City
Nationwide Pro-Co Rally Signoff
I spent about two hours shouting with 2,000 other freezing Torontonians at Nathan Phillips Square this past Saturday afternoon. Four times larger than the anti-coalition rally at Queen's Park, the Toronto Rally for a Progressive Coalition featured speeches by Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, and performances by Broken Social Scene. Leslie Feist was there, so was Bob Wiseman. The best the no-co staffers could manage was John Tory. Dorks.
The air around City Hall was high-energy even before we arrived. Walking from Osgoode station we were getting honks and thumbs-up from passing motorists, and we didn't even have signs at that point. We just looked like people who were ready for some change.
There were volunteers handing out bilingual signs by the skating rink, the blue or red ones you see above. We grabbed three each and dove into the crowd. It was an elbows-needed kind of crowd.
The turnout was equal part hipsters and union labour. Canadian Auto Workers was there, alongside representatives from CAW Local 222 Youth. So was United Steelworkers. And with good reason - the day before GM announced it would lay off 700 more workers from its Oshawa plant.
I enjoyed both Stephane's and Jack's speeches, and the crowd laid on the "SHAME!" whenever Harper came up (which was often). Lots of photogs, lots of cheering and chanting, lots of cheering for both the NDP and Liberal leader, which you would not have expected even two weeks ago, having worked on Gerard Kennedy's campaign in a tight NDP-Liberal race (full disclosure is an important journalistic practice). Canadians, some of us, really can work across partisan lines in ways we haven't seen for 90 years. This is as much a coalition of unity as it is a Coalition for Change.
"Coalition for Change" wasn't the only Obama-ism being thrown around. I was rolling my eyes every time some new schmuck would start chanting "Yes We Can," and I wasn't the only one. Former This Hour Has 22 Minutes star and rally emcee Mary Walsh was quick to turn this in to "Yes We Can-ada," which you have to admit has some charm, but I mean really - are Canadians so far gone we can't even be Canadian when we're progressive?
Overall, Mary was a fantastic choice for emcee, but I was saddened to see her taking partisan barbs at Stephane Dion at a time when over 2,000 Canadians had come together in unity. It's like this - when you introduce Bill Clinton, adultery, cigars, and "depends what your definition of is is" are fully out. Serious faux pas, Mary.
See more photos and video of both opposing rallies.
Discussion
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@Matthew - you give "journalistic" full disclosure while retaining sneer. Has the Toronto Star made you an offer yet?
I wonder how many people at the rally actually believe coalitions can work, as I do, or are just grasping at the only way to get rid of the mailed fist inside the blue sweater?
What I'm curious about is why there was no attention given to Layton's mini-platform announcement at the Toronto rally. It was a little different than his election stump speech but he made it sound like the Liberal-NDP coalition had adopted all of the aspects of that part of his speech and it included a cap and trade model for environmental reform.
Stephan Dion is a joke and an insult to all politicians! He has no business being in politics and should step down as the wanne-be Liberal leader. Tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough! Whenever that moron, lame frog opens his mouth, he ends up putting both his feet in it, in his piss-poor English and dumb excuses for solutions!!
As for Layton, he's a moron without any plans or common sense. His party is backed by the Unions and everybody knows the damage that the Unions have caused in both Canada and the States!
This coalition is a farce and nothing more. Dion, the pea-brain and idiot Layton join forces with a bunch of brain-dead Separatists, is proof of their stupidity!! The Bloc Quebequois were elected ONLY in Quebec, so what right do they have to make decisions about the rest of Canada? None whatsoever!!
I say let Stephen Harper, the best man for the job, do his job and allow him to come up with a plan of attack to clean up the economy, which by the way, was caused by the war mongerer in Washington!! When the U.S. sneezes, the rest of the world catches their cold!! This economic mess is Worldwide, not just here in Canada! So, to all you pathetic losers who wasted your time downtown cheering on the 2 bozos, you will get nothing for your efforts!
And yes, us "pathetic losers" may have "wasted" our time downtown, this was more than giving our support to Dion and Layton. There is a greater objective of a) supporting a brand of politics that is truly representative of the values of the majority of Canadians, and b) rejecting the hate and divisiveness that the Harper Conservatives can't help but promote.
I support the Liberals but I think the coalition would pull them too far to the left - I like them in the centre. The coalition was/is useful for checking Harper's hubris and giving him pause before he embarks on more partisan hackery, but its value doesn't extend much further than that. Harper is too free market/small government and downright mean, but to me that's no worse than the mindless populism and baseless platitudes of Layton. The coalition shouldn't be anything but a last resort for the Liberals and I'm glad they've begun to realize that.
Moderation and compromise are what make (made?) Canadian politics stable and relatively effective and the Liberals are at their best when they govern in that manner. Unfortunately it's shrill partisanship that rules at the moment, so the Conservative and NDP bases are having their day. It's too bad.
Manufacturing jobs have been lost and shifted to Mexico or other Third World countries, where they received all kinds of tax shelters and other freebies, to employ local workers at much lower wages, therefore increasing their profit margins and allowing them to compete.
Several years ago, Hyundai built a plant in Braumont, Quebec, hired thousands of workers to build their cars. Shortly after, the workers demanded more money, threatened to bring in a Union, so the Koreans got wise. They shut down the plant and moved their operations elsewhere!
Long before, B.C. voted for an NDP Government, which as everybody knows, is backed by the Unions and the Province almost went Bankrupt. The NDP never stood a chance there, ever since. Do we all forget the infamous Bob Rae, when he was handed power to Ontario? Of course not!! We handed that clown a rope and as expected, he hung himself!!
Want more proof? Do your homework!!
"Frog"? You have no business discussing politics.
To win support come January from the silent majority, Coalition 2.0 would be very wise to:
- Libs - have a new Liberal leader other than Dion as PM candidate. Ability to operate a camcorder a must.
- NDP - be very clear to separate themselves from the unions as far as being part of govt. Not a popular bunch. Many people were not terribly upset about removing the right to strike of govt service workers, for example. Leave them their rights, fine, but be sure to keep them out of the kitty if Canadians are to trust NDP'ers with federal policy for the first time. Be socially progressive but fiscally conservative, Jack, even if that means disappointing some of your Labour friends.
- Bloc - sign a statement of Canadian unity for the life of the coalition govt that that modifies their views on sovereignty to something more like rebalancing the federal-provincial relationship and less about outright separatism. Fight for Quebec's pork and rights, sure, that's your democratic perogative, but leave separatism in the past. This is a major shift but the Bloc has to recognize that they will never be able to really get much done if they don't move on. Otherwise the Conservatives will lean on the "palling around with separatists" crutch and not only with the coalition not make it, 1995 will come roaring back.
- All - hire some former Obama campaign folks to learn how grassroots political support is really done. Seriously good operatives. With the right network and funding in place, Coalition 2.0 would be in a much better PR position. All we hear here in the US is Conservative talking points.
That's my 2.53 cents (Cdn).
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Point(s) well taken, uskyscraper, but what you folks there in the U.S. also have is a war mongerer, an International Terrorist who killed thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops and civilians, all for the sake of world domination, which you no longer have!!
The terrorists involved with 9/11 came from Afghanistan and NOT Iraq, so Bush got his Geography all screwed up and now, look at the results!
Eight years later, you elect a wanna-be black President who Thinks he can clean up the mess and restore order to the States, all the while he will be dodging bullets and running for his life! That's one job nobody would want! There were three attempts on his life during his election campaign, with more to come, for sure!
Every country has it's problems, but whenever you guys sneeze, the whole world catches your cold and the mess is Canada originated from down South. You guys should learn to clean up your own back yards, rather than Dictate to every other country, 3rd world or otherwise, how to live their lives. As the Mexicans say and rightfully so, you guys leave your spoon, everywhere you go!
Some of you even claim that you own Canada, which is so far from the truth! The Arabs own 1/3 of your country, while the Japanese probably own more than their fair share!! Enuff said!!
And personally, I like Dion. He's not in the least charismatic, but he seems to be very intelligent. I read most of his speeches in print before I heard him speak and I thought them to be quite good. He was also highly regarded in his previous role as Minister
of Intergovernmental Affairs. I would think this gives him a firm backing to anticipate how the Coalition might successfully function.
The coalition is not so much about holding power, nor about the nominal ideological positions of the respective parties. It is about creating a collaborative government, effectively a dialogue among the real majority of Canadians whom it represents.
We need to take a lesson from Obama - not about his ability to win elections, but rather his ability to show true leadership, which is about honest consultation and coalition building among those with opposing views.