PM Harper to meet with Premier Graham Lord in Moncton today
In politics, perception is reality
Who's running this province anyway? I could have sworn that it was Shawn Graham. For the record, I think the only dynamic missing from this meeting this afternoon is that it isn't taking place in a fishing lodge at Larry's Gulch (the former premiers favorite meeting place). As the saying goes [in politics], big things get done by unaccountable elites behind closed doors, not by ordinary politicians and ppl in the public domain. So much for the perception of acountability.
I guess Mr. Lord is still trying to govern this place by stealth or at least it appears he's running an underground business cabinet using his political connections in Ottawa. This really is taking his former campaign promise of "stronger ties with Ottawa and the Prime Minister" to a whole new level. Reminds one a lot of the aggressive business tactics practiced by former Newfoundland premier Frank Duff Moores (who became a prominent Ottawa lobbyist himself during Mulroney's tenure in government).
However, no matter how you slice it, I'm quite certain the current premier [Shawn Graham] isn't all that amused. lol
12 Comments:
I get the feeling that Shawn Graham himself set up this meeting. Maybe he is paying Lord through his law firm to lobby on behalf of the province?
The other alternative is what the NDP was saying during the last election, that both these parties could be travelling the same campaign bus. In other words, it really makes no difference whether its lord or graham.
Anon 11:23 - There must have been alot of NDP members on that bus because they obviously didn't vote dipper in the last election.
ellen: my rule of thumb is that I only engage in one political speculation per day, and my original post covered that. ;-) However, who knows? you may be right.
amonymous [11:23 AM]: There are two individuals/bloggers that know the subject of the New Brunswick NDP way better than I. They are "spinks about it" and "nbpolitico". Their election post-mortems were flawless. (my apologies go out to NB politics, but I don't remember him touching on this subject at length)
Anyway, there is no question that they both have explained the strategical errors ad nauseam that the NDP party have been susceptible to over the years. If I'm not mistaken, I think both ofthem even predicted that the provincial Greens could replace the dippers as a viable left-wing alternative in the future? (if they play their cards right)
To make a long story short, I think there is ample discussion already out there which counters your arguement that the NDP's woes are due to the fact that the two traditional governing parties in this province are very close on the policy front.
Anonymous [11:30 AM]: I think you're right. My explanations are twofold on why the dipper's collapsed vote went elsewhere: 1.) About a year or two before the election was called, the tories attempted (not sure if it was deliberately?) to pull themselves to the left of the political spectrum. (i.e. reaching out to Elizabeth Weir via a political appointment, gas price regulations, excessive spending, wavering on moral issues, etc.) and 2.) The Liberals did a fine job of exploiting the word "conservative" which linked the provincial PC's to the Harper tories. A group that, until recently, hasn't been subject to a whole lot of love in this province. IMHO, the NDP vote spilling into the liberals had nothing at all to do with policy as they were to the right of the Lord's tories on many issues. Frankly, they stole his right flank. (i.e. being out in front on the gas tax cut and pledging to restore a better corporate business environment)
The bottome line here is that the NDP were very disorganized and their message failed to reach their core base/constituency. Which is precisely why other parties tailored their message and policies in order to best position themselves so as to capitalize and benefit from a weak NDP campaign.
I HEARD LORD IS THINKING OF RUNNING AGAINST GRAHAM AGAIN.
Wow.
I thought that this thread was speculative at best, guessing at motives and looking for conspiracy - so I kept reading and I was not disappointed.
I particularly love that last entry from anonymous 1:11 PM. Given the challenged gene pool on the opposition benches, I would not be surprised. But since we are speculating... my guess would be he's going to head the Tory campaign in NB next election... a counter to the stout brilliance of Kelly Lamrock and whoever it is for the NDP and Greens.
In the end I couldn't care who has the meeting with Ottawa so long as NB cuts a favouable deal. This shows signs of being a way better relationship than Nova Scotia's and NFLD's petulant spoiled brat thing...
Uh, if you want to see much of the reason the NDP had a hard time just look at the above. All that the poster said was to agree with what the NDP was saying about Graham and Lord-that their policies were so similar it really didn't matter which one people voted for, which is essentially what Ellen said about Graham paying Lord. It's not the first time somebody has pointed out that there are very few differences between the lead parties-and that turns into a rant about the NDP? I guess that would save a lot of time, anytime posts slow down, just type 'NDP' and it'll pick up pretty quick:)
Much of the "reason" the NDP had, has, and will have problems is they don't resonate with voters. The tax and spend philosophy, negotiating with terrorists (the Taliban), and claiming to be supportive of families and then voting down anything that might actually help a family are proof of that. Chuck in the lack of credible candidates (there are a few exceptions) and it's a recipe for an irrelevant, dying party. Sadly most of the NDP's supporters don't see the problem so the cycle is bound to continue.
Lord comeback? Well, if Merrithew or Madeleine DubÉ are their best chance at getting to the government benches, I say bring him back.
We've had that debate before. Actually the NDP resonates more with voters than the other parties, and with the liberal government immediately raising taxes its a pretty hard sell to say that its the NDP that is too taxing.
The simple reason they aren't elected is that party politics has very little to do with policies. The last election the two main parties were very similar on virtually every file, and vague on what they would do about others.
That was the only point the poster above made, not anything about the NDP as a party. As for the taliban, the vast majority of canadians see afghanistan as a huge mistake. Dealing with the Taliban hasn't specifically been asked in polls, but tons of military advisors and retired military say that that is simply common sense that that will need to be done. The british tried blowing up IRA strongholds and all kinds of things, but the violence simply increased. It wasn't until they sat down and talked to them that progress on peace began.
Yeah that should be the NDP's next campaign slogan, "It's not our fault, it's yours!" Sadly that's the attitude of too many members of the NDP. They're looking to blame their dismal results on eveything but themselves. Last election in NB, the then NDP leader Allison Brewer blamed warm weather and kids going back to school for their poor results. Good thing there wasn't an eclipse, they might have done worse than 5% of the vote.
Should have bought a lottery ticket...
Check out T-J headline http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/43368
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