Considering Canadian Leaders' Future

Early this month I blogged about Elizabeth May's political future. There was a groundswell, or at least some talk that she should go. Actually by the Constitution of the party, her term was only four years and she would have to step down by 2010. Well, its 2010 and she should, to maintain the integrity of the Constitution, step down and have a leaderhip race. She should enter and perhaps she might surprise all her opponents and critics by winning just such a thing. By the way, there is someone who is running for her job, it is Sylvie Lemieux and she has quite a dossier. I still think Elizabeth should step down, because of the reason stated, if she doesn't it might cause some long term repercussions for the Party that would bring about long term damage. I am not going to declare my support at this time, I'm still trying to fill out the eballot for the Party.

I will say this about Elizabeth, she is using the tools of social networking to get the message out, this is now going to be so important. As well, a number of candidates send out tweets to keep everybody in the loop.

She as well, does present the Green view on major issues of the day. She is doing her best to keep the party relevant and engaged.

As I thought about it, I pondered what is the political future of the leaders of the various parties in Canada. Especially those in the House of Commons, and since I haven't done a political blog in a while, I decided to think about it. Here then, are my thoughts about the future for our leaders.

Stephen Harper. Yeah you want to bell that cat? I think he's quite safe in his position, being Prime Minister tends to give a person a safety net. Honestly, can you visualize what would happen to the poor shmuck who suggests Mr. Harper steps down? I think the last thing he or she will see is Harper reaching into his or her chest to pull out their still beating heart, ala Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He's good. Besides this isn't Great Britain where the backbenchers can always revolt to get rid of a leader they don't like.

Michael Ignatieff. You ever to a cemetery and read some of the headstones. Its fascinating. You've perhaps come across the tombstones that have the person's name, date of birth but the date of death, aka their departure date is blank. That's Mr.Ignatieff. It's not so much a question of if, but when. When will his tenure as leader of the Liberal Party end? Before, after or during the next federal election? I think he's on the bus trip across Canada because a moving target is harder to hit.

Gilles Duceppe: let's be honest, the Bloc Québécois has morphed from a separatist party, to a nationalist party to a "let's keep going so we can qualify for that fully indexed MP pension" party. Yes they represent the aspirations and complaints of Quebec. They make all the right noises so that the separatists keeping voting for the BQ. Yes you have to keep those 10 guys and gals wearing the Quebec Nordiques jerseys happy. M. Duceppe facing almost no opposition from anyone in his party. He's good to go as long as he wants.

Jack Layton: He may be the enigma of Canadian Politics. Of all the party leaders, he's the one with the best numbers. In one poll I read, he was ahead of all of them, including the PM. He's hard working, he's on Twitter. In fact he post photographs to TwitPic. He's got some interesting posts as well. He's popular, the problem he faces is, the party isn't riding on his coattails. The NDP are still hanging in the 15-20% range, rarely more then that, rarely less then that. So whatever halo effect he may have, isn't happening for the party. Even in Progressive Toronto, there's just him and his wife as MP's. Lately he's been battling some health issues. Jack we're praying for you. Doesn't seem to face any opposition in the Party, even though he may come up with some bonehead ideas like a coalition with the Liberals. Seriously Jack, you want to unite with that dead weight? Steve Janke had an interesting editorial, in which he calls the Liberal Party: "Dead Party Walking".

I think Mr. Layton, baring health issues will have a successful term as leader of the NDP. Although I have to think that if the party remains stagnant in the range, there may be a suggestion for him to voluntarily step down.