Not just watching on Twitter

So it seems that CBC's The House is providing westward rolling live coverage of the NDP convention (this means that you have to move one stream west each hour).  I have decided to supplement my Twitter consumption with this coverage.  The total package has been much more exciting than I expected.

Now that the first ballot results have come in I have no idea how the rest of the day will play out.  One of the first complicating factors is that turnout in the first round was about 50%, and most of these ballots were cast in advance with their preferences locked in.  Whether or not eligible members nationwide opt in or not may have serious consequences.  Secondly, that the first round results lead three candidates to drop out will add to the mix and allow for some movement in support in the second round  (subsequent preferences are in play for those who voted in advance and their live voters now have to figure out who they are going to support).

Does it get more exciting than a political convention where the leadership is actually on the line?

A Few Quick Notes 574

-While today was beautiful, it was nothing like yesterday's mid-twenties masterpiece when we reached something approaching weather perfection.  It was a pleasure to have the chance to live through such a beautiful day.

-I guess I'm now 8 for 24 in this year's RUTRTW contest.  Unfortunately at least three of these wins have been for 'donuts,' and I have no idea what to do with the winning rims.   If someone wants them maybe I could mail them out all at once or one at a time depending on demand.  Anyway, if you think you might be interested in up to three free donut rims leave me a comment and I think about how to proceed.

-At least my record isn't 0 for 68, which how bad the RCMP's was when it came to picking Canadian politicians with connections to the USSR.  You can find the CBC's story on the topic here.

-The NDP leadership convention has not started.  And while I didn't pay too much attention to the first few months of the race, over the past few days I have been enjoying watching the final manoeuvres.  I will also be curious to see who is eventually selected to be the leader and how the preferential voting system ends up working out.

Today while thinking about convention coverage I thought to myself that I would 'watch it on Twitter,' and then realized that that is likely how I will follow the convention.  It's kind of amazing that reading a series of short updates is sufficiently engaging and informative that I would consider doing this.

And now it's the basis of a lawsuit

You may recall that a few months ago I brought up the issue that in Newfoundland and Labrador voters were able to cast special ballots before an election had been called.

Though I didn't hear anything about this issue from any of the parties during the election, it seems that a close election result in Burin-Placentia West has lead to a lawsuit being filed on this very issue. The NDP candidate is claiming that these provisions violated the Charter.

While I have no idea how this lawsuit will play out, I am certain that this is an important issue.

Hopefully a better process will be in place before the next provincial election.

Think back to December 2006...

Back in December 2006 who would have imagined that Dion, Ignatieff, and Rae would all end up leading the Liberal party within five years?

I know that no such thought crossed my mind. To have even suggested it would have made you sound like a crazy person.

So as to prevent such a prediction gap in the future I wonder if I should suggest that is likely that all of the major contenders for the NDP leadership will eventually lead the party within 5 years?

Hopefully to clue things up

For better or worse I have recently been somewhat intrigued by the coverage and story of the recent election of Ruth Ellen Brosseau (though I realize that in the larger scheme of things this is really not a particularly important story). Actually, I suspect that I wouldn't have found this story the least bit intriguing had I not noticed that Ms. Brosseau's parliamentary profile lists her language preference as French even though it seems to be pretty widely accepted that she is more comfortable in English. (For a while I wondered if this profile might be modified to reflect reality but I now have the sense that 'French' is there to stay whether or not that is actually her preferred language.)

As a follow-up, and hopefully a conclusion, I thought I should provide a link to footage of an interview given by Ms. Brosseau earlier today. The public, and her constituents, should now have a slightly better sense of her ability to communicate in French. I leave it up to you to decide how capable a French speaker you think she is.

Even more conflicting information about Ms. Brosseau

A few days ago I posted about the apparent disconnect between the newly elected Ms. Brosseau's reported language abilities and parliamentary language preference.

One might think that Ms. Brosseau has already dealt with enough media coverage, but it seems that she might be in for a fair bit more because reports are now coming out that the post-secondary experience reported on Ms. Brosseau's NDP profile page did not actually occur as claimed. It seems that the school in question has indicated that Ms. Brosseau did not complete the program that it has been claimed she completed. Drama.

Now it seems that the NDP profile been modified to reflect the claim of the school.

Anyway, while I can't say that I am glad to hear about this development I am quite pleased that CBC's reporting on the topic has at least resulted in a second picture of Ms. Brosseau. The overwhelming presence of the first photo was starting to become a little disconcerting. Was there only one picture of this woman? That being said, the new photo being used by the CBC has the same strange background. What's up with that?

Anyway, I am curious to see how much longer this story will manage to attract coverage. Mustn't there be more important stories for the parliamentary press corps to be following?

Campaign Literature

We are now exactly one week from the end of this campaign period and our apartment has still not received a single piece of campaign literature or a visit from any of the local campaigns. How can this be? Are none of the parties interested in our votes/feedback?

I have also noticed that I have only seen any of this district's candidates at the various leaders' events that I have attended this campaign period. That being said, these events have provided me with opportunities to see all candidates from the major parties with the exception of the Conservative - an individual that I still haven't laid eyes on.

On a related note, just recently I realized that I don't think that Harper and the Conservatives have yet had a major campaign rally in Halifax or Nova Scotia. I have to imagine that the last week of the campaign won't be when they decided to dial up their efforts in Halifax.

Anyway, all of this to say that I don't think that it would be fair to say that Halifax has really been a battleground area this time around. I guess depending on how well the NDP do in this election this area may be a little bit more of a key area in the next election.

Campaign Event Recap 3

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, Jeannette, Neil, and I (along with our friend Andrew) decided to head to the Halifax farmer's market to try and see Jack Layton.

Almost as soon as we arrived on the premises of the market we observed signs that suggested we may have missed the big event. Most notably, reporters and people with NDP lanyards were streaming out of the building. Once we made it inside we did manage to spot the remnants of the event, including some of the partially packed equipment and local candidate/MP Megan Leslie.

I just realized that I didn't see anyone handing out literature. I don't think that I even so any evidence that any one had been handing out literature. And mention of the event seems to be absent from most of the relevant NDP Twitter feeds. I guess they were going for stealth this morning? It is unclear to me why they would try to sneak in and out of downtown Halifax, an NDP district, without letting anyone (aside from the media) know in advance.

As close as we came to actually seeing Jack Layton was walking by his campaign bus as we entered the farmer's market.

By the time we left the market the bus had pulled out and was nowhere to be seen.

Campaign Events

In just a few minutes I will be heading out to attend the first Canadian election campaign rally/event that I have ever attended. Neil and I will be attending some kind of event with Michael Ignatieff and local candidates at the hotel across the street from our apartment. We will be attending as interested observers rather than as Liberal partisans

For years I have been curious to know what kinds of things go on at these events as I have only ever seen them the snippets that are played on nightly newscasts. Given my long-term interest in these events I thought it would be ridiculous to turn up the chance to attend such an event when it is held only a two minute walk away from my place of residence.

Given that today was the day the Liberal's launched their platform I presume they will be mentioning it and maybe even given away copies. I presume that we will also be in for at least a few political speeches of varying lengths and qualities. I guess ideally we would get to witness at least one truly rousing speech - though that may be a bit of a long shot.

Amazingly, if I had been on top of things, I could have actually had my first political rally/event experience yesterday at an NDP thing in Dartmouth. Unfortunately, I didn't find out about the event until about an hour before it was to start. Maybe if I hear about another such event I will have to try to attend.

Hopefully I will be able to provide an update later tonight.

Fun fact

Who is the only 'country gentleman' currently sitting in the Canadian House of Commons?

According to the Canadian Parliament's website, it would be Peter Stoffer, the NDP member for Sackville–Eastern Shore.

On related note, while checking out Stoffer's parliamentary profile I noticed that one can now view a record of the way in which MPs voted in those votes on which division was called. While I was hoping I could get an RSS subscription to these votes I haven't figured out how to do this quite yet.