Anybody for a Race?.. Anybody...? Hello..? Is This Thing Turned On...?
We'll start with who's not in: Frank McKenna, John Manley, Brian Tobin, Allan Rock, Scot Brison, Steve Janke, and Belinda Stronach are out of the race.
Brison & Stronach you say? When did they announce this? Well, not so much announce as make the practical reality nigh well impossible. Brison's leadership blew up yesterday with the whoopsie-mail:
The more interesting thing about Belinda's un-official withdrawl from the race is the complete lack of coverage it received. I saw it in one National Post column, hidden behind password protected part of the webpage, so I can't link it (memo to National Post: I buy you friggin paper every single day, how about finding a way to let those of us who do so to access the web site - give us a freakin' break - here endeth the rant). But here's the exchange:
French reporter: Are you running for the Liberal leadership?
Belinda: "En Anglais, sil vous plait."
"En Anglais, sil vous plait." Looslely translated (and my French is not good), that is "No, there's not much point really." Look folks, this is the Liberal Party we are talking about. The Party that always puts power above principle. The Party that just lost seats in Quebec to the god forsaken Conservatives. The Party that want those seats back, and more so they can win back power. The Party that traditionally, as in for the last 100 years, has elected their leaders in a French-Anglais-French-Anglais pattern. This is a Party that just lost power after two years behind the English guy.
This Party is not going to elect a unilingual English leader. They would elect Lucien Bouchard before they would go with someone who answers a simple French question with En Anglais, sil vous plait. Or an arrogant Anglais like Brison, especially when he is arrogant about not speaking English. How could either of these two debate Gilles Duceppe in French? And if they can't, how can they hope to win anything?
The field is getting pretty small, which is not good for the Liberals. What they can hope for now is that an interesting dark horse candidate comes to the rescue, much like Bill Clinton did for the Democrats in 1991.
Brison & Stronach you say? When did they announce this? Well, not so much announce as make the practical reality nigh well impossible. Brison's leadership blew up yesterday with the whoopsie-mail:
How dare u speak to me like that? Arrogant before the prize is awarded does not go over well with Canadians. Arrogance in English, about lack of French, cosigns you to the table where Tobin, Rock, Manley, McKenna and Janke are sitting.An e-mail message from his personal assistant Adele Desjardins, obtained by the Sun, scolds the outgoing public works minister for falling behind with his French lessons.
"I know you are the best to lead the Party and I am ready to work hard," reads the terse exchange with Brison. "But I am not a machine, and co-operation is needed."
The e-mail, sent out with the subject line, "You will never learn French the way you are doing it," included an angry response from Brison: "How dare u speak to me like that?"[sic]
The more interesting thing about Belinda's un-official withdrawl from the race is the complete lack of coverage it received. I saw it in one National Post column, hidden behind password protected part of the webpage, so I can't link it (memo to National Post: I buy you friggin paper every single day, how about finding a way to let those of us who do so to access the web site - give us a freakin' break - here endeth the rant). But here's the exchange:
French reporter: Are you running for the Liberal leadership?
Belinda: "En Anglais, sil vous plait."
"En Anglais, sil vous plait." Looslely translated (and my French is not good), that is "No, there's not much point really." Look folks, this is the Liberal Party we are talking about. The Party that always puts power above principle. The Party that just lost seats in Quebec to the god forsaken Conservatives. The Party that want those seats back, and more so they can win back power. The Party that traditionally, as in for the last 100 years, has elected their leaders in a French-Anglais-French-Anglais pattern. This is a Party that just lost power after two years behind the English guy.
This Party is not going to elect a unilingual English leader. They would elect Lucien Bouchard before they would go with someone who answers a simple French question with En Anglais, sil vous plait. Or an arrogant Anglais like Brison, especially when he is arrogant about not speaking English. How could either of these two debate Gilles Duceppe in French? And if they can't, how can they hope to win anything?
The field is getting pretty small, which is not good for the Liberals. What they can hope for now is that an interesting dark horse candidate comes to the rescue, much like Bill Clinton did for the Democrats in 1991.
posted by Brian at 16:58
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