Unless Bob Rae drops-out of the race to support Joe Volpe (if it happens remember, you heard it here first) there are just four leadership candidate remaining in the field with a serious chance of taking this thing, which makes the interesting guessing game these days where will the other candidates go when they drop off the ballot.
Reading the tea leaves, or really, just the quotes, it seems like Scott Brison, while he says he’s considering all the frontrunners, may have his choices narrowed-down to Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion. Brison was in Winnipeg to speak to a local think tank, and here’s a passage from a story in today’s Winnipeg Free Press:
Brison's speech outlined many of the points he has raised in his campaign: about government's role in encouraging new environmental technologies and about blending environmental innovation and fiscal responsibility.
Asked if that matched the message of Quebec MP Stéphane Dion, Brison said he and Dion look at the same issues from different perspectives.
"I've come to the environmental challenge from an economic perspective and Stéphane has come to economic questions through the environmental lens," Brison said. "And I think that some of his ideas and some of my ideas can be synergistic."
"On the environmental side, I think both Michael (Ignatieff, the Liberal leadership front-runner) and Stéphane have put forth some clear thinking on environmental questions," Brison added. "I just believe absolutely that the greatest opportunity for Canada in the 21st century is to be the global leader in environmental technologies. I think this is good for business and great for the environment."
Interesting. Naturally I hope he’ll come over to Stephane, as I have a lot of respect for Scott Brison and particularly appreciate the attention he has brought to rural issues in this campaign. I think there may be a good chance of him coming to Dion too as I can’t see how Scott could walk back some of the comments he has made about Ignatieff, like these:
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"These gaffes are damaging to a leadership campaign but they will be terminal to a national general election campaign.”
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Brison said that in nine years in politics he hasn't made as many "retractions and clarifications" as Ignatieff has made in just nine months.
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Brison compared Ignatieff to Stockwell Day, who jumped from provincial politics to become leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance without any experience at the federal level.
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Brison took Ignatieff to task for other recent so-called gaffes, including telling the Star that Canadians "live and operate in a heartless world and you need leadership that understands that."
"When you see the world as being heartless, that helps someone justify ruthless acts," such as Qana, Brison said.
He also chided Ignatieff for saying that Canada's peacekeeping tradition "died" with the genocide in Rwanda.
Brison said that remark could only come from someone who's spent 30 years outside the country and fails to appreciate how important peacekeeping is to Canadians and to Liberals in particular, who view party icon Lester Pearson as the father of peacekeeping.
He also scoffed at Ignatieff's recent admission that he's not sure he's "up to the price you have to pay" to succeed in politics.
"If you go in to have heart surgery and the surgeon says, `I think I'm ready to do this but I've never done it before,' you're probably going to look for a surgeon who's done it before," Brison said.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Brison: Likes Dion and Iggy
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7 comments:
Nicely done Jeff.
A note:
Libelous smears will be deleted, and comment moderation will be enabled if necessary.
I have absolutely no problem with disagreement and debate, and I think I have a pretty high tolerance for anonymous tom foolery and silliness.
But unsourced, unsubstantiated and libelous attacks made by cowards hiding in anonymity are pathetic and will be deleted.
BCer: Ten bucks says he goes to Iggy [sigh].
I'm not taking that bet Michelle. You know, my partisan leanings aside, as a political junkie I almost want him to go to Michael, because the contortionist act of spinosity that they would have to engage in would be pretty entertaining, from a purely academic perspective.
"No, the Stockwell thing was a compliment. I liked the jet ski stunt, and Michael would look great in a wet suit..."
Criticism is healthy even from your friendlies so no contortions are necessary.
It certainly wouldn't be as bad as Bevilacqua who launched his campaign with a speech saying what nonsense it was to seek to "unite the left", and repeated that when he came over to Rae, when Rae launched his campaign with a speech saying we needed to unite the left and repeating that throughout.
True Cerberus, and I'd say Bennett's contortions on healthcare are equally amusing. I was very disappointed with her move.
Nevertheless, in the Ontario debate, Brison made an effort to hang around and chat with Ignatieff afterwards. Brison is a bit amateurish that way. I don't really like how he presents himself as the "economic candidate".
It's politics, I suppose. Some instinct told him to frame himself as something specific.
I do respect Brison from his days with the PC's and he impressed me in debates. But he's a bit low on content.
He's a positive to have. I'm betting he goes to Ignatieff. Furthermore, I'd say he would have already if he didn't have cold feet about that purely political move.
He's not one to burn bridges.
Maybe he'll fool everyone passing their time with speculation and go to Kennedy.
The fact is no one knows until the Convention.
Boy, this has gone on far too long - I'm weary of the whole thing.
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