Deborah Coyne meets the press

It's been a busy few days for Liberal leadership candidate Deborah Coyne, doing several media interviews around the launch of her new ebook  Unscripted: A Life Devoted to Building a Better Canada. Here's a few of the interviews where she talks about the book, the leadership race, why she's running, and how she believes we can get more Canadians off the sidelines and engaged in political life once more.

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Five things you may not know about Deborah Coyne

Liberal Party of Canada leadership candidate Deborah Coyne has released a new ebook called Unscripted: A Life Devoted to Building a Better Canada. Here are five tidbits from the book that you may not have known about her:

1.  Deborah’s history in the Liberal Party goes back to 1983, when she was elected to then party president Iona Campagnolo’s reform commission. Along with Alf Apps, Ed Roberts, Gordon Gibson and others, she worked for three years on a proposed reform package. One key recommendation, a council of riding presidents, was only implemented a few years ago, proving our party has a long history of studying reform, but less success actually implementing it.
2. She served as Ontario policy chair on John Turner’s successful leadership campaign and would work in the Prime Minister's Office during his brief tenure as Prime Minister.
3. She would first come to national prominence as one of the leaders in the fight against the Meech Lake Accord, which is ironic, as she spent most of her childhood summers at a cottage on the shores of Meech Lake, accessible only by boat. One of her fellow co-founders of the Coalition on the Constitution was Michael Ignatieff’s father, George.
4. A source of inspiration for her decision to seek the leadership was attending Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally forSanity” in Washington. Knowing the same frustration that drew 250,000 people to the National Mall also holds true in Canada, she decided it can’t just be comedians that give voice to our collective frustration.
5. While a student at Oxford University in England, she established its first Women’s Ice Hockey Club and helped establish a women’s league. She captained the Oxford team her first year, scoring a goal in the inaugural game loss against Cambridge. The league is still going strong today.

The book is available for free with a minimum $25 donationto her campaign, or through Amazon Kindle, Kobo and Star Dispatches. It’s a very compelling read about her front row seat to some of the defining moments of Canadian history over the last 30 years, and how her experience has shaped her political outlook and her decision to seek the Liberal leadership.

Read an excerpt on her beginnings in the Liberal Party on the Huffington Post: Unscripted: A Life Building a Better Canada (EXCERPT)

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A Coyne (not that one) enters the race and a BCer (not me) comes close

With summer underway the Liberal  Party of Canada leadership race is starting to heat up (yes, I do feel horrible for writing that) with a few recent developments to report.

For one, a Coyne has declared (no, not Andrew). It's Deborah Coyne, who will have to remind the media that she does indeed have a first name, and isn't just "Justin Trudeau's half-sister's mother" as one media outlet akwardly put it this morning. Or just Andrew's cousin.

...she says she’s running because she believes Canadians are fed up with polarizing partisanship and that gives the Liberal party a golden opportunity to re-emerge from its current third-party status as the party of “bold, principled” national leadership on important public policy questions. 

“I’m in this to make sure it’s an ideas-based campaign. I believe I have a vision and a program that will resonate with many Canadians.” 

While the media will make much of the Trudeau family connection, particularly if Justin runs, Coyne is a very accomplished candidate with solid Liberal pedigree. She's a public policy and constitutional law expert and ran for the Liberals in Toronto-Danforth against Jack Layton in 2006. Some of her ideas merit consideration (she's pro-carbon tax) and she's anti-merger with the NDP. 


Glancing at her policy proposals I think her main issue right now is that which all Liberals wrestle with: taking big-picture theory and relating it to Canadians, who are more focused on pocket-book issues that impact their day-to-day lives. Anyway, she's a solid entry into the race.


Meanwhile, in the all but declared category is David Merner, who has been doing the exploratory thing and resigned yesterday as president of the federal party's BC wing to focus on his possible leadership run. Here's the letter he sent to members:

I am writing to let you know that I have decided to step down as President of the Liberal Party of Canada in British Columbia. Our Vice President, Brian Rice, will step in to the Presidency, as provided under our Constitution. 

 I've really enjoyed the opportunity to work with the riding Presidents, Caucus members, party staff, the BC Executive and the National Board. However, I am leaving the Presidency to focus on fund raising and other activities that are essential to participating in the Liberal leadership race as a candidate. 

Wherever I meet experienced Liberals across Canada, I hear "You guys in BC are amazing". That's true. We have outstanding leaders throughout BC. To name only a few members of our Executive, Brian Rice is recognized as a leader on riding development; Ray Larson is known as one of the Party's leading micro-targetting experts; and Mary Pynenburg and Ken Halliday are leading the national Women's Commission and national Seniors' Commission respectively. In sum, the LPCBC Executive is in great hands.

Under Brian's leadership and with a hugely talented membership that is 5,000 strong, I am positive that BC will continue to lead by example in rebuilding our Party. We are moving along the long, steep road to recovery from last year's defeat, thanks to the steps that party members and supporters are taking every day. I look forward to continuing on that journey together.

Merner's organizing has been out in the open for some time, and my understanding is that it was basically crap or get off the pot time as far as his continued role as LPCBC president while planning a leadership run. While I'm a transplanted BCer I've never met the fellow so I've no insight on him to share, although he did recently speak with fellow blogger Impolitical who shares some details today.


Another tire-kicker, former Ottawa-Orleans candidate David Betschi, as in Toronto for a pub last night. I'd planned to attend but was otherwise engaged. He's a lawyer who has also been doing the exploratory thing. One piece of advice: if your policy page is called "Where I Stand" a few more stands would be nice. 


CP reports another declared candidate I've never heard of:

Shane Geschiere, a 32-year-old Manitoba paramedic with no political experience, is the only other person so far to openly declare his intention to enter the race.

And Martha-Hall Findlay continues to gain profile with her stance on supply management (which Coyne appears to share). She really needs to pay off that 2006 debt though; I would have a problem with any candidates still carrying past leadership debt entering this one. (You can donate to her debt here if you're so inclined.)


The Star's Susan Delacourt had a pretty exhaustive list of possible candidates on the weekend.


I suspect we'll see the tire-kickers begin to fade away once the rules for the leadership race are set, probably this fall, particularly around the entry fee and spending cap. Personally, my preference is for an entry fee high enough to keep the field manageable and race serious, and a cap low enough that campaigns can do what they need to do without incurring heavy debt and sucking donations from the central party and riding associations. But more on that in another post.

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Deborah Coyne quits the race

From Facebook:

Andrew Escobar sent a message to the members of Deborah Coyne for the Liberal nomination of Don Valley West .

--------------------
Subject: A Message from Deborah Coyne

Dear friends,

Since entering the race for the Liberal nomination in Don Valley West, I have visited hundreds of people in all areas of this great riding. Don Valley West reflects so much of what makes Canada great. Our growing diversity, our huge pool of human talent from all over the globe: surely these are our greatest strengths as a nation and they are best defended by a Liberal MP.

It is crucial that Don Valley West return a Liberal to Ottawa in the next federal election.

With this in mind, I have decided that my campaign has run its course. I have withdrawn my candidacy and have decided that Rob Oliphant is the right person to win the next election, serve the diverse communities of Don Valley West, and build on the work of John Godfrey as a distinguished Member of Parliament.

Thank you for your support,

Deborah Coyne
--------------------

I have no idea what the situation on the ground was in DVW. Maybe she was way behind in sign-ups, who knows. Still, I can't help but note the timing.

Speaking of timing, I'm reminded of this story from just two weeks ago:

One of the five contenders, constitutional expert Deborah Coyne, alleges that up to 500 newly signed-up members - including the father of Liberal party pollster Michael Marzolini - were not asked to pay the requisite fee. She intends to challenge their right to vote at the nomination meeting.

She says she has found most of the members were signed up by campaign representatives for Rob Oliphant, a United Church minister who is considered the front-runner in the contest. She said she also found some members were signed up by supporters of former Liberal MP Sarmite Bulte, another contender in the race.

The tactic is "bringing the party into disrepute," Coyne said.

"I am drawing a line in the sand, finally, and saying 'This is it' . . . This is a great party and I am sad to see my party coming down to this in a great riding like Don Valley West."

I guess they worked it out.

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Can we try not to screw up Don Valley West too please?

Writing recently on the nomination brouhaha still simmering in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, I put the events in the larger context of the poor handling of nominations by the Liberal Party of Canada across Canada. Unfortunately, warning signs are emerging another cock-up may be brewing in Don Valley West, if the party leadership doesn’t take quick and decisive action.

First, however, back to Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River for a moment. I’d written earlier that the LPC should have waived-off Orchard long ago if the riding was reserved for an appointment. It appears, however, that the LPC may have done just that. Maybe:

David Orchard knew full well that the federal Liberals wanted an aboriginal woman to run in a northern Saskatchewan byelection and shouldn't be surprised that one was handpicked to do so, MP Ralph Goodale suggested Wednesday.

The twice failed Tory leadership hopeful - and anyone else who expressed interest in running as a Liberal in the Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River riding for that matter - signed a paper warning that leader Stephane Dion may appoint a qualified woman candidate, such as Joan Beatty, Goodale said.

"Everyone was informed about the leaders prerogative to appoint a candidate and the leader might want to exercise that prerogative if the appropriate strong, female, northern-riding resident came forward," Goodale said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press.

Goodale’s comments are predictably dismissed as “spin” by Orchard campaign manager Marjaleena Repo:

She said Orchard, who delivered key delegates to Dion during the Liberal leadership race, was told that the party was looking for an aboriginal woman to run. But when they couldn't find one, she said Dion encouraged Orchard to put his name forward.

I think there’s lots of spin going on here. Certainly Goodale’s revelations, if accurate, cast Orchard’s actions in another light. However, if Dion did give Orchard an eventual go-ahead…well, it’s all a mess and I think there’s plenty of blame to go around. I think Orchard is far from innocent, I think Goodale is far from innocent, and I think the campaign team is coming off like the Clampets.

Nevertheless, my original thesis stands: the LPC did a piss poor job of managing this and a number of other nominations, making avoidable foul-ups that give the party a black eye at times we should be gaining ground.

A repeat in Don Valley West?

Which brings us to the highly coveted (read: winnable) Toronto-area riding of Don Valley West, now held by the retiring John Godfrey. This same article points to potential nomination trouble ahead in this riding:

Meanwhile, some Liberals fear a similar controversy is brewing in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, which will become vacant in July when Liberal MP John Godfrey retires.

Potential candidates were warned late last year that Dion intended to appoint a star candidate in the safe Liberal seat. But insiders say Dion's efforts to recruit David Pecault, chairman of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, failed and now a number of would-be candidates, tired of waiting, are starting to get organized.

Former MP Sarmite Bulte has filed nomination papers, constitutional expert Deborah Coyne, who ran for the Liberals against Jack Layton in the last election, is intending to file her papers shortly and up to a dozen more are said to be interested.

Insiders predict that Dion will eventually appoint a candidate in Don Valley West but will face a huge backlash if he waits until candidates have already sold thousands of memberships.

And the Hill Times adds another name to the mix:

Jonathan Mousley, former legislative assistant and senior policy adviser to former Liberal Cabinet minister David Collenette in the Jean Chrétien Cabinet, will run for the nomination in retiring Liberal MP John Godfrey's (Don Valley West, Ont.) riding. Mr. Godfrey won the riding in the last election with 53.3 per cent of the vote.

Remember Mark Warner, the nominated Conservative candidate for Toronto-Centre dumped by the CPC leadership? He may be in the mix too (story is from November):

Godfrey acknowledged yesterday that Warner's name has been bandied as his possible successor in Don Valley West, where he's been the MP since 1993. Before then, the riding was a Progressive Conservative one, and Godfrey thinks Warner could have appeal there.

Interesting to see Deborah Coyne, cousin of Andrew, back in the mix. She took on Jack Layton for the Liberals in the last election and had the Toronto-Danforth nomination again before deciding not to run there last month. While I like her as a candidate, I’m not keen on riding swircheroos and the optics of this, even if Don Valley West is her home riding, are iffy. So I’m of mixed feelings there. As for the potential return of Sam Bulte, another riding switchero from Parkdale-High Park where she lost her seat to the NDP in the last election, and Gerard Kennedy will run in the next one, I’m sure the digital copyright folks are already gearing-up.

Anyway, the point is with such an attractive riding in play the names are coming out of the woodwork and there is a lot of interest, high profile and otherwise. This is also exactly the sort of riding Dion has said he’d like to set aside for the appointment of qualified female candidates to meet his 1/3 female candidates goal.

With the rumours of a possible appointment and many names coming forward, Dion and the LPC need to learn from the mistakes of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, Outremont, Scarborough-Southwest and the other ridings where they’ve bungled the nomination process.

The party need to make clear immediately its plans for this riding. Will it be a completely open nomination process? If so, say so and let people organize. Will it be a semi-open nomination process with only female candidates (a la Vancouver-Quadra)? Or will this riding be reserved for appointment, in which case people should stop campaigning?

The uncertainly cannot be allowed to fester. To allow people to start organizing now, and then make an appointment later, is unacceptable. The decision needs to be made immediately, and it needs to be made public. This will prevent any confusion, or any attempts to sow confusion.

The LPC has the chance to defuse this bomb before it goes off. Let’s hope this time they decide to do so.

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