Liberal Leadership Choice
December 1st, 2006 | by MadHacktress |The Liberal Party of Canada is in the process, pretty much as I write this, of selecting a new leader. This new leader will, hopefully, be the man to lead this country to its next government and, therefore, be our next Prime Minister.
And now, my choice for Leader…
My choice for leader is basically a two-man choice: my ideal choice and the one who’s more likely to win.
The candidate who I like and who is most likely to win is Bob Rae, just because he’s got more supporters than my favoured choice. I remember the days of Bob Rae as Premier of Ontario with somewhat mixed feelings. As a kid I was rather fond of Rae Days because they were another day out of school. At the same time, however, it is hard to forget the immense amount of overspending that took place and the horrific debt that our province was left with (not all his fault, I know).
I think that Bob Rae would be a decent choice for Prime Minister because I think he has shaken enough of the orange out of him to be fiscally responsible and yet he is still left enough to be socially minded. I am, myself, about as far left as a person can get without crossing that invisible line in to NDP-dom. I see Bob Rae as in a very similar quarter as my own values.
I think that, as Prime Minister, Bob Rae would be an effective force at better uniting the left, a move that I have often felt has been missing in this country for a long time.
My Ideal Candidate, however, is Gerard Kennedy. I should first and foremost admit one thing that I’m not proud of - part of this decision rests on the fact that I find him cute. Hey, I can’t help that, it’s biological, okay?
As Education Minister in Ontario he really did do a good job of bringing public support for the school system back. Even though it is not near where it ought to be, it’s much better than it had been in years past. He was a great force in working with the Ontario government to help bring it to power - in spite of the fact that we ended up with the reptilian kitten eater as Premier.
He, like Rae, is a far leftist - my kind of man. He is socially minded, he’s got a strong background in provincial politics and he’s got, in my opinion, the stickwithitness enough to stay leader for as long as it takes to get the party back to where it belongs.
I find Gerard Kennedy to be very personally charismatic and, I think, that is something that Canadian appreciate in a leader. It is something that Jean Chrétien had, to a degree, but true charisma has been missing from Parliament Hill since the Trudeau years. I would like to see that come back.
Oh yeah, and he plays hockey. I can’t skate but, seriously, what’s more Canadian than that? Timmy’s, maybe, I guess.
I’m pretty sure that I read that Michael Ignatieff hates hockey, and Tim Horton’s. And moose, and hosers, the beaver (small b), uhm… the Bluenose, and probably baby seals, too. Actually, maybe I made all that up…
Entry Filed under: General
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