OTTAWA
Starting Monday, Stephen Harper pulls back the curtain.
No longer dealing with a backlog from the minority years, this Parliamentary session will reveal what life means to Canadians under majority Conservative rule.
That retirement for which you have meticulously planned will be different.
The rules on environmental hearings will be changed to “streamline” the process.
In what appears to be a naked bid to undermine an independent hearing, the Northern Gateway pipeline through British Columbia has been dubbed “a national priority.’’
Our immigration system will be overhauled.
A coming budget is now expected to cut even more deeply than first advertised, an exercise which will ultimately affect every Canadian.
Right now, it is Harper versus the interims.
Canada needs a strong opposition at this time, someone to represent the six in 10 Canadians who did not vote Conservative, someone who can take a strong team on the opposite bench and craft a coherent alternative voice for the country.
Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel may be promising the “fight of her life” against the coming Harper budget, but a string of polls confirms that Canadians are not listening to her.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae has become the “de facto” opposition leader, but pull back the Liberal curtain and that is one tiny posse he commands for battle.
With no vote at the federal level before 2015, the only cogent opposition can come from the party with 101 seats.
Forget for a second the NDP “government-in-waiting” mantra.
In the short term, they must find credible opposition.
Into this political abyss Sunday rode eight New Democrats.
This debate in Halifax had more edge than previous gatherings.
There were clashes, some clips and some quips.
Three candidates — Thomas Mulcair, Nathan Cullen and Paul Dewar — raised their game Sunday, although this is clearly not a ranking of their overall strength.
The sense that Mulcair was leading the pack was fortified by attacks sent his way.
Cullen deftly reminded the audience of Mulcair’s past by saying that when he first met the former Quebec minister, he didn’t meet “a Liberal,’’ but a progressive Canadian.
Dewar went after Mulcair on his one-time openness to bulk water exports.
Mulcair parried both with something this race has been lacking — a little passion.
He explained again he was a provincial Liberal because it was the only federalist party in the province, but started with a “Give it up, Nathan.’’
On the water question, he accused Dewar of using rehashed Liberal arguments that failed in the 2007 and 2008 campaigns he won in Outremont.
But he started it with an angry, “C’mon Paul.’’
He accused Cullen of striving for the “bronze medal” in his plan to have Liberals and New Democrats join forces in select ridings.
But Cullen held his own on that exchange and was the strongest of the eight on the environment by reminding the audience the Harper government, “which only knows wedge politics,’’ has branded Gateway opponents “radicals” or enemies of the state.
Cullen has not moved to the top tier of this race, despite his debating skill, and Dewar will face major hurdles when forced to debate in French.
Toronto MP Peggy Nash appears to have stalled, but will do better in French, and the early front-runner, Brian Topp, was virtually missing in action Sunday.
It will be another eight weeks before this race sorts itself out, eight more weeks for Rae to build his party, eight more weeks for Harper to forge ahead on his “transformative” agenda.
That’s a long time for a number of twists and turns in the NDP leadership race.
There is a strong anybody-but-Mulcair faction in this party.
But for all his warts and enemies inside and outside the party, he is the only one of the eight, right now, who looks like he could crank up the requisite fire from the seat of the leader of the official opposition.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Tim Harper
Starting Monday, Stephen Harper pulls back the curtain.
No longer dealing with a backlog from the minority years, this Parliamentary session will reveal what life means to Canadians under majority Conservative rule.
That retirement for which you have meticulously planned will be different.
The rules on environmental hearings will be changed to “streamline” the process.
In what appears to be a naked bid to undermine an independent hearing, the Northern Gateway pipeline through British Columbia has been dubbed “a national priority.’’
Our immigration system will be overhauled.
A coming budget is now expected to cut even more deeply than first advertised, an exercise which will ultimately affect every Canadian.
Right now, it is Harper versus the interims.
Canada needs a strong opposition at this time, someone to represent the six in 10 Canadians who did not vote Conservative, someone who can take a strong team on the opposite bench and craft a coherent alternative voice for the country.
Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel may be promising the “fight of her life” against the coming Harper budget, but a string of polls confirms that Canadians are not listening to her.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae has become the “de facto” opposition leader, but pull back the Liberal curtain and that is one tiny posse he commands for battle.
With no vote at the federal level before 2015, the only cogent opposition can come from the party with 101 seats.
Forget for a second the NDP “government-in-waiting” mantra.
In the short term, they must find credible opposition.
Into this political abyss Sunday rode eight New Democrats.
This debate in Halifax had more edge than previous gatherings.
There were clashes, some clips and some quips.
Three candidates — Thomas Mulcair, Nathan Cullen and Paul Dewar — raised their game Sunday, although this is clearly not a ranking of their overall strength.
The sense that Mulcair was leading the pack was fortified by attacks sent his way.
Cullen deftly reminded the audience of Mulcair’s past by saying that when he first met the former Quebec minister, he didn’t meet “a Liberal,’’ but a progressive Canadian.
Dewar went after Mulcair on his one-time openness to bulk water exports.
Mulcair parried both with something this race has been lacking — a little passion.
He explained again he was a provincial Liberal because it was the only federalist party in the province, but started with a “Give it up, Nathan.’’
On the water question, he accused Dewar of using rehashed Liberal arguments that failed in the 2007 and 2008 campaigns he won in Outremont.
But he started it with an angry, “C’mon Paul.’’
He accused Cullen of striving for the “bronze medal” in his plan to have Liberals and New Democrats join forces in select ridings.
But Cullen held his own on that exchange and was the strongest of the eight on the environment by reminding the audience the Harper government, “which only knows wedge politics,’’ has branded Gateway opponents “radicals” or enemies of the state.
Cullen has not moved to the top tier of this race, despite his debating skill, and Dewar will face major hurdles when forced to debate in French.
Toronto MP Peggy Nash appears to have stalled, but will do better in French, and the early front-runner, Brian Topp, was virtually missing in action Sunday.
It will be another eight weeks before this race sorts itself out, eight more weeks for Rae to build his party, eight more weeks for Harper to forge ahead on his “transformative” agenda.
That’s a long time for a number of twists and turns in the NDP leadership race.
There is a strong anybody-but-Mulcair faction in this party.
But for all his warts and enemies inside and outside the party, he is the only one of the eight, right now, who looks like he could crank up the requisite fire from the seat of the leader of the official opposition.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Tim Harper
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