly. In   
   >politics, momentum is a fickle force, and the afterglow from the Senate   
   >scandal may soon fade.   
   >   
   >His party has a strategy, however, one it hopes will make Mulcair a   
   >household name, and this week the first polling of the new year offered   
   >some encouragement. Nanos Research reports that, among voters asked   
   >which party they would consider endorsing, NDP support is holding firm   
   >while that of both the Liberals and Conservatives has not. Even better,   
   >Mr. Mulcair's personal appeal went up and Mr. Trudeau's fell, a sign the   
   >Liberal leader's honeymoon may be coming to an end, just as a   
   >Tom-meets-the-people tour is to begin next week.   
   >   
   >A threat to party unity – free trade with Europe – will reappear when   
   >Parliament returns Jan. 27, but he at least has had practice at healing   
   >internal rifts.   
   >   
   >When Jack Layton lost his battle with cancer on Aug. 22, 2011, the NDP   
   >faced a crisis: how to replace a leader so beloved that even a   
   >Conservative luminary, former prime minister Brian Mulroney, remembered   
   >him as "someone who turned out to be a great man."   
   >   
   >The ensuing leadership campaign attracted eight candidates but boiled   
   >down to a race between Mr. Mulcair and another Quebecker: Brian Topp, a   
   >former party president favoured by the NDP establishment. Although he   
   >was deputy leader and had been in Ottawa for four years, Mr. Mulcair was   
   >still considered an outsider who might drag the party toward the mushy   
   >middle. He was also known for his quick temper. Feelings against him ran   
   >so high in some circles that former leader Ed Broadbent felt compelled   
   >to speak out.   
   >   
   >"People should look carefully at the fact that, of the people [in   
   >caucus] with Tom, 90 per cent of them are supporting other candidates,"   
   >the NDP's grand old man, then 75, told The Globe and Mail.   
   >   
   >Nonetheless, when the vote was held in Toronto on March 24, 2012, Mr.   
   >Mulcair won convincingly on the fifth ballot. He then moved quickly to   
   >heal internal rifts – leadership rivals were given prominent positions   
   >in his shadow cabinet, former Layton aide Karl Bélanger became his   
   >principal secretary and, later, Anne McGrath, his predecessor's chief of   
   >staff, was asked to lead preparations for the next election.   
   >   
   >He also had to weather a crisis that divided his caucus, again without   
   >being dictatorial. When the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois introduced a   
   >motion to repeal the Clarity Act, the federal legislation that requires   
   >a clear majority vote before a province can try to secede, the NDP was   
   >torn. Their own policy was similar to what the Bloc wanted. But while   
   >some MPs, mostly from Quebec, supported the motion, others wanted   
   >nothing to do with propping up separatists.   
   >   
   >In a caucus meeting that lasted hours, Mr. Mulcair heard everyone out.   
   >Later, he met MPs individually and in small groups to explain that,   
   >while the party could never support the Bloc motion, neither could it   
   >repudiate its own policy. In the end, the NDP put forward a "unity bill"   
   >worded so that it could vote against the Bloc.   
   >   
   >One member crossed the floor. But party insiders say that, by showing   
   >such patience and willingness to compromise, Mr. Mulcair has since   
      
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