[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Grey Fox]

Oh come on, be sensible, vote NDP.

[Neil]

Oh come on, be sensible, vote NDP.

That's not sensible.  Voting for the federal NDP if you're in Alberta and have to work in the private sector just doesn't make sense.

[Grey Fox]

If things made sense we could vote for the Liberal party but that's not an option anymore.

[Josephus]

MacKay is resigning. Wonder why

[Grey Fox]

Been doing this for 20 years?

[Josephus]

Yup...wants to spend more time with family. Reasonable. Thought it was health related.

[Grey Fox]

Yup...wants to spend more time with family. Reasonable. Thought it was health related.

plus you know, that pension rule.

[Barrister]

That is surprising.  At 49, he's not really young enough to want to retire, and politics is pretty much all he's ever done (although he started as a Crown).

He's newly married, with a young child and another on the way.  Perhaps that's it?

[Drakken]

That is surprising.  At 49, he's not really young enough to want to retire, and politics is pretty much all he's ever done (although he started as a Crown).

He's newly married, with a young child and another on the way.  Perhaps that's it?

MacKay is the obvious remaining pretender/heir, and the head of the "Progressive" faction within the party. He is the only caucus member beside Harper to have actually been the leader of a federal party.

It is the right thing to do to step down for family reasons now, not to be attached to the present campaign if it fails, and return as the first contender either next year or at the end of the next mandate when Harper steps down.

[crazy canuck]

Mackay has never impressed me.  I have always assumed he received his cabinet post in return for delivering the PCs in the merger.  I wish him well in his new life.  Getting out of politics now was a smart move.  He doesn't take the pension hit if he ran in the next election and he gets to go out as a cabinet minister.  The alternative is much more risky.

[Barrister]

The black mark on MacKay will always be the deal he made with David Orchard, which he promptly broke.

Now, breaking the deal was absolutely the right thing to do, but he was the one who made it in the first place.

And yeah, as a minister he has been tolerable (there have been far greater fuckups as minister than him) but unremarkable.  CC, his cabinet post is as about the limited bench strength coming from Atlantic Canada for the Conservatives as for any other reason.

[viper37]

RIP Jacques Parizeau.
Good finance minister in his time, mediocre PM and leader of the Yes camp for 1995.

[Barrister]

RIP Jacques Parizeau.
Good finance minister in his time, mediocre PM and leader of the Yes camp for 1995.

[Grey Fox]

RIP Jacques Parizeau.
Good finance minister in his time, mediocre PM and leader of the Yes camp for 1995.

Why do you not like him?

[Neil]

RIP Jacques Parizeau.
Good finance minister in his time, mediocre PM and leader of the Yes camp for 1995.

Why do you not like him?

It's pretty obvious, when you think about it.