Yens Petersen in Regina South

As reported ably by the Jurist and Buckdog, Sask NDP leadership candidate Yens Pedersen has announced he is seeking the nomination in Regina South.

---

Yens Pedersen has announced his plans for 2011, and has decided to seek a rematch against Bill Hutchinson in Regina South after suffering a narrow loss in 2007.

---

---

Yens Pedersen is a Regina lawyer who sought the leadership of the Saskatchewan New Democrats last year. He brought a breath of fresh air into the race and has certainly made his mark in the ranks of the provincial party. Yens today announced that he is seeking the NDP nomination for the constituency of Regina South currently held by Bill Hutchinson of the Saskatchewan Party.

---

This is going to be a nomination and then a swing seat to watch.

Doer Resignation News Round-Up

CBC:

---

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer's announcement to step down has garnered shock and praise from those in Canada's political arena.

---

Winnipeg Sun:
Pictures

National Post

---

Former Tory premier Gary Filmon -- Doer's "nemesis" when Doer was in opposition -- said he expects Mr. Doer will do well outside of politics.

"I welcome him into the club of former premiers," Mr. Filmon said after being told Doer was calling it quits.

---

Winnipeg Sun (Again)

---

"He's been a formidable foe in Manitoba," said Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard, who also wished Doer well but was not so shy about what this means to his Liberal party, which has seen its membership grow five-fold in 14 months, from 1,000 last June to 5,000 today.

"We're seeing a resurgence of Liberal support and it couldn't be better-timed," he said. "(Doer's retirement) is clearly going to change the political landscape. It's going to make a huge difference."

---

Globe and Mail

---

But if the party is going to try to take advantage of Jack Layton's efforts to professionalize it, it needs a new leader who can make use of that apparatus to take it to the next level. Doer is probably the one high-profile New Democrat in the country who fits the bill.

---

New Poll: Saskatchewan NDP in Statisital Tie with Right-Wing Sask Party

According to the latest poll from Environics:

---

Gains for the NDP this quarter put the party in a virtual tie with the recently elected Saskatchewan Party, while support for the Liberals holds steady.

Five months into its mandate, the Saskatchewan Party (SP) government is finding itself being challenged by its closest rival, the NDP. The SP now has 46 percent of decided voter support, essentially unchanged from December 2007 and on par with the party’s share of the popular vote in the November 2007 election.

The NDP has gained ground this quarter and now rivals the SP, within the margin of error for the survey. The NDP now has the support of 41 percent of decided voters, up eight points from December 2007 and on par with its share of the popular vote.

---

I thought that the Sask Party would be down, but I had no idea that the NDP would be up so much. Perhaps all this talk of a leadership race is premature!

(Yes, Yes, +/- 8% but that can work both ways, technically, the NDP could actually be ahead!)

Liberal MP Donations Vs. NDP MP Donations

Nice little Canadian Press story:

---

Still reeling from Monday's humiliating byelection losses, Liberals are turning their attention to another horror story - their dismal fundraising record.
...
Only 29 per cent of Liberal MPs have donated to the party and almost none of their staff members.

---

Wow! I don't understand how you can be a Liberal MP and NOT make a single donation to the Party.

Let's take at look at the NDP. Each MP and how many times they donated in 2006 (for example)

Jack Layton - 13 times
Charlie Angus - 14 times
Alex Atamanenko - 7 times
Catherine Bell - 14 times
Denis Bevington - 13 times
Dawn Black - 11 times
Bill Blaikie - 15 times
Chris Charlton - 3 times
Olivia Chow - 14 times
David Christopherson - 13 times
Joe Comartin - 13 times
Jean Crowder - 15 times
Nathan Cullen - 13 times
Libby Davies - 12 times
Paul Dewar - 12 times
Yvon Godin - 11 times
Peter Julian - 15 times
Wayne Marston - 13 times
Pat Martin - 13 times
Tony Martin - 16 times
Brian Masse - 12 times
Irene Mathyssen - 13 times
Alexa McDonough - 14 times
Peggy Nash - 13 times
Penny Priddy - 12 times
Denise Savoie - 14 times
Bil Siksay - 16 times
Peter Stoffer - 12 times
Judy Wasylycia-Leis - 14 times.

So that is 100% of the NDP caucus making a donation. Sure, most of them are on a monthly donation system but still, recall that only 29% of Liberal MP's made ANY donation at all.

Now by Wikipedia's count there are 96 Liberal MPs. So 29% of that is 28 MPs who have donated.

So assuming the trend holds from last year MORE NDP MPS WILL HAVE MADE CONTRIBUTIONS THAN LIBERAL MPS. And we only have 1/3 as many MPs.

Yeah, I don't know why the Liberal Party is in trouble.

Interview with the Federal NDP about thier blogging strategy

If you are a frequent reader of this blog (and I know there are at least 2 of you) then you will remember all the kurfuffle that happened back at the beginning of March. To refresh your memory I include links to my posts here and here

Long story short, a blogging dipper made a post that many found to be offensive. The federal NDP denounced him in a letter but gave that letter to a Liberal blogger to post.

Chaos ensued.

Well, I sent in the following request for an Interview on March 10th . I simply went to the "contact us" section of the NDP website and submitted the following:

---

To Whom it May Concern:

I am a blogger who also happens to be a member of the New Democratic Party. You can access by blog at http://giantpoliticalmouse.blogspot.com. Recently I have made some posts regarding the party and their initiatives to create a blogroll or some sort of affiliated blog system and quite frankly, my comments were not very positive. In the interests of fairness I would like to request an e-mail interview with somebody from the Federal NDP, preferably the President, but another suitable person will do. I will propose a series of questions by e-mail, they will respond the same way, and I will place the entire transcript, without edits, on my blog.

If the Leader of the Party can agree to do a video interview with the head of the blogging tories, then surly it is not asking too much to get the president or someone similar to answer a few questions by e-mail.

There is currently a bit of a backlash against the blogging initiatives that the federal party is undertaking and this might be a way of dealing with some of that backlash.

Sincerely,

Giant Political Mouse

---

I got an e-mail response on Monday of this week (April 23rd) and sent in my questions on Tuesday (April 24th) . The questions and answers are included below.

The person who responded was Joanne Deer who is the Director of Communications for the Federal NDP. The interview is below:

Interview

Question: My original request for an interview was made on March 10th. Your e-mail response was received on April 23rd. Obviously I used the incorrect method to obtain an interview. I (or other bloggers) may want to get an interview or have questions answered by the party in the future. If they do they would need a method of obtaining that information in "internet time" so to speak. What is the process that bloggers should use to get a prompt response from the Federal NDP?

Answer: Interview requests and questions needing a quick response can be sent directly to me at joanne[at]ndp[dot]ca


Question: The Federal NDP seems to be starting to have a "blogging strategy". Let me begin by asking, what is the Federal Party's vision for political blogs (of all partisan stripes)?

Answer: We view blogs as an increasingly important and influential tool for informing and engaging the online community. We want to engage with bloggers as we would with any media to get the federal Party's message out.


Question: As a follow-up to that, how does the NDP view the "blogging dippers"? Will they be setting up their own blogroll that will be separate from that group?

Answer: Blogging Dippers is an important progressive community, and we appreciate their desire to maintain independence from the Party's federal office.

We are not developing a separate blogroll and are optimistic the new elected moderators format will hopefully help strengthen Blogging Dippers community.

Question: If the party "endorses" or even just "selects" certain bloggers as "NDP bloggers" what safeguards and/or media damage control plans are in place if one of these bloggers says something that is clearly not party policy or messaging and ends up being offensive or used against the party?

We have never had any plans to endorse or select bloggers.

Question: So far the (arguably) two biggest "NDP party office/blogger" interactions have been the interview by Jack Layton by one of the Blogging Tories and the release of a letter from the President of the Party to a Liberal blogger (Jason Cherniak). It appears (to some) that the outreach component of the party has been to all the bloggers EXCEPT the blogging dippers. I assume this was unintentional - but how is the party going to ensure that friendly bloggers get access to information and responses?

Answer: Our philosophy is to treat bloggers as we would traditional media - to respond to requests and interact with them regardless of their affiliation.

We are absolutely identifying and actively developing relationships with bloggers who are 'friendly' and open to receiving tips and information. Many of the bloggers we are have been working with are already in touch with us through bloggers[at]ndp[dot]ca and my email.

Bloggers wanting access to information should feel free to contact me.

Question: What is the timeline for any blogging initiatives from the federal NDP?

Answer: In the coming weeks we will unveil some "blogging tools", including NDP video and banner ads to help interested bloggers enhance their pages.

Interview ends here.....

My Take:

I am glad to hear that the Federal NDP is not looking at developing a blogroll (answer # 3) but you can see where one might get that idea from this part of the President's letter:

---

The NDP is undertaking the development of a new blog roll that better reflects the views and needs of the New Democrats in the blogosphere

---

I assume that since that time, sensible heads have prevailed at party office.

Other than that the answers are quite good and I am looking forward to seeing the video components that the party will put together for bloggers. I am also glad to see that they "get" the relationship between the blogging dippers and the NDP.

Layton Stands up For Saskatchewan

At least one federal leader cares about Saskatchewan:

---

NDP leader Jack Layton says he can't support the upcoming federal budget if it doesn't deal with an issue near and dear to the Saskatchewan government — equalization payments.

---

Remember when Conservative MP Brad Trost said this:

---

Finally, it should be noted that only the Conservatives are fighting for Saskatchewan to receive the full benefits of it's natural resources. The Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois are opposed to Saskatchewan receiving those benefits and the federal NDP has studiously avoided the issue.

---

Suck it Trost.

Suck it long and suck it hard.

This is why the NDP has allways stood up for civil liberties

One of the main reasons that I have been proud of the New Democratic Party over the years is our stance on civil liberties. From Tommy Douglas et. al. voting against the War Measures Act to the NDP being the only party to be consistently opposed to the Anti-Terrorism stupidity coming out of the federal government in recent years (that the liberals enacted opposed)

Why?

Because of stuff like this

---

Americans learned today that the F.B.I. has been abusing its authority under the Patriot Act to obtain private information about American citizens without judicial approval. So says a report issued today by the Department of Justice’s inspector general.

---

Layton ahead of the Curve

Jack Layton has called for the troops engaging in "combat activity" to be redeployed, most notable to the northern part of Afghanistan for peacekeeping missions.

It seems that there is growing evidence that this makes sense.

There is an umbrella organization of European Non-Profit Research Organization called the NEF
(see the list of organizations here). This umbrella organization has funded a number of smaller research organizations including the Senlis Council.

things to say about the situation in So this group, which is not a left-wing operation, not a pro-peace group, and not a member of the blogging dippers (in fact, probably doesn't even know who Jack Layton is) have some interestingAfghanistan:

---

The Taliban is gaining ground in Afghanistan due to "misguided'' policies of the U.S.-led coalition and NATO that focus on fighting insurgents rather than combating poverty

---

source: Bloomberg

---

The highly critical study of the five years since the US-led invasion found that Afghans are starving to death despite international donor pledges and that the foreign military presence was "fuelling resentment and fear" among the local population.

---

Source: The Gaurdian

Even the Rand Corporation is in on it:

---

As an organization, I think the Taliban has actually become better at fighting," said Seth Jones, an expert on the insurgency who works for the Rand Corp., a U.S. think-tank.

---

Sourc: The Star

THE RAND CORPORATION?

cue Simpsons

In the treehouse, the neighborhood kids try to figure out what's up with
the adults.

Bart: So finally, we're all in agreement about what's going on with
     the adults.  Milhouse?
Milhouse: [steps up to blackboard] Ahem.  OK, here's what we've got: the
     Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people --
Bart: Thank you.
Milhouse: -- under the supervision of the reverse vampires --
Lisa: [sighs]
Milhouse: -- are forcing our parents to go to bed early in a fiendish
     plot to eliminate the meal of dinner.  [sotto voce] We're
     through the looking glass, here, people...

Now all Layton needs is the Reverse Vampires to come out against the war and all is good.