Family feuds in Ontario NDP as Horwath rushes to clamp down on dissent

Ontario NDP infighting is all over the news this week, as we saw sharp divides between Andrea Horwath's office and others in the party. Long-time Ontario NDP'er and front-bench critic MPP Paul Miller was booted to the backbench this weekend, after a dispute between himself and Horwath boiled over

The MPP from Hamilton East—Stoney Creek [said to Horwath] “Don’t you tell me to shut up.” It didn’t stop there. Horwath said something else that couldn’t be made out and Miller said, “Are you threatening me? Don’t you threaten me.” Even veteran MPPs from the other parties were taken aback by the family squabble that included Miller telling Horwath he “had enough from her and her office.” “What are going to do — throw me out of caucus?” Miller is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the controversy over the shady selection of Adam Giambrone as Ontario NDP candidate Scarborough-Guildwood continues to simmer, as the issue dominated media coverage of the NDP provincial council over the weekend.

“You are all cowards,” said 90-year-old Joy Taylor, who along with other riding executive members has maintained that several ineligible members were allowed to vote, giving the two-person race to Giambrone, a last- minute entry ...After party secretary Darlene Lawson’s report assured delegates everything about the nomination was above board, a call for an independent probe into the results was ruled out of order. “I am very disappointed,” Viresh Raghubeer, president of the NDP’s Scarborough-Guildwood Riding Association, told the Star. “We are confident that things need to be investigated further and we needed further proof as to what happened at the nomination meeting,” he said, later adding, “whenever you try to speak about democracy (in the party) you are demonized.” ...Looking tiny sitting on an overstuffed couch at the Sheraton Centre, Taylor appeared near tears. She remains convinced that the vote was rigged given she could not confirm the names or addresses of most of the last-minute voters. “What I did in good faith as an honest member of the NDP has fallen by the wayside. It is swept under the carpet,” she said, adding she didn’t take on this fight for notoriety. “I did it for the love of the party. . . . I can’t tell you how highly, highly disappointed I am. I weep today." ...“This is a massive betrayal,” Wendy Whittham, a member of the Scarborough-Guildwood riding executive."

While Andrea Horwath is telling long term NDP members and MPPs to shut up and silence any real debate in her party, I'm proud Premier Kathleen Wynne has opened up the Liberal Party policy process to every Ontarian. PS: Why don't you take a look at my Common Ground policy while you're there?

Haven't done one of these in awhile, a peek at early declared Liberal nomination candidates

Hey, before you take a look at who has come out of the wood work early to run for nominations, why don't you take a look at my policy on Common Ground, Encouraging Youth Voter Participation and Improving Civic Education? 


Lots of political space being paid attention to right now on the federal scene (and rightfully so) to the upcoming by-elections, the Throne Speech, CETA and the Senate, but I thought I'd do a blast from the past, and take a look at who has declared themselves running for a Liberal nomination for the 2015 election. 

The nomination process this time will be particularly interesting. Justin Trudeau has promised open nominations and if the by-elections are any indication (three of the four ridings saw contested nominations) we could see some wide open contests to be a Liberal candidate in the next election across Canada. Riding re-distribution is another factor, as more ridings means more nominations to be held, and intrigue (for all parties, really) where incumbents will run and which seats will be "open".

This post won't cover rumour or intrigue, just candidates who have openly declared they are running for a nomination either in the media or online. If you're supporting a candidate who has declared, feel free to leave your deets in the comments section. Let's get started with some ridings that even early on are seeing some competition.

Willowdale

Sonny Cho
http://sonnycho.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/GetToKnowSonny
https://www.facebook.com/GetToKnowSonny

Vincent Gasparro
http://www.vincegasparro.ca/
https://twitter.com/vgasparro

David Mousavi
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-David-for-Willowdale/516821751725319
https://twitter.com/DavidMousavi

Lily Pourzand
http://www.lilypourzand.ca/about/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lily-for-Willowdale/499118806843623

Willowdale seems to be a hot commodity, as it has drawn four declared candidates already!

Beaches-East York

Tom McGee
http://tommcgee.ca/meet-tom/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-McGee-for-Beaches-East-York/489701967792202
https://twitter.com/tommcgeeBEY

Jeff Rybak
http://www.jeffrybak.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/votejeffrybak

Ville-Marie

Marc Miller
http://marcmiller.ca/why-am-i-running/

Désirée McGraw
https://www.facebook.com/pages/D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9e-McGraw/228280297324201
https://twitter.com/Desiree_McGraw

And here are some non contested ones (as far as I could tell)

Etobicoke-Lakeshore

George Takach
http://www.vote4george.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/georgetakach
https://twitter.com/georgetakach

Markham-Stouffville

Jane Philpott  
http://janephilpott.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/janepaulinephilpott
https://twitter.com/janephilpott

Mississauga South/Mississauga-Lakeshore
(right now it's Mississauga South, but the final redistribution report alters the boundaries somewhat and changes the name of the riding)

Julie Desjardins
http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/4079645-desjardins-seeks-liberal-nomination-in-mississauga-south

Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill

Jason Cherniak
http://www.jasoncherniak.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/liberaljason
https://twitter.com/Cherniak

Dorval-Lachine

Alain Berinstain
http://alain.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/AlainDorvalLachine
https://twitter.com/alainbb

Scarborough North

Logan Kanapathi
http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/4146802-markham-councillor-to-seek-liberal-nomination/

Scarborough South West

Amy Robichaud
http://www.amyrobichaud.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/Amy4SSW
https://twitter.com/Amy_Robichaud

Richmond Hill

Brian Chamberlain
https://www.facebook.com/ChamberlainRichmondHill

Scarborough-Rouge Park

Gary Anandasangaree
http://voteforgary.ca/


And last, but certainly not least...

Ottawa West-Nepean

Anita Vandenbeld
https://www.facebook.com/ElectAnita
https://twitter.com/anitavandenbeld

I'll drop any pretence of neutrality I have here and say that it is great to see Anita running again. I served as youth co-chair of her campaign in 2011, designed her lawn signs and generated most of the content at http://youthforanita.blogspot.ca/.  

Haven't had a chance to vote for my idea on Common Ground? Take just a minute to support youth engagement and better civic education!

My idea is ranked 40th out of over 1000 ideas suggested, and is in the top 10 for the education section. To vote, simply sign up and agree with the idea!

Vote for my policy on Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education on Common Ground!

Sign up and vote here!


Very excited to see the new online platform tool Common Ground be rolled out at provincial council today. Please register, take a look at the policy, and vote for it if it's something you want to see the party move forward on!

Brush up on my youth democratic participation and civic education policy in time for provincial council!

With provincial council coming up this weekend, here's a brush up on my policy that got prioritized by the Ontario Young Liberals at Summer Fling back in August. Here is a blog post I wrote outlining some of the stats and evidence behind this policy, and why I think it would work for Ontario.

ENCOURAGING YOUTH DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION AND IMPROVING CIVIC EDUCATION

BY: WILLIAM NORMAN, MISSISSAUGA SOUTH

WHEREAS the lowest voter registration rates are for young voters 18-24 years of age

WHEREAS there is a positive correlation between voting and being registered as a voter before General Voting Day

WHEREAS Australia and several American states allow for voter registration below the age of 18

WHEREAS the Chief Electoral Officer of British Columbia recommended in 2011 in his Report to the Legislative Assembly to amend the BC Elections Act to allow the provisional registration of individuals when they are 16 years of age

WHEREAS Ontario Young Liberals have previously passed policies encouraging youth democratic participation and improving the Civics class as part of Ontario’s curriculum

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Ontario government amend the Ontario Elections Act to permit the registration of individuals onto the voter list when they are 15 years of age

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Ontario government amend the Ontario High School curriculum to include the voter registration process, as the majority of students in grade 10 would be 15

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Ontario government continues to work with post-secondary educational institutions to help students living away from home vote.

Hudak celebrates Franco-Ontarien Day by appointing a Francophone Affairs critic...who doesn't speak French

I'm not going to pretend that my French is great, but I'm also not a Francophone affairs critic for the Official Opposition. 

"Willing to bring it … hard", "stoke[ing]...frustration and anger" - What the expect from NDP campaigns in the upcoming by-elections

That's what Pundits' Guide and David Akin wrote about new Mulcair candidate Linda McQuaig's approach to politics in their (both very good) summaries of the Toronto Centre nominations. I was happy to spend the day pulling vote for Chrystia Freeland, who McQuaig wasted no time in attacking. Those who read my blog frequently will know that I would be a wild hypocrite to pretend to be offended by going on the attack, but as Liberals, we have to realize both that Mulcair's NDP will pull as few punches as the Harper Conservatives in both Toronto Centre and Bourassa going after Liberals and making personal attacks both nationally and on local candidates. The "Love is better than anger" etc stuff was always more how New Democrats saw themselves then how they actually behaved, but Mulcair's NDP's determination to attack the third-party Liberals years before a general election is something Liberals are going to have to deal with when campaigning directly against the NDP. In the past, Liberal campaigns against the NDP failed too often when they simply boiled down to strategic voting arguements - an arguement that collapsed in the 2011 federal election. We have to be unafraid to defend our Leader and candidate from personal and policy attacks, and argue that Justin Trudeau and candidates like Chrystia Freeland are better suited to address the needs of all Canadians. And yes, we can make arguements like how McQuaid's support of "Israeli Apartheid Week" and Mulcair's main focus as leader being tearing open the Constitution with Senate abolishment demonstrate that the NDP isn't focused on the issues of everyday Canadians. As a soon to be constituent of Toronto Centre, I'll be looking forward to helping out Justin Trudeau and the Freeland campaign.