New Democratic Party Leadership Election 2017

[danjuno]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-ndp-leadership-candidates-so-far/article34158010/

Who’s running for the NDP leadership? Read the list of candidates so far
This fall, the New Democrats will pick a new face of the party to take over from Tom Mulcair. Check back here for background on who’s in the running and what they stand for


ILLUSTRATION BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL (PHOTO: SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

EVAN ANNETT

The Globe and Mail Last updated: Tuesday, May 23, 2017 10:38AM EDT

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• 3 Comments

The official candidates



Charlie Angus
Age: 54

Background: As a five-term MP in his native Timmins, Ont., Mr. Angus has been a prominent advocate for First Nations. His riding includes the community of Attawapiskat – which has grappled with a housing shortage and suicide crises over the past decade – and he introduced the so-called Shannen’s Dream motion, a 2012 campaign for indigenous education named after children’s activist Shannen Koostachin of Attawapiskat. He’s also the lead singer of the punk-rock group the Grievous Angels.

Policy: At his campaign launch, he criticized the “Bay Street status quo” and said his campaign would focus on social change and the working class.




Niki Ashton
Age: 34

Background: An MP in her native Manitoba since 2008, Ms. Ashton has been a vocal advocate for Indigenous communities and women’s issues, and kicked off her campaign the day before International Women’s Day. At 26, Ms. Ashton entered the House as the party’s youngest MP before the influx of newcomers from 2011’s “Orange Crush” election. She was also the youngest person to run in the leadership race following Jack Layton’s death in 2011, but only made it to the first ballot. During the 2016 U.S. election, she was an outspoken admirer of the left-wing policies of Bernie Sanders, and she faced some backlash for campaigning on his behalf when he was seeking to be the party’s presidential candidate.

Policy: At her campaign launch, Ms. Ashton said the party should embrace its leftist origins, suggesting a “you privatize it, we nationalize it” philosophy, without offering specific proposals. She supports tuition-free postsecondary education.




Guy Caron
Age: 49

Background: Mr. Caron worked as a labour economist and researched forestry issues for the former Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. In the 2000s he ran three times unsuccessfully in the Quebec riding of Rimouski-Neigette–Témiscouata–Les Basques, before being elected in 2011 in the NDP’s “Orange Crush” of the province. In the House, he served as the party’s energy critic.

Policy: Mr. Caron launched his campaign on a promise of a guaranteed basic income.




Peter Julian
Age: 55

Background: Mr. Julian joined the party at a young age as an organizer in B.C. and Quebec in the 1990s. He first ran for federal office in 2004, when he won the riding in his hometown of New Westminster, B.C., which he has represented ever since. In opposition, he held a wide range of critic jobs, also serving as House Leader and caucus chair.

Policy: Mr. Julian’s proposals include eliminating postsecondary tuition fees, phasing out fossil-fuel use and creating 250,000 units of affordable housing.




Jagmeet Singh
Age: 38

Background: Mr. Singh was a criminal defence lawyer before entering politics in 2011 to run for the Ontario NDP in Bramalea-Gore-Malton. Mr. Singh was the first turban-wearing Sikh to sit in the Ontario legislature. Leader Andrea Horwath announced Mr. Singh as her deputy in April, 2015. He launched his campaign at a May 15 event at Bombay Palace in Brampton, the same venue where he celebrated with supporters following the 2011 provincial election.

Policy: Mr. Singh has not put forward an official policy platform but has said that his campaign would be focused on addressing inequality, global warming, electoral reform and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Unofficial candidates



Pat Stogran
Age: 59

Background: A retired army lieutenant-colonel who served in the Bosnian and Afghan conflicts, Mr. Stogran became Canada’s first veterans ombudsman when the office was created in 2007. He was an outspoken critic of the Conservative government, which did not renew his appointment. The NDP has not officially confirmed his candidacy for the leadership race, saying he first needs to pay the required $30,000 fee and collect 500 signatures from party members.

Policy: At his campaign launch, he emphasized Canadians’ need for straight-talking leadership, and said he was “worried at the distinct lack of leadership that is manifest in the senior echelons of government.”



Ibrahim Bruno El-Khoury
Background: Mr. El-Khoury is a Montreal-based consultant and founder of the firm Wise & Expert International. The Lebanese-born immigrant to Canada sought the NDP’s nomination for Montreal’s Papineau riding in the 2015 federal election, and ran for municipal office in 2013. Like Mr. Strogan, the NDP has not officially confirmed Mr. El-Khoury’s candidacy for the leadership.

Policy: He has said he wants Ottawa to revisit the electoral-reform debate and reduce poverty in Canada.




Guy Caron, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton and Peter Julian arrive on stage for the first debate of the federal NDP leadership race in Ottawa on March 12, 2017.

JUSTIN TANG/THE CANADIAN PRESS

What’s next?
The party’s leadership process leaves room for multiple mail-in and online ballots this fall, so the new leader could be chosen as early as Sept. 17 and no later than Oct. 31. Here are some key dates to watch:

Party membership

• July 3: Deadline for leadership candidates to register
• Aug. 17: Deadline for new party members to register and be eligible to vote

Debates

• May 27: Sudbury (English)
• June 10: Halifax (English)
• July 11: Saskatoon (English)
• Aug. 9: Victoria (English)
• Aug. 27: Montreal (French only)
• Sept. 10: Vancouver (English)
• Sept. 17: Toronto (English)

So, the New Democrats are replacing Tom Mulcair after their losses in 2015. Niki Ashton represents some young blood as well as a return to the party's strong Leftist/Social Democratic leanings after Mulcair's stab at moderation failed. She also gained some international recognition by campaigning in the US for Bernie Sanders last year. Peter Julian is a much more seasoned veteran than Ashton, but has a similar emphasis on Income Inequality and Tuition-Free College. It appears that a choice between the two for hardliners would come down to youth vs experience.

Charlie Angus is probably the strongest champion of the First Nations, and it is his signature issue from all appearances. (He also plays in a band, for what it's worth.) Guy Caron was the Party's Energy Critic, who also has proposed a basic universal income. He also worked as a economist and researcher for labor (wait, do Canadians use the British or American spelling of that word? ). Jagmeet Singh was a criminal defense lawyer before entering the Ontario legislature, and was deputy leader for the NDP there until last month.

Now for the unofficial candidates: Pat Stogran, a retired army officer and combat veteran who was canned as the first Veteran's Ombudsman by the Conservative Government in retaliation for criticizing Harper's policies. He has talked less about policy and more about the need for "straight-talking" leadership. The last one is Ibrahim El-Khoury, a consultant and Lebanese immigrant who has made various unsuccessful attempts at public office. Info on him seems hard to come by. Stogran and El-Khoury are not officially registered as candidates as of this posting.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I have to admit, I don't know much about most of these people. Niki Ashton is the one I've heard the most about. If she were to win, it certainly wouldn't be the first time the NDP had a woman leader. She doesn't strike me as Prime Ministerial material, though, and that's something the federal parties have to consider in their leaders: If it came down to it, could the leader fulfill the job of Prime Minister of Canada?

Jack Layton could have. Even Thomas Mulcair could have (although he'd have had to make a decision regarding his French citizenship; it's considered bad form for the party leaders and GG to have dual citizenships). But this group of candidates... more research is needed before I can have any real informed opinion.

 

[Kyriakos]

I don't know any of them. What is this seat (dem party leader) about?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It's not a seat, as such.

We have four main federal political parties in Canada (five in Quebec). Two of them have leadership races this year. The Conservative Party of Canada (the bunch of right-wing twits I tend to refer to as "Reformacons" since they started out as the Reform Party and hijacked the old Progressive Conservative Party back in 2003) just got finished with their latest leadership race. There's another thread about that.

Now it's the New Democratic Party (NDP)'s turn. The reason both these parties are having leadership races is because it's expected that after a significant electoral loss, the party leader will resign - or at the very least, call a leadership review. Both these parties had significant losses in the election of 2015. Stephen Harper resigned, Rona Ambrose won the race to be interim leader until they could have a proper leadership race, and that was done this weekend.

The NDP race is in progress. It's expected that if the winner doesn't already have a seat in Parliament, he or she will run in a byelection ASAP, so they do have a seat.

The Liberals are not having a leadership race this year (unless Trudeau does something so egregiously stupid or criminal that it can't be overlooked and his only honorable option is to resign), and as far as I know, neither the Green Party nor the Bloc are having a leadership race.


The way federal elections work now, the party that wins the most seats in a federal election - assuming they win at least a minority number - is the one that forms the government. The leader of that party, whoever he or she may be, becomes the Prime Minister. So we don't vote directly for the Prime Minister. The only people who do get to vote for the leaders are the people in their constituencies, to be their Member of Parliament.

 

[danjuno]

Does anybody have more background on Julian? He seem like He's worth looking into if you aren't sure about Ashton.

 

[Kyriakos]

Does anybody have more background on Julian? He seem like He's worth looking into if you aren't sure about Ashton.

Ktesiphon was his tomb, more or less :/

(ok, sorry )

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There was an article about him a few weeks ago on the CBC.ca website. My mind was on other things at the time, so I didn't pay much attention. Jagmeet Singh was featured on the Rick Mercer Report (one of the CBC's political satire shows), and the segment involved discussing his many multicolored turbans (he's Sikh), and his hobby of axe-throwing.

 

[danjuno]

>Brown Person
>Throws Sharp Objects as a Hobby
I can already see the Reformacons foaming at the mouth. Though that might actually backfire and cause the Conservative's base to have higher turnout.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

>Brown Person
>Throws Sharp Objects as a Hobby
I can already see the Reformacons foaming at the mouth. Though that might actually backfire and cause the Conservative's base to have higher turnout.

There are Sikhs in their party as well. I haven't heard that they throw axes as a hobby, though.

 

[jackelgull]

From my cursory research, I find myself really liking Charlie Angus. I mean in 2005 his priest threatened to deny him Holy Communion if he voted to legalize same sex marriage and he stood his ground and got denied Holy Communion. He was also voted one of the top ten Opposition MPs. This does not necessarily translate to prime minister material, but it certainly looks good.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Paul Martin himself (the Prime Minister at the time) was also threatened with that. He informed the church that as Prime Minister he keeps his religion entirely separate from his duties as Prime Minister and as a Parliamentarian. Trudeau does the same.

 

[EricTheGreat12]

This thread is even quieter than the leadership race

About Niki Ashton.....

She is very unique in that she seems to be more radically left-leaning and therefore has more support from youth members in the party. She has however, been under-fire by the BLM Vancouver group because she quoted lyrics from a Beyonce song and the group was mad of the 'cultural appropriation'. While some view it as her continuous support for the Black Lives Matter community, I cannot help but feel that this makes her look weak: imagine if we have a prime minister who would have to look back on every public message simply because a group of individuals called them out on Twitter. It would make the Prime Minister look like an idiot, and I'm sure that it would be a disastrous 4 year term. Besides for that, her emphasis on far-left leaning ideals leaves her in a bad situation with the Canadian electorate; Justin Trudeau already is a voice for minority groups and has been pandering to social justice warriors and millennials since he became leader.

This is gonna be a very tough time for the NDP, and if they screw up on this opportunity, they are really gonna start thinking about the party itself...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

This thread is even quieter than the leadership race

About Niki Ashton.....

She is very unique in that she seems to be more radically left-leaning and therefore has more support from youth members in the party. She has however, been under-fire by the BLM Vancouver group because she quoted lyrics from a Beyonce song and the group was mad of the 'cultural appropriation'. While some view it as her continuous support for the Black Lives Matter community, I cannot help but feel that this makes her look weak: imagine if we have a prime minister who would have to look back on every public message simply because a group of individuals called them out on Twitter. It would make the Prime Minister look like an idiot, and I'm sure that it would be a disastrous 4 year term. Besides for that, her emphasis on far-left leaning ideals leaves her in a bad situation with the Canadian electorate; Justin Trudeau already is a voice for minority groups and has been pandering to social justice warriors and millennials since he became leader.

This is gonna be a very tough time for the NDP, and if they screw up on this opportunity, they are really gonna start thinking about the party itself...

At this point the BLM organization can just STFU as far as I'm concerned. Sure, they do have a point about bigotry and profiling, and the RCMP's attitude toward anyone who isn't a white, English-speaking male who's a Canadian citizen is deplorable.

But screeching "You appropriated MY CULTURE!!!!!" at every opportunity is just ridiculous.

Now there are indigenous rants that say we're not even supposed to use their words.

Well, good luck getting through a single day in Canada without using any words that come from some indigenous language. My city is the English translation of an indigenous word. We'd have to rename at least half the cities and towns in the country, not to mention a lot of the geographical place-names, including the name of the country itself.


As for the NDP race, sorry, I haven't followed much of it lately. What's registered is that Niki Ashton is pregnant and whatsisname's day-glo turbans do stand out in the various photos.

In the meantime, the top story tonight (that we're allowed to comment on) is that Trudeau's party has passed half the number of bills that Harper's party did at this time. The difference (that the Reformacons are conveniently ignoring) is that a great many of Harper's were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. That hasn't happened for the Liberals yet (I say "yet" because I do expect the government will lose a court challenge over the assisted dying bill).

 

[Lexicus]

At this point the BLM organization can just STFU as far as I'm concerned. Sure, they do have a point about bigotry and profiling, and the RCMP's attitude toward anyone who isn't a white, English-speaking male who's a Canadian citizen is deplorable.

Keep in mind BLM isn't really an "organization" in the sense you seem to mean - the Vancouver group doesn't necessarily reflect the views of other BLM groups. That said I agree calling the quoting of Beyonce lyrics cultural appropriation is silly.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Keep in mind BLM isn't really an "organization" in the sense you seem to mean - the Vancouver group doesn't necessarily reflect the views of other BLM groups. That said I agree calling the quoting of Beyonce lyrics cultural appropriation is silly.

I use the term loosely. It would surprise me if all the individuals involved in even a single branch all agreed with each other. If they ever got organized to the point of having a head office and board of directors, it would be even more difficult to reach consensus.