XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics   
   From: {~_~}@nyet.ca   
      
   Seems to be a common thing with leaders of parties that bend to the   
   right . . . .   
   _______________________________________   
      
   The Canadian Press Posted: May 10, 2014   
      
   Justin Trudeau's absences from Ottawa spurs NDP, Liberals spat   
   Charge of being absentee MP finished off former Liberal leader Michael   
   Ignatieff   
      
   A Quebec television network report revealed that Justin Trudeau has   
   shown up just 41 per cent of the time for question period in the House   
   of Commons so far in 2014, slightly ahead of Prime Minister Stephen   
   Harper but well behind Tom Mulcair's 66 per cent.   
      
      
   Who's the hardest working federal opposition leader, Tom Mulcair or   
   Justin Trudeau?   
      
   The two are engaged in a pre-election skirmish over that question,   
   offering a glimpse of the pitched battle to come between New Democrats   
   and Liberals next year, when each leader will attempt to persuade voters   
   that he is more deserving than the other to replace Prime Minister   
   Stephen Harper.   
      
   And it's no frivolous question. It's the same one late NDP leader Jack   
   Layton raised to devastating effect during the 2011 election campaign,   
   helping to sink the Liberals and vault his party into official   
   Opposition status for the first time in history.   
      
   During the televised English-language debate, Layton pointed out that   
   then Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had missed 70 per cent of the   
   votes in the House of Commons, the worst record of any MP.   
      
   "If you want to be prime minister, you'd better learn how to be a member   
   of Parliament first," Layton admonished Ignatieff. "You know, most   
   Canadians, if they don't show up for work, they don't get a promotion."   
      
   Voters evidently agreed. They fired Ignatieff and demoted his party,   
   which was relegated to a third-place rump.   
      
   Since Trudeau took the helm a year ago, the Liberals have bounced back   
   into the lead in most opinion polls while Mulcair's NDP has sunk back to   
   its more traditional third-place slot. Trudeau has accomplished that   
   feat primarily by playing to his strength — his ability to connect with   
   people, who more often than not, behave in his presence like gushing   
   adolescent groupies meeting a rock star.   
      
   That's meant plenty of travel across the country. And that's opened him   
   up to the same charge of being an absentee MP that finished off Ignatieff.   
   Time on the road   
      
   In an apparent attempt to head off a reprise of that unhappy experience,   
   the Liberal party this week sent out a fundraising email which   
   proclaimed "The Real Hard Work (doesn't always happen in Ottawa)." It   
   came on the heels of a Quebec television network report revealing that   
   Trudeau has shown up just 41 per cent of the time for question period in   
   the Commons so far this year, slightly ahead of Harper but well behind   
   Mulcair's 66 per cent.   
      
   The email boasted that Trudeau has attended 520 events in 105 cities in   
   the 387 days he's been leader of the Liberal party. "And he's spent: 141   
   days on the road in 115 ridings and 35 townhalls."   
      
   "So," the email asked, "when Thomas Mulcair asks five questions in the   
   House and gets the usual Conservative non-answers ... but Justin Trudeau   
   speaks to 600 university students about their future, which leader   
   engages more Canadians?   
      
   "Let others focus on the political circus. Because Justin Trudeau is   
   focused on you," it concluded.   
      
   The NDP countered late Friday with a "showing up to work" website, which   
   mimics the Liberal email's format and graphics, proclaiming that   
   "Standing up to Stephen Harper (happens in our communities and in Ottawa).   
      
   It goes on to boast that Mulcair has spent 146 days out of the past 387   
   on the road, visiting 124 ridings at 394 events in 94 cities — numbers   
   close to or even better than Trudeau's.   
      
   "And despite all that time on the road, Tom Mulcair still showed up to   
   work on the Hill. Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau expects Canadians to promote   
   him for ducking his responsibilities in Parliament? Aren't you glad   
   someone's holding the Conservatives to account?"   
   Mulcair excels at question period   
      
   The website doesn't mention the leaders' respective voting records — the   
   issue that Layton used so effectively against Ignatieff. But the NDP has   
   been keeping track: since Trudeau became leader, Mulcair has been in the   
   Commons for almost 83 per cent of the votes, Trudeau for 61 per cent and   
   Harper for just 54 per cent.   
      
   Mulcair's impressive stats both on the road and in Parliament show an   
   opposition leader "can walk and chew gum," says Karl Belanger, the NDP   
   leader's principal secretary.   
      
   "There's no real excuse for not showing up in Parliament and holding   
   Stephen Harper to account."   
      
   Mulcair excels at question period so it's little wonder he makes the   
   most of the opportunity. He's won plaudits for his prosecutorial style   
   used to grill Harper over the Senate expenses scandal and the   
   government's widely-panned overhaul of election laws.   
      
   Trudeau, by contrast, has never seemed comfortable in the role of grand   
   inquisitor and tends to read scripted questions. Little wonder he'd   
   rather be out on the road.   
      
   "If he doesn't have the strength to hold Stephen Harper to account, to   
   stand up to Stephen Harper, why would Canadians expect he can replace   
   Stephen Harper?" asks Belanger.   
      
   Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale counters that Trudeau has done an   
   effective job of balancing his parliamentary duties with his road work   
   and his responsibilities as a father to three young children — a demand   
   on his time that Mulcair, whose children are grown, no longer has to meet.   
      
   That said, he argues the rules of Parliament are such that Trudeau's   
   time can be more effectively used outside the Ottawa bubble than in it.   
   Trudeau has more impact on the road   
      
   As the official Opposition, the NDP gets to ask the lion's share of the   
   questions during the daily 45-minute question period, including the   
   opening five. The Liberals get only nine, the first of them coming   
   around the 15-minute mark, when most viewers will have tuned out the   
   jousting match.   
      
   Mulcair frequently asks most, and sometimes all, of the NDP questions on   
   any given day, "shouldering everybody else (in his caucus) aside,"   
   Goodale notes. He can dominate question period in a way that the third   
   party leader simply can't.   
      
   While he believes Liberals use their limited time in QP effectively,   
   Goodale says Trudeau has more impact on the road, trying to "motivate   
   Canadians, to engage Canadians, to get traction with Canadians."   
      
   "Our most valuable resource is Justin and his ability to make human   
   connections and you do that best of all face to face with Canadians   
   across the country."   
      
   As for Mulcair's claim to have spent as much time on the road as   
   Trudeau, while still attending to his parliamentary duties, Goodale is   
   dismissive.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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