AN OPEN LETTER TO MICHAEL IGNATIEFF: UNITE THE PARTY, LISTEN TO GOOD ADVICE, STOP APPOINTING CANDIDATES AND SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS!

Dear Michael:

Hopefully, the next letter I will write to you will address you as Dear Mr. Prime Minister.
Alas, we are not there yet.

You’ve had a tough week. It could have been a helluva lot tougher had not the UN and G 20 meetings together with Obama, al-Gadaffi, and Ahmadinejad not squeezed almost everything else off the front pages. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to squeeze it all.

I am going to offer you some sound advice. Yes, I know I come from Alberta, and I know Liberals out here are protected by the game licensing laws, and yes, I know, we have our conventions in phone booths, yada, yada, yada. But out here in Alberta a Liberal has to fight for every vote he gets, and we’ve been doing it for years. Accordingly, we Alberta Liberals have learned a few things along the way that seem for the moment to be forgotten in the greener Liberal pastures of central Canada.

One of the things we have learned is that a political party has got to be united to fight an election campaign. Actually, I thought the Ottawa crowd might have picked up on that after the last three federal elections. Had it not been for the Martin-Chretien internecine warfare we would probably still have power. But it was not to be. Many in the party wanted to slug it out amongst ourselves and they did – often times using every mean trick in the book. And all it got us was one weak minority government and so far almost four years in opposition.

So my first piece of advice is to unite the party. This means giving due respect to tried and true warriors like Martin Cauchon and Stephane Dion. It means that we must honor our people who have contributed to our success and not stand in their way if they are obviously willing and able to contribute more. This also means not foisting an unknown candidate on ridings where there have long been strong and viable party organizations. In short, it means you must strive to keep all of the grass roots happy.

The second piece of advice I have for you is that you must listen and be guided by good advice. The events of this week show that there are lapses of sound advice within your organization. Get good advisors around you and listen to them. Beware of self-serving ward-heelers with their own private agendas and please watch out for power trippers. They can be spotted a mile away, so keep your eyes and ears open, and when you see them, don’t listen to them. They’re trouble.

The third piece of advice I offer you is that you must stop this infernal practice – launched by your predecessors, to be sure – of appointing riding candidates. By appointing candidates, you are losing the advantage of party renewal. If a nomination is contested, new members come into the organization. They are generally excited, energetic, and motivated because of the contest. By appointing candidates you are avoiding the contest and thereby lose its advantages. The other very negative aspect of appointing candidates is that it carries with it the stench of the laying on of hands. As such, it is anti-democratic and always invites harsh criticism and recrimination. Use the power only in very rare circumstances. Otherwise, let democracy take its course.

Finally, remember it is not any of your minions that are the boss. You are the boss. I suspect that one of the reasons for the unseemly battle over Outremont – which went on far too long – was an unwillingness to offend someone who was giving you bad advice. I couldn’t imagine your glorious predecessors like Trudeau or Chretien ever being that sensitive. You have got to put lesser people in their place when they attempt to lead you into a quagmire and if they persist, well, get rid of them.

So that’s it for now. Keep up the good fight and don’t listen to any of the nervous nellies. Just take my advice.

Your Pal,

Darryl

See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h2gGPpXnGFH04C1yFU80HTRGK8Ew

THE GRITS: THE WAGES OF DISUNITY

There is a large swath of the Liberal Party of Canada - many of Paul Martin's suicide squad, soft Quebec nationalists, some disgruntled supporters of the Michael Ignatieff leadership bid, some of the traditional Winters/Turner/Martin right wing of the party - who have never accepted the verdict of the Leadership convention that elected Stephane Dion as party leader in December 2006.

They also have severe learning disabilities when it comes to the subject of politics.

Many of them agitated, weasled and wheedled away at undermining the leadership of three-time majority winner Jean Chretien. When their success forced him to throw in the towel, their manipulative ways set up the dullest Grit leadership convention in the history of the party in December 2003 which saw the coronation of Mr. Martin. Only the brave Sheila Copps stood up to this fiasco by remaining on the ballot. The feint-of-heart John Manley bowed out of the contest early enough not to offend the incoming regime. Revenge was swiftly meted out to Copps however. The Martinites torpedoed her nomination in her own riding of Hamilton East, thus - at least temporarily - sidelining her from public life.

Not satisfied with the forced retirement of Chretien and the purging of Copps and literally hundreds of supporters of Chretien in the party across the country, Martin continued this insane internecine mayhem by ordering the Gomery Inquiry which set up the ancien Chretien regime to be the Liberal opponent in the forthcoming Federal Election. Think about it - the Martin Liberals set up the Chretien Liberals to run against - as though the Conservatives didn't exist!! The result of all of this stupidity was inevitable: the Martin Liberals lost the election thereby gifting the Canadian people with its main legacy: a Harper Government. Martin, mercifully, seems to have disappeared into history, where he will be a small footnote.

The obvious lesson to be learned from this gross foolishness is that in order for a party to succeed to power, it has to stay unified. To win, a party needs the support of every living breathing member and supporter it can lay its hands on. Most of us in the party knew this. The guts of the Martin party - including Martin himself - obviously did not.

Well, as they say, "They're baaaaaaaaaack."

Their target is of course Stephane Dion. Unlike them, Dion was never part of Martin's suicide squad, is not a soft Quebec nationalist, is not a disgruntled supporter of Michael Ignatieff, and has never been a member of the Winters/Turner/Martin right wing of the party. He is the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, lawfully and fairly elected according to the rules in the last convention. He has yet to lead the party into a general election and according to the polls is running neck and neck in party support with Steve Harper's Conservatives. There is no doubt that he is having some problems. But all leaders - particularly opposition leaders - have problems as they approach their first general election.

First among the backstabbers to come out of the shadows this past week was Steven Pinkus, the Liberal Party of Canada's vice-president for the Quebec Anglophone community. He rants about the Liberals' recruiting, fundraising and communication efforts. Noone, he says, is "stepping up to the plate to put together an organization strategy." Pinkus said that he's complaining because Dion's "hand-picked people" hadn't learned any lessons from the Liberal by-election defeat in Outremont.

About Pinkus' warblings, firstly, it is to be noted that he worked for Michael Ignatieff in the leadership contest. Secondly, since he sits on the National Executive of the Liberal Party of Canada as a vice-president, what about the National Executive's and his responsibility in bringing about an effective party organization?

Martinite, former Martin Minister, high-profile media gadfly, supporter of Michael Ignatieff, and soft Quebec nationalist Liza Frulla was the next out of the cage. Dion, she said, "has no instinct. At a certain point, people feel it if there is something wrong, even if they don't know exactly what it is. But he, poor Stephane, doesn't feel it."

I would like to pose this question to Ms. Frulla. "What about your own instinct in having supported the departed Mr. Martin in his effort to dislodge and trash the Chretien Liberals? Why didn't you feel there was something wrong with that? After all, it cost the Liberals the election, Mr. Martin his leadership and you your seat!! You are a fine one to talk about "no instinct!"

Frulla went further in her comments. She trashes former Minister and firebrand politico Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette, Dion's Quebec lieutenant, as being "abrasive" and narcissistic." Egads, talk about the pot calling the kettle black! But quite apart from that, I have known Ms. Hervieux-Payette for almost thirty years. She is a passionate and tough task master and a doer. She is also a great Canadian. When Liza Frulla was casting her ballot for the "yes" forces in the Quebec Referendum of 1980, Celine was still out on the hustings campaigning for the "no" side of Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien and Claude Ryan.

For what its worth, my advice to Grits everywhere is to unite and get behind the leader. We have seen what happens when a party splits over leadership. Liberal unity was one of the important reasons why the Liberals ruled between 1963 and 1984. It was one of the reasons that we were successful during most of the Chretien years. Liberals were unified and the Tories - for much of that time - were divided. We also saw what party disunity did to us in 2004. It gave us Harper. Dion has earned the right to lead the party into the next election and so let's live with that.

As for Michael Ignatieff - who I happen to like very much - I say to him, get your people in line and watch what you say and how you say it. The press are always on the hunt for that raised eyebrow, the grimace, the frown, the out-of-context sentence or phrase or word, designed to promote conflict. Its a minefield, really. And you have to get through it. Just like the rest of us.

ANOTHER GOOD MAN: RODDY MAH

Calgary lost another good man this past week. His name was Roddy Mah and he made a difference.

Born in Calgary in 1929, he returned to China at age 5 to attend school and learn Chinese. While in China, World War II intervened thus keeping him there until after it was over. He returned to Calgary, learned English, married Lillian, and went into the restaurant business. An outstanding businessman, he operated several restaurants, including the Jade Palace, a first-rate Chinese food restaurant on Center Street and 3rd Avenue, for twenty-five years. Over the years, he supported many causes. One of the most significant was the redevelopment of Chinatown, making that area one of the unique places in the City and one of the most dynamic downtown Chinese districts in the country. He was one of the first to start business relations between Canada and China, and whenever in China, tirelessly promoted Calgary and Alberta as great places to do business. He was involved in many enterprises and had many business partners, all of whom thought highly of him.

Roddy also loved politics. He was one of the first to encourage Ralph Klein to run for Mayor, and loyally supported Ralph in all of his political endeavors throughout his career. Ralph was his friend, and Roddy helped his friends. He also helped his Liberal friends, one of which was me.

In January 1980, Roddy owned a large banquet Hall on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 1st St SE called, as I recall, the Golden Nugget, or some such name. It was during the Federal Election campaign that brought an end to the brief Joe Clark Tory Government and returned Pierre Trudeau and his Liberals to power. The Liberals rented Roddy's place for a campaign luncheon. The hall had a capacity of about 500, and following the political principle of always renting a room smaller than the crowd one expected, Roddy and the Grits crowded about 750 into the place to hear Pierre. I was the Liberal candidate for Calgary North in that election and introduced Trudeau at the luncheon, where he was warmly received by the over flow crowd. So much over flow, that Roddy was charged under the Fire Ordinance for overcrowding. He gladly paid the twenty-five dollar fine. Roddy said that Trudeau, who loved Chinese food, soon made it up to him. While on his way to or from Asia, while Trudeau's plane was stopped in Calgary for refuelling, he called Roddy and ordered some Chinese food from the Restaurant, thus evening the score.

I enlisted Roddy's assistance in the first Chretien-Martin leadership race in 1990. Roddy was only too happy to help get out the Chinese vote in the delegate selection hunt for the Riding of Calgary Center. He recruited several from the Chinese community to sell the memberships, primarily to the older, retired people who lived in Chinatown Apartments. He recommended the strategy of meeting with them for a social evening prior to the delegate selection meeting so that I could address them on why they should vote for the Chretien slate. On the night of the meeting, a light luncheon was held for the new members at the Jade Palace, at which there were more speeches - all translated into Chinese. Buses waited outside to transport them to the polls. The Chretien slate, thanks to Roddy and his friends, handily won the contest. It was a revealing exercise of democracy.

A very colorful, rotund, affable, jolly but modest man, Roddy enjoyed a good martini and fine wine. He loved talking politics, both Canadian and Chinese. To have dinner with Roddy and his friends, was an event not to be missed. Great conversation, food, spirits and plenty of laughter.

He left a devoted family, and many admiring friends located in the four corners of the globe. And many fond and happy memories.

BUSH'S PAL, STEVE HARPER: RUNNING SCARED

At the moment Paul Martin Jr. is not fondly remembered by many Canadians and members of the Liberal Party of Canada. There is a litany of good reasons for this which do not yet bear repeating because for Liberals to hear them so soon after losing power, generally results in dark moods of contemplation of nasty ideas such as murder or suicide.

Having said that, the release today of the first RAT (Reform, Alliance, Tory) Party attack television ads against Stephane Dion, hearkens back to the disasterous attack ads against the RATs, ran by Martin's brilliant campaign organizers in the last Federal Election. It is worth remembering the result of those Martin attack ads: they changed nothing. Harper got his not quite razor-thin minority government and Martin, his merciful early retirement, both of which events would have happened without the ads. As a matter of fact, Canadians generally do not like attack ads, and particularly attack ads that are personal attacks. Canadians are too nice for such politics.

Bush's pal Steve Harper, who can be deeply obtuse most of the time, obviously didn't get the message. For today, his party launched attack ads against Stephan Dion. The RAT Party's intention apparently is to pay the big bucks and run them in the prime time of the Super Bowl game.

One ad focuses on Dion and the Liberals not dealing with emerging environment issues when they had a chance to do so, implying that Dion had all of the Chretien years to solve them. The other ad focuses on Dion's supposed lack of leadership skills. They include an excerpt of a testy exchange between Iggy, Dion and Ken Dryden during a Leadership campaign debate. The concluding statement of one ad urges Canadians 'not go back' to the Liberals. The concluding statment of the other is 'Stephane Dion is no Leader.' The ads convey the impression that the producer's intent, at least in part, was to emphasize Dion's French accent and his struggle with the english language. Both ads were personal attacks.

The ads have been launched by Calgary MP and new Secretary of State for Multiculturalism (believe it or not!), Jason Kenny, the rotund, cherubic little motor-mouth neocon zealot with the perpetual five o'clock shadow (that is an example of a personal attack - but unlike the Dion ads, it is fair).

In any event, this whole attack ad business is an interesting opening salvo in what promises to be a knock-em-down, drag-em-out pre-election slug-fest. I can't wait for the Grit attack ads focusing on Harper's heart-felt support for the Iraqi mission, his early rejection of any sensible environment policy and his flip-flop on oil income trusts, among others.

But one thing is for sure. Harper, getting into expensive attack ads at this early stage and with Dion so obviously in his cross-hairs, is running scared. In the forthcoming election, a loss or even another minority will not do. If that's the best he can muster, Bush may be longer in the saddle that his pal Steve.