The following appears to be a hoax email. See update below
Four years ago, Jack Layton was elected with an agenda for change and new energy. He had great momentum, and we believed he can take us all the way to government. But sadly, his performance was below expectations. We now find ourselves in an uncomfortable position, with a spiritless leader and a rudderless party machine.
The party needs new energy, again. Dion’s recent election cemented the fact that leadership races ignite and inspire the public. That’s just the fix we can do with right now. And it’s time for new campaigns and issues. Something to electrify the membership once more.
There are many reasons for Jack to go right now:
Loss of credibility. Issues like the environment, child care and Afghanistan have all been supplanted by other party leaders or abandoned by Jack. There is now no issue where Jack Layton leads, and no emerging policy has resonated with the public from him, either.
Scripted Leadership. Unfortunately, Jack Layton has chosen a prepared, reviewed and impersonal style of speaking when addressing the public and the membership. His Leader’s Debate performance came off as flat and bland, though full of rhetoric.
No Lasting Campaigns. The recent Afghanistan campaign conducted by Jack Layton has largely been abandoned, as it has by the rest of the media. Jack Layton has not spoken publicly about Afghanistan in over a month.
Issue-less Elections. Fearing a bad response from the public, Jack Layton chose not to advance any issue in particular in the 2006 election. Aside from the strong argument that the NDP managed to get from the Liberals 1.6 billion in social spending, the general tone against Liberal corruption, a promise on child care, and some vague rhetoric employing the words “health care” and “environment” and who knows what other terms his pollsters approved of, the party stood for nothing.
Ineffective Opposition. Question Period is a time when great attention is paid to the words of the party leader, yet somehow, Layton has not managed to get on top of enough issues to make the evening newscasts and the morning papers. It is unfortunate, but the responsibility lies on Layton’s shoulders.
Uninvolved Membership. It is rare when the membership is asked to help the party, aside from donating to it or campaigning for its elections. A new leader may bring in a de-centralized structure, where movements and party activists can intertwine and campaigns built from the ground up.
New Leaders Emerging. Credible people like Stephen Lewis, Joe Comartin and Libby Davies stand in the wings Layton, and are in a position to mobilize the party. All three are passionate speakers and have what it takes to win the votes and the hearts of the public and beat the Conservatives and the Liberals in the next election.
Dion. The new election of Dion has pushed the Liberals greatly ahead of the Conservatives. At this point, both the Conservatives and the NDP want to wait until better times before they dissolve parliament. This means that we’ll have about a 5 months to elect a new leader, not an impossible timeframe. We don’t have time to wait another 4 years in the hopes that Jack will change. He’s had his chance and now it’s somebody else’s turn.
Centralized Management. The Jack Party spends far too much on unneeded expenses. According to the financial statement filed with Elections Canada, the party administration raised 5.2 million dollars from the party membership last year, but spent 10.09 million dollars on expenses like fundraising (telemarketing companies), as well as “polling” and “professional services” (other privatized, contracted-out work), and of course salaries, office expenses, and travel & hospitality. Under Jack, the party increased its debt by 5.4 million dollars in 2005 despite it not being an election year. From http://www.elections.ca/fin/rep/2005/ndp_2005.pdf
We are the party of Tommy Douglas and JS Woodworth, of unabashed determination and irreconcilable ideals, not of fleeting notions and abandoned goals. Jack, thank you for your work over these four years – but it’s time to move on. Please step down and support a new leadership contest. To write to Jack Layton, email laytoj@parl.gc.ca
To have new energy, we must have new leadership.
Jennifer Bernier, President
Abitibi-Témiscamingue NDP
jnrbernier@yahoo.ca
Critics often accuse me of offering only the viewpoints of conservatives in the Canadian political debate. I trust that this goes at least partway towards a new commitment at SDA to provide balance.
More from Greg Staples– “is [there] another reason why the NDP does not want anything to do with the Blogging Dippers. What could it be? Hmmm, what could it be?”
Plus – “I phone dead people”
UPDATE – Well, I’ve learned my lesson. I try to provide balance, and this is the thanks I get… – Commentors have advised that this email was a hoax. I’m so used to being misled by NDP governments, I’ve lost the ability to tell the real lies from the fake ones.
looks like the rats r starting to jump ship….and i was hoping to campaign against backpack and bike boys….oh well, anything the moonbats elect will be a joke anyway
Beautiful….
Check this little gem out at Jack’s Newswatch as well.
http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/2006/12/19/mail-call-welcome-to-the-conservative-party-december-19th-2006/#comment-24062
As a Torontonian who’s been subjected to Jack! Layton’s antics for years, nothing would please me more than to see this idjits political career dashed on the rocks.
“We are the party of Tommy Douglas and JS Woodworth, of unabashed determination and irreconcilable ideals, not of fleeting notions and abandoned goals.”
The problem is not Jack Layton, it’s your Party’s outmoded dogma. The “ideals” you speak of have simply proved impractical in real life application, and just like their big brother, Communism, are against human nature, thus bound to fail.
What fringe parties across this country need to do is choose one of the two mainstream parties with whose policies they (mostly) agree, and join up.
This Monty Python skit we call our political system, is impractical, unworkable,costly, and excessively cumbersome.
Our electoral debates are a farce, with “Leaders” who have no chance whatsoever of leading the country, expounding on what they’d do if elected PM.
And excoriating JL for his inability to hijack the media lately,speaks loudly about this Party’s obsession with optics rather than workable real world policies.
Jack Layton would probably make a fine mayor in some small town in Ontario, say, Caledonia, where his great skill in negotiating could be put to use.
As the national leader of anything more important than the Howdy Doody fan club, he has little credibility.
heheh
Yes, the NDP are scared. The Liberals, NDP and Bloc are The Left. The Conservatives have moved into the Centre. And the Liberals have gradually, as they moved more and more into a Power-By-Bribery mode of existence, moved into the left. That’s where you take a lot of taxes and hand it out as bribes to special interest groups in return for their votes.
I will say that the NDP did believe in their utopian ideology – and it’s easy to live in a utopian fantasy land when you know that you will never, ever, have to transform those ideals into pragmatic realities.
The Liberals, however, have an agenda, not of articulating utopia, but of Power. That is their only agenda. Chretien said it – “it’s about winning’. Dion said it – “it’s about winning’. They do not focus on utopian ideals but on tactics to bribe the electorate into voting for them. They will use any means, any rhetoric (scrap the GST! Soldiers in our streets!) – to attain that singular goal. They have no policies, no agenda for the good of Canadians. They are true to their singular goal. Power.
So- they have moved into the NDP rhetoric because it is utopian, idealistic, emotional. It’s also unrealistic but it ‘grabs you’ and envelops you in its groupism.
The NDP find that the Liberals, having lost power, are now in the unique situation of having to regain power rather than just telling the voters to Vote For Us Because We Are Canadian. WIth the rise of the CPC, they can’t get away with achieving electoral power by means of a split opposition.
Now – the Opposition is split! And, the Liberal’s chief enemy is this split opposition. So, they are using the NDP rhetoric of hope and purity – and are moving into their territory. The Liberals want to swallow the NDP – and the Bloc – in order to regain Their Rightful Place as the Puppet Masters of we Canadians-who-are-their-puppets.
I can imagine the NDP is scared stiff. The Liberals can’t make much headway against the CPC, whose hold on their share of the votes seems firm. Their only way to regain power is to ‘unite the opposition’ – either in fact or by stealth.
kingstonlad said anything the moonbats elect will be a joke anyway
Yes, you are absolutely correct. But, honestly I had been hoping that the NDP would remain solid with the Weasel and their place in the polls…at least until the next election.
Assuming that the NDP will remain close to the 19-20% mark when it comes to votes…this can only help the Conservatives. If the NDP falls apart right now, many disenfranchised Dippers will probably end up supporting the Lieberals by default…which I don’t think is good right now.
Oh yes, with Libby Davies at the helm, the NDP would be more able to beat the other parties in an elction..good grief!..where can one buy whatever this person is smoking?
“where can one buy whatever this person is smoking?”
Just about anywhere in downtown Vancouver.
The Babblers say it’s a hoax….
Here is a message from the president of the NDP Abitibi–Témiscamingue riding association, concerning an e-mail that was sent out across the country, supposedly from her.
Bonjour,
Je viens d´être informée qu´un courriel circule depuis ce matin en mon nom, à titre de présidente du NPD Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Je tiens à vous aviser que ce courriel est un canular. Je n´ai ni signé, ni écris ce texte. Je suis outrée par cet acte odieux qui est d´une bassesse qui en dit long sur son ou ses concepteurs.
Soyez rassurés, mon allégeance au NPD n´est nullement ébranlée. D´ailleurs, je suis fière d’avoir un chef comme Jack Layton et que je lui donne tout mon appui.
Sachez que je continue de croire que Jack Layton et le NPD sont toujours le meilleur choix pour les citoyennes et citoyens de ma circonscription comme pour le reste des canadiens et canadiennes.
En toute solidarité,
Jennifer Bernier
jennifer.bernier@laposte.net
Présidente, NPD Abitibi–Témiscamingue
My translation:
Hello,
I have just been informed that an e-mail has been circulating since this morning [Tuesday], signed with my name as president of NDP Abitibi–Témiscamingue. I want to let you know that this e-mail is a hoax. I did not sign nor write this text. I am outraged by this contemptible act, which speaks volumes about its unscrupulous author or authors.
Please be assured that my allegiance to the NDP has not at all changed. I am also very proud to have Jack Layton as leader and I wholeheartedly support him.
Please know that I continue to believe that Jack Layton and the NDP are the best choice for the citizens of my riding and for all Canadians.
In solidarity,
Jennifer Bernier
jennifer.bernier@laposte.net
President, NDP Abitibi–Témiscamingue
Jack Layton and Olivia Chow are the quintessential socialists.
Layton and Chow had both lived in the Hazelburn Co-op since 1985, and lived together in an $800 per month three-bedroom Federally subsidized apartment after their marriage in 1988. By 1990, their combined annual income was $120,000.
By the tone of the dissidents letter (above) Jack & Olivia have difficulty balancing the ND’s chequebook, imagine what they would do with the countrie’s finances if by misfortune Layton had the chance.
All while waving a Taliban yellow flag.
Go Libby, go!
Geez!
Jennifer,
If you really want strong, effective, results-oriented leadership, I nominate:
Josef Stalin
Pol Pot
Mao Tse Tung
Sadly, they’re no longer available.
But there are two individuals still alive that you could say operate strictly by the NDP policy book and are loved by their followers:
Kim Jong Il
Hugo Chavez
And by the way, don’t worry about the dual citizenship probelm. It might make them a little sad when the sheeple of Canada elect them as their new PM, but that’s all.
It’s really time for the NDP to go the way of te Berlin wall.
dmorris:
You’ve hit the nail squarely on the head in your first post. The NDP must be at least somewhat demoralized since it has been shown absolutely that socialism does not work in building a vibrant, modern economy. In that case, what then for the NDP? The old guard will continue to mouth the usual platitudes, half heartedly since everyone knows those policies don’t work.
RUN JACK RUN!! What a loser. I’d love to see Stephen Lewis run for the job. He would be able to scoop up all the lefties that might otherwise be forced into voting for the Libranos.
ET. Great summation of the political ideologies of the parties of and for the Sheeple of Canada.
“Fearing a bad response from the public, Jack Layton chose not to advance any issue..”
Isn’t this the fundamental problem for the Dippers? The people don’t want socialism.
joe sums it up correctly…middle class teat suckers living in subsidized housing….had the same thing here in kingston, except it was a moonbat lawyer taking a spot that should have went to some poor family….these left wing idiots make me sick to my stomach….get a real job, real life, and pay your fair share…..MOONBAT IDIOTS!
I think that the reports of Jack Layton’s imminent demise are greatly overblown. He’s not going to roll over and play dead when confronted with the spectre of Stephane Dion.
I’m listening to Dion on CJOB right now and he just proffered a confusing explanation of how carbon-trading will work. He completely lost me, and I suspect I wasn’t the only one. I can’t see how Layton would have much difficulty regaining lost ground for the NDP, especially on the issue of the environment.
Considering that Dion has nixed the possibility of a spring election, Layton will have time to recover.
I share JCL’s assessment of Jack’s “little gem”; here it is:
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a good NDP-er, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.
He responded by asking her how she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?”
She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA . She is so popular on campus, college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.”
Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your 4.0 GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, “That wouldn’t be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!”
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the Conservative Party”.
O/T. Sorry Kate.
Check out the volcano cam on the left of the main page.
Yesterday morning I noticed what looked like two red eyes staring out of Mt. St. Helens and now the snow in that same area is melted. I think the volcano burped.
Only four years ago? Seems soooo much longer!
He’s more annoying that anything. Kind of like a mosquito that won’t leave you alone.
This has nothing to do with anything, but has anyone noticed now small and delicate his hands are when he does his gesturing during Question Period?
Everything about him, including his Lenin-like look, bugs me.
Interesting post ET – especially this part: “The Conservatives have moved into the Centre”. I bet that would come as a surprise to the conservatives! Perhaps your view of the “centre” is skewed by the fact that your ideology is so far to the right that any move to the left is the “centre” to you.
I have an idea – why don’t you come to Alberta and tell the voters there all about how the conservatives are now in the centre of the political spectrum – that place that, according to you, was “once” occupied by the liberals. Then Alberta can revolt and start another grassroots right wing party.
Your posts usually are well thought out and articulate, but I think you dropped the ball on this one.
And bryceman – it will not be disenchanted dippers voting for the liberals. You see, in the last election it was disenchanted liberals who voted for the NDP, and now those liberals are coming back. If some disenchanted dippers come along for the ride that is OK too.
The Conservatives have moved into the Centre
thanks for the chuckle. mean-spirited spending cuts aimed at every group that tight-assed cons view as a threat to their one dimensional world-view may pass as centrist in alberta but nowhere else.
Jennifer said: ” The new election of Dion has pushed the Liberals greatly ahead of the Conservatives.”
What are you raving about Ms. Bernier? On what poll results are you basing this statement.
Gayle.
The conservatives have indeed moved to the center. Witness such socialist programs as child daycare money. The conservatives have pretty much wrapped up the environmental agenda as well depsite what the media tells you. The liberals did absolutely nothing regarding the environment, while the conservatives have captured this concern.
http://www.robbinssceresearch.com/polls/poll_281.html
Here’s a recent Dec 6 poll showing the cons ahead of the Libranos by 7 percent with the Dippers down to 16 percent. The cons have made huge gains in Ont.
Jeff.
Cutting spending to hard left interest groups that do NOT represent Canadian values OR interests can hardly be considered mean-spirited. In fact, it IS mean-spirited for these hate filled groups to be accessing my hard earned tax dollars to fight their ideological battles that most Canadians do not agree with.
Why should the NDP blame Jack Layton? He is their perfect embodiment. The NDP need new, good ideas. They haven’t had many since Karl Marx was a baby. They are brain dead. To start with they might look at the needs of real working people. These needs most emphatically do NOT include a fanatical environmentalism which would destroy the economic structure of this country, and create massive unemployment. Sensible pollution controls make sense, and the Tories want to strengthen them, against the NDP’s wishes. A forward policy in Afghanistan makes sense, so that we aren’t all murdered in our beds. That is the Tory policy, opposed by Jack Lenin … excuse me, there is a facial resemblance. The NDP need to understand economics. Etc. etc. etc. etc.
Jack is no worse than his predecessors, the media just pay him more attention. The problem is with the NDP. and I don’t think there is any cure for it except not to vote for it.
I care not one whit whether or not the letter is a hoax.
What I’m waiting for is the usual contribution from Budd Campbell to puff himself up to try to look important and start spewing his socialist crap.
C’mon, Budd ….. let’s hear it.
Libby Davies or better yet, Svend Robinson for new NDP leader!
Interesting poll johnboy – from an organization I have never heard of, with a poll that is vastly different from every neutral poll taken at the same time. I noticed that the commentary at the bottom was decidedly editorialized. You will forgive me if I am not convinced by this one. You are aware that some polsters use their polls to push a particular agenda. I prefer to rely on SES and Ipsos. Thanks anyway.
The so-called daycare plan of the conservatives is hardly a socialist program. You have just proven my point that someone with an extreme right wing perspective believes any move to the left places a party in the middle of the political spectrum. As for the environment – seems everyone in Canada except the posters here know the conservatives have no environmental plan. Hmmm, I wonder what is going to happen to Rona Ambrose today…
Has anyone else noticed that silly and childish terms such as “mean” and “mean-spirited” have become the terms most favoured by the left these days when they’re attempting political analysis?
I don’t like you, you’re mean!!!
Don’t kid yourself, next it will be hair pulling!
I should add that environmental policy is not exclusive to a central or left wing party. Indeed, the Green party is extremely fiscally conservative – hardly a “left wing” party.
Bring back the Bobber! With the experience he gained trying to be Liberal leader added to all the qualifications he already had, Bob Rae would lead the NDP to another glorious third place finish.
…mean-spirited spending cuts…
Mean spirited is what socialists are. Those parasites steal the wages of hard-working men and women in order to fund their idiot schemes.
For those bringing up the polls, it’s called a convention bounce. There is no way Ignatieff, with as much power as he has now, will be able to keep his mouth shut between now and an election.
Folks, even if this is true, this a President of a Quebec NDP riding assocation. Anyone who thinks that an NDP MP will ever come from that riding must give me what they’re smoking, because it would have to be amazingly strong.
Poor Jack Layton. He’s really getting a big squeeze with the Greenies and the Libranos jostling for positions on the environment poop wagon.
He has to deal with Elizabeth May, she knows her stuff, and Steffawn Deeyawn, Librano’s chief Air Freshener, who professes to be an expert on the environment though he did nothing while in charge.
Afraid Jack will be doing a lot of sniffing through his mustache in the coming months.
An implosion of the Dippers is not in the interest of Cons. Cons want the left vote distributed nice and even across the Libs/Dippers/Greenies/Bloc.
If Layton had been receiving good advice he would have pre-emptively hijacked the greenie vote off of (the yet to be chosen) Beaker and the Green Party about a year ago. But Layton instead choose to embark on his unsuccessful little troop trashing escapade.
Hard to know whether the Dippers have time to change Layton out for someone more electorally effective. Probably not.
“Bob Rae would lead the NDP to another glorious third place finish.”
You mean another 4th place finish.
ET, you are so right when you say centrist. When I was young, I was a fire breathing new democrat, was even called a commie by EB Osler himself. Over the years all parties shifted left and lo and behold, it was the Liberals that matched my leanings. Amazing, my views had not changed but the choices around me had. Then one day, I realized it had happened again. The parties had again morphed to the left and the Conservatives gained my support, again without any appreciable change in my personal politics. I am now villified as a facist, mean spirited neocon, when in fact my political spectro analysis shows that I am pretty much exactly where I was 35 years ago, except that I am no longer called a communist.
Bruce said,” A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, ………snip…….
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the Conservative Party”.”
That is great, I hope you don’t mind if I use that!!
Trev
Did the morons who elected him Party leader not look at his record in Toronto politics at all? Jack didn’t do jack in Toronto, he couldn’t point to anything that he accomplished to make the city a better place. And he’s carried on exactly the same way in federal politics, so what did these people expect?
christopher:
During the Liberal leadership campaign, Dryden kept saying that the Harper government lacked generosity.
Note to Ken: You can only be generous with your own money. Being generous with other people’s money is a malapropism.
Call it redistribution, call it progressive, call it socialism, just don’t call me at home for your vote.
Gayle,
Thanks for making the point that only someone with an extremely left wing perspective would conclude that the government handing out my tax money to fund “social” programs is not socialism.
Are you saying that pollsters that hold significant contracts with CBC, CTV, Libranos etc are more “reliable” than those who don’t??
“Steffawn Deeyawn, Librano’s chief Air Freshener, who professes to be an expert on the environment though he did nothing while in charge.”
Hey . . he named his dog “Kyoto”, that has to count for something !!
ET said: “The Liberals want to swallow the NDP – and the Bloc”.
The Poisonous Apples Of Liberalism in Canada:
Look back to W.M.L. King, Liberal PM of Canada, to see how the Liberal “swallowing” of the United Farmers-Progressives worked. This, of course, was aided and abetted by the socialists-communists of Woodsworth, Douglas, et al.
King, with the duplicitous tongue of the serpent, beguiled/divided the voters of Canada using fear, envy, class-jealousy, etc. What’s new? Quid nunc?
King, of course,was a labour expert; a minion of the Rockefellers from…. the United States.
The Bernier letter is a hoax.
http://www.progressivebloggers.ca/blog/diary.php?cmd=view&id=1662
I find it rather funny.
The Liberals are now run by two cloistered professors. One a French citizen, the other an American academic.
The NDP is also run by a professor. And a failed city councillor.
With all these utopian ideologues, how far from reality and the average Canadian can you get?
Bruce: Great story. Rational thought versus inculcation.
And ET. Your’re right. When you’ve got three parties on the left and only one on the right, it’s only a matter of time before the one on right occupies the middle.
But more importantly, it’s democracy we’re talking about. The parties on the left have proven they don’t believe in it. SSM is a case example. So it Kyoto. And health care. And child care. And…
Democracy must work for everybody. Not just some people. That’s something the Libs and NDP don’t get. They assume and arrogantly declare that they speak for “All Canadians.” This is the height of hypocrisy. It must be recognised that not everybody wants or needs the same thing. One size does not fit all. Yet we are still all Canadians. This is how we will define ourselves. Let’s care about the other person and attempt to make this country work for all as a true democracy.
Bruce, Thanks for the anecdote, it ranks right up there with the ten men in the restaurant. Anyone that doesn’t understand these two examples of socialism deserves to vote for the left because their brain dead.
Sorry, “their” should have been “they’re”
“where can one buy whatever this person is smoking?”
All good crack heads come to Toronto.
Most come on over to Jack and Olivia’s riding ,(China Town) Toronto, you can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a meth-head, and the cops are on order to write more parking tickets.
Jack’s old riding office is four doors down from a grow-op.
Just make sure you put money in the meter and lock everything in the trunk.
Everything!
Just to reiterate, the parable about the college girl is from Jack’s Newswatch…he wrote it, not me (I wish)
Gayle said: “Indeed, the Green party is extremely fiscally conservative – hardly a “left wing” party.”
It’s the Red-Green Show: deja vu, already.
…-
Green Party of Ontario | Green Means Go
6, 2006 – The Green Party of Ontario (GPO) applauds and supports the stand taken by … “We want to attain left-wing goals with right-wing means,” he said. …
http://www.greenparty.on.ca/
More: From the Red-Green Show; scripted by Red-Green May:
E. May said: Moi, and Dion, citoyen de la France, are Green/Vert with envy of parliamentarians.
May hoped/hopes to become a parliamentarian; to become an ignoramus. When May opens her mouth, both of her green feet fall out.
Quote from May:
“Mr. Stockwell Day sums up what David Suzuki said about
parliamentarians, that they’re all ignoramuses,” May said in a
telephone interview.”