Back from Vancouver

I spent a few days hanging with the boys and girls of the people's political party in downtown Vancouver last week.  The speeches were great, the atmosphere was electric and the information exchange was the best I have experience at one of these get-togethers for a long time.

I have been traveling all across the world for more years than my family wants to remember and there was something I witnessed in Vancouver that is rare to be seen in any other country..  As I walked across Canada Square I spotted two former Prime Ministers having a chat - all by themselves - no guards or cops.  People approached them frequently to shake their hands and to say hello.  Try doing that to Obama or Bush or Putin and you get your butt handed to you in a baggie by the Secret Service.

Don't you just love Canada?

When the time is right?

The nice part about making predictions without specifying a time frame is that you will always be right - it is just a matter of time?  Even if it never happens - it's just a matter of time.

So it is with the eventual merger of the NDP and Liberals.  Political pundits and columnists have been predicting for 10 years that the Liberals and the NDP will eventually merge.  Now they include the Green Party into that merger.  Will it ever happen?  I am not sure.  But I do know that talks must be held - if not nationally, then at the local level.

Local level talks are the best place for discussions because that is where the rubber hits the road and egos are tempered more than at the national levels.

The federal riding of Nepean Carleton is a good place to start.  In the 2008 elections the best candidate, by far, was Lori Gadzala of the Green Party.  She came third.  Phil Brown of the NDP was fourth but still put on a great show.  Ed Mahfouz was the Liberal candidate,- and his campaign was almost painful. The winner on the night was Perfect PP, a sad excuse for an MP.  Even with a meltdown in the Liberal vote, though, PP's vote share only rose 1% versus 2006.  Voters stayed away from PP in droves and I wager that with a better Liberal candidate, the fight would have been closer.  I wonder what would have been the result if Lori Gadzala had run as a Liberal?  Or maybe as a Green-Liberal-Democratic candidate?  Would she have won?  Would she be in the House right now talking about the environment?

The platform of the Green Party was a very good one.  However, the Greens have been painted, mostly by the Cons and the NDP as a one-issue party - the environment.  It is unfair but true.  On the other hand the NDP is also painted as a one-issue party - their issue is social programs.

The Liberals are painted as soft on crime - tell that to the critics of Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures Act - "Just watch me!"  They opposed the War in Iraq.  They returned the country's budget from deficit to surplus.  They proposed ways to turn around the sickening environment.  They found ways to help the poor, the Aboriginals, the immigrants, the unionists, the hourly workers, the sick, the arts and other ignored segments of our population.

The Liberal party is a natural home for Greens and NDPers.  You can change the name of the party but the core values remain.  And those values are shared by the centre and the left.

While you are mulling over the idea of a merger, think about this also - you could send PP back to school in Alberta, to boot.

Frankly, I'm for Frank

With the election out of the way and M. Dion about to jump overboard, it is time to think about the future of the Liberal Party and the Liberal brand.

I talked with a colleague in Alberta yesterday and one on Manitoba on Thursday.  Both agree that Frank McKenna has great appeal in their regions - and not just with Liberals.

McKenna was the Premier of the only bilingual province in Canada.  He promised that he would retire after 10 years - AND KEPT HIS WORD.  He balanced budgets, listened to the people and ran a clean caucus.  He became The Canadian Ambassador to Washington and now sits on the Board of a major Canadian bank. 

Sounds like a winner to me.

Former Tory Premier Bernard Lord, in a interview, stated that McKenna would make a good Lib Cheif, but not right now.  Is that because Lord covets the Tory leadership position and doesn't want to fight against McKenna?  I am just asking.

The Liberal party needs a house cleaning, starting at the highest level and going right to the local level. 

McKenna... McKenna... McKenna!

A note to Cons - Look out your window

Back on April 17, I mentioned in my blog that there were no secrets in Ottawa, just people who try to make them. I was referring to the accusation made by the Cons that Elections Canada had "tipped off" the Liberals that the Con party HQ was about to be visited by the Federales with respect to the "In and Out" scandal... err misunderstanding.

Just for kicks I decided to locate the Con and Lib HQs on Google Earth and guess what? You can see each others building from each others offices.

Is it possible, Cons, that someone in Lib HQ saw the RCMP wagons circle your HQ and went to take a look, grabbing a video camera as they were going out?

The image above shows you the locations of the Cons on Albert St and the Libs on Metcalfe St..

Hey, I am just asking.

Did Lewis make a mistake?

Say it isn't so. Lewis MacKenzie, General to the stars and a man who have never met a microphone he didn't want to drone into, made a mistake by suggesting that 10,000 more NATO troops are needed in Kandahar, Afghanistan?

He stated this in a interview with the precious CFRA tyke, Michael Harris., last week. He then sent Mikey a memo the next day correcting himself by saying that the 10,000 was for all of Afghanistan. Only 3,000 more are needed in Kandahar, where all the real fighting is.

Two problems, Lew. Why do you need 7,000 more in the relatively tranquil north? Also, if you send 3,000 more troops in to help out the Canadians in the already target rich south, what would you do with them that you cannot do with the current contingent?

I suggest, General Lew, that you read the book, Utility of Force, written by your British peer, General Rupert Smith. Smith talks about war amongst the people, as he describes Afghanistan and Iraq. He maintains that, when you fight a war amongst the people, rather than an industrial war, the key is not bulk; the key is intelligence and stealth. Rather than 3,000 more troops, let's send in 3,000 sneaks and spooks to infiltrate the local population and ferret out where the insurgents are and what they are doing.

Also, with respect to rigid withdrawal time frames as advocated by the NDP and the Bloc, I urge the Liberals to back a continuation of the mission, for now, with the proviso that Harper, MacKay and Hillier read Smith's book. The Taliwackers in Afghanistan are in no hurry to conclude the strife. To pull out before we make some real progress would be an error.