We’ve heard a lot of about Denis Coderre’s “leadership ambitions” this week. And, at least among Liberals I know outside of Quebec, this topic has usually drawn snickers. Coderre certainly didn’t help his already Volpeskian chances by going out in a self-destructive blaze of glory Monday, blaming the party’s problems on a Toronto-heavy brain trust. […]

The new olympic gear looks familiar, eh?

“Nothing makes people more cynical about politics than when parties don’t do what they say, don’t stand up for what they believe.”–Jack Layton, 2007 TODAY: The House of Commons voted 144-117 today against a Liberal motion to bring down the minority Conservatives. The Liberals and Bloc Quebecois supported the motion while the Tories opposed it […]

Although “poison pill” probably deserves to be added to the “overused political words” list, here’s the latest on a possible poison pill: The Conservative government plans to bring in legislation connected to the harmonized sales tax in the coming months, giving it the tool to bring about its own demise should Prime Minister Stephen Harper […]

A new NDP ad is out (which I assume won’t actually air), where Jack chides the other parties…for doing what he proudly did for the past three years.

According to Chantal Hebert, the Liberal Party’s greatest failing vis-a-vis Quebec is that there aren’t enough intellectuals running the show: When it comes to connecting with Quebecers, Ignatieff is surrounded by bright, well-meaning advisers who – like their leader – don’t even know what they don’t know. Unless that intellectual vacuum is addressed, the Liberal […]

“The problem for a leader who has never been in the trenches, he doesn’t know what loyalty is all about.” -Former Liberal, Bloc, and Liberal MP Jean Lapierre

MONTREAL – Liberal stalwart Denis Coderre has resigned as the party’s Quebec lieutenant and defence critic. He says he will remain a member of Parliament but no longer believes he has the confidence of his leader, Michael Ignatieff. Coderre has expressed support for the leader, but fired a shot in Ignatieff’s direction at a news […]

I took in the MacLeans Democracy Roundtable on Wednesday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were at least half a dozen ideas and points raised that would make good blog post subjects in their own right, but rather than elaborate on each of them, I’ll just throw up a bunch of random musings from the event: […]

I like following leadership races, maybe even more than general elections. The candidates are less well know, the dynamics are more intriguing, and the results are less predictable. It’s great when the winner of the race has a legitimate shot at one day forming government, but there’s also something to be said for the characters […]