You Too Can Run For The Leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada!

[bjarvis]

The Right Honourable Paul Martin Jr. resigned as leader of the federal Liberal Party following the defeat of his gov't in January's election. Frank McKenna isn't interested. Brian Tobin isn't interested. But are you interested?

To get you started, Rick Mercer is offering a little something to help you out: The Rick Mercer Report Liberal Leadership Kit, available now on eBay Canada.

Comments

[madknits.livejournal.com]

I'll do it if it will get me landed immigrant status. Will I have to live in Toronto, though? I'd much prefer Vancouver (for obvious reasons).

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Vancouver is fine. I'm sure a Prime Minister-in-waiting can be fast-tracked for landed immigrant status... as leader of the Liberals, you'd only be 23 Conservative MP resignations away from grabbing the reins of power, 12 if you could persuade them to join the Liberals. :-)

[annoyinghandle.livejournal.com]

All I really want is to be addressed as "Right Honourable"...

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

In Canada, I believe you may hold the title for life if you are the PM, the Governor-General or Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The GG may also grant you the title for life for exceptional public service. The leader of the opposition is traditionally given the honourific as well, but only for the duration of his/her tenure.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Hmm... current bid is C$15,200. I expect a big signing bonus (since bribery and graft are the Liberal method of gaining support), but it's then almost like one of those scams where you pay for a info kit with the promise of big bucks later.

I'd want to live in Vancouver and have the vacation residences in Palm Springs and SF. No one expects me to be in Vancouver from November to April, though, right? That would just be stupid, since a depressed party leader is not much use to anyone.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Bribery & graft tends to be an equal opportunity thing... Mulroney's Conservative cabinet had quite the run in his day, and more than half of Grant Devine's former Conservative cabinet has served time for their slip-ups. The NDP has a cleaner record only because they haven't been in power very often provincially, but there were messes with Dave Barrett's BC NDP in the 1970s, and again with Mike Harcourt's crowd and later with Glen Whatshisface's gov't. Bob Rae's Ontario NDP was far too incompetent to implement an efficient kick-back scheme. :-^

But I digress...

If you think Vancouver for Nov-April is depressing, try Ottawa or Winterpeg. :-) We haven't had a PM from BC since John Turner, and that doesn't really count for much since it was the second shortest tenure on record. Go for it! It's yours for the taking!

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

You're forgetting about 4-month wonder (and first female PM) Kim Campbell, Vancouver Centre. I met her pre-PM at some function or other with Gordon Price. Seemed nice, but then they all do.

If you're going to go all serious on me about corruption, I think it's due to the lack of diverse independent power centers in such a small country. The media are dominated by government-related entities and don't perform a watchdog function very well, and the Canadian tendency to (by our standards) be pro-government and assume the best of leaders makes it easy to infleunce-peddle in secret. Nearly all politicians with access to power are involved. I remember staying at a Liberal fixer's apartment in Ottawa for a few days and being amazed at the phone calls coming in on his answering machine from pols of all parties asking for favors. Behind the scenes it is all one party, the soak-the-people party.

[pklexton.livejournal.com]

"Bribery and graft are the Liberal method of gaining support ..."

Bribery & graft, variously defined in legal and illegal forms and every shade of gray in between, are the lifeblood of lesser politicians everywhere. In fact, IMHO Canada comes off better than average on the worldwide corruption scale. We certainly have our own vile examples, many walking around D.C. as free men today, although one can always hope that the law will eventually catch up with them. Basically, power corrupts. I'm neither cynical or bitter, just a realist.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't disagree. The major difference is that in the US the corruption is better disguised since there are so many players who benefit from revealing it. Canada is like a small town by comparison.

One of my favorite beefs is the revolving door syndrome. Rambus was prosecuted by the FTC after several attorneys from firms specializing in antitrust which had been hired by their enemies took posts at the agency. When the case was finished, these same attorneys returned to the same firms advertising their connectedness to corporate clients willing to buy influence. All quite legal and obvious, so long as the chain of influence goes through a board or a partnership.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

As of this morning, the price has hit $16 million CDN. Ah, the gift of laughter! :-)