From: brewnoserii@gmail.com   
      
       
   Interesting article on Mulcair - from Toronto *Sun* yet . . .   
   _________________________________   
   By Tom Parkin, Postmedia Network - Sunday, February 21, 2016   
      
      
   Mulcair, not Ambrose, holding Liberals to account   
      
   In her first weeks as interim Conservative leader, Rona Ambrose got positive   
   reviews.  She showed a willingness to backtrack on the uglier side of the past   
   Conservative campaign.   
      
   But after those few opening moves, the rookie leader has become engaged in   
   losing strategies.   
      
   On Canada's military mission, Ambrose leads a one-note choir, obsessively   
   portraying the Liberals' withdrawal of CF-18s as evidence of abandoning a   
   combat mission.   
      
   But has she not heard from the military generals that this new mission   
   increases risk to our troops?  Does she not understand the Liberals have   
   tripled on-the-ground military assistance?  Somehow providing CF-18s is the   
   sole measure of Canada's military    
   capability?   
      
   Ambrose no doubt believes her CF-18 questions protect the Conservative's   
   hawkish image.  But she gives questions for which the Liberals have an answer   
   - they to point to their expanded war engagement.  And in each reply to   
   Ambrose they strengthen their    
   own military brand to compete with the Conservatives.   
      
   In fact, the Liberals' answers grow bolder daily in describing their expanded   
   engagement.  They know Ambrose's questions give them the chance to push the   
   Conservatives around the board.  The Conservatives don't get it.  Rookie   
   mistake.   
      
   In contrast, on Iraq, Tom Mulcair's strategy is to push the Liberals on   
   questions for which the Liberals have no answers.   
      
   Mulcair asks about mission definition and timeline.  NDP MPs ask about the   
   Liberals' much-promised deradicalization strategy.  They ask about plans to   
   shut down the flow of foreign fighters.  About steps being taken to block   
   terrorist funding.  Trudeau    
   provides no answers because he has none.     (#^.^#)       
      
   On the upcoming budget, Ambrose asks about deficit numbers, maintaining the   
   unhelpful impression that Conservatives want deep cuts and balanced budgets at   
   all costs.   
      
   Tom Mulcair asks about Canadians' incomes.  He calls the Liberals   
   "incompetent" over the loss of 2,800 positions at Bombardier.  He wonders   
   "when is the Prime Minister going to act" on manufacturing jobs.  He calls the   
   Liberals' broken promise on the    
   Canada Wheat Board "shocking."  He keeps a spotlight on the TPP.  Trudeau has   
   no answers.            (#^.^#)   
      
   Post-election, even with every campaign error getting stuffed into his   
   backpack, Tom Mulcair and his caucus continue as an effective fighting   
   force.   Mulcair has worn the weight of defeat with humility and not a word of   
   complaint, even though others    
   from the campaign should be shouldering their share of the load.   
      
   And were it not for the weight pulling down Tom Mulcair since the NDP's poor   
   campaign, the contrast with Ambrose would be even clearer.  Daily in Question   
   Period, Mulcair holds the Liberals to account.  Conservatives demand the   
   Liberals break more    
   promises.   
      
   Without a strong NDP, Morneau, Freeland and the other neo-liberals would move   
   their party further right - back to the two-party, elite politics that sets in   
   when the NDP is weak.  Politics that stacks the deck against lower-income and   
   middle class    
   Canadians.   
      
   Look south to see how arrogant the billionaire class becomes when there's no   
   effective social democratic force.  See how debased their democracy grows.    
   And how progressive Americans desperately crave the reforms the NDP has been   
   able to achieve for    
   Canadians - when it is strong.   
      
   Tom Mulcair is a substantial person leading the NDP with dignity and strength.   
   From a humbling defeat, he's making changes to his office and personal style.   
      
   If there's a new person who'd be more effective, no one can say the name.    
   Many New Democrats may remain unsettled about their leadership decision, but   
   none can be indifferent to its importance.   
      
      
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