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NDP MP quits for Ontario Liberals
December 16, 2014 - 12:28pm
Glenn Thibeault has issued this statement:
Quote:
“I am proud to announce that I will be running as the Ontario Liberal party candidate in the upcoming by-election in my community of Sudbury.
The need for this by-election was sudden and unexpected, and I have come to the decision to move to provincial politics after much reflection and discussion with those people close to me. Anyone who knows me, understands that I put representing this community first and foremost. It is something I have done with pride over the past six years. It is my belief that I can continue to do so from a different vantage point working as part of the Ontario Liberal Government."
So another NDP MP leaves the Mulcair caucus.
At what point do NDPers have to agree that this reflects on Mulcair's leadership?
The best response is for the NDP to win the by-election. That would give poor Glenn time to think about what party he really supports. Who knows, maybe he's a Tory.
Maybe Thibeault is a lurker here at Babble, and he has been so impressed by Debater's arguments that he decided to get with the program, and join the winners of the world.
More likely Thiibeault read this week's year-end polls (Mulcair in a distant 3rd in Ontario) and wondered if Sudbury might return to its traditional Federal Liberal roots in 2015.
Website already pulled down:
http://glennthibeault.ndp.ca/
And that makes him an?
Sounds like a leadership problem, too bad he is only a manager.
Atcually, all but 2 of the NDP defections have happened in Quebec, where the Party was traditionally weak pre-2011. Going from 1 seat to 59 in one single election presents all kinds of structural challenges for the Party that Jesus Christ Himself would have a hard time handling.
When a team is built around a single personality, in this case Jack Layton, it is often a balancing act with a variety of figures vying for position within the group. The group holds cohesion because the leadership figure assembled the team. It is always difficult, when a new person comes into that position from the ranks of that group because the group has become unbalanced. Losing some figures from the original group is normal, as a new team, with a new leader.
That doesn't mean that the new person does not have leadership skills, because in fact Mulcair clearly does. It just means that the common cause of the old team has come undone, and a new one has to be formed.
Thibeault gave an interview on Power and Politics in which was asked a number of times if he now supported the Trudeau Liberals. He dodged the question.
I can't agree at all with your post.
It is easily demonstrable. There is always falling out in the team when the person who assembled the team disappears. Its pretty normal. I can't think of a single example where it does not.
Personal relations aren't fixed in stone. The fact is that the NDP had no options but Mulciar, given the sudden passing of Jack Layton. The option was Brian Topp" selected by the party establishment, and probably the worst case scenario. Only Mulcair had the potential to hold onto Quebec -- it is up to the regional leaders to do their part to keep the ship afloat.
Glenn Thibeault did the opposite. He quit.
Oh, nicky, I hope you're not trying to be misleading and take a shot at Trudeau over this already, are you?
Thibeault has just joined the Ontario Liberals. As he told Evan Solomon, he's been an OLP member for *8 hours*. He wasn't expecting to suddenly be asked whether he would be supporting Justin Trudeau when he was in the Mulcair NDP as of yesterday.
But I'm pretty sure that Thibeault will be supporting Justin Trudeau soon enough once he makes the transfer. As Solomon told him, Wynne is a big Trudeau supporter, so no doubt Thibeault will be soon.
And that is the difference bewteen the NDP and the old-parties. The former was fromed by activists outside Parliament, the latter formed by poloiticans.
Thibeault is a pathetic opportunist and should be ashamed to show his face in the Parliaments of Ontario or Canada. I hope he loses.
I am donating to that cause.
Thibeault sacrificed everything he's ever worked for as a politician, he has no honour, no loyalty, and I hope he gets utterly crushed like the sellout deserves.
And Jesus only had 12 MPs... I mean disciples!
Maybe if Mulcair would walk on water or turn water into wine, maybe Debater would whine less about Mulcair's leadership skills.
And since you asked for it Debater, I'll be more than happy to take a shot at your Annointed One:
Justin Trudeau is a clueless, vacuous twit with absolutely NO leadership skills.
And no, I am not underestimating him. If anything, I am probably being too generous. ;-)
Statement from NDP caucus chair Irene Mathyssen.
“I am saddened and disappointed to lose a respected friend and colleague. I understand the allure of power for some, but don’t really understand his choice since Ms. Wynne’s Liberals have proven time and again they are not a progressive government. The real progressives in Ontario are Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats. People are cynical about these kinds of actions; but regardless of Mr. Thibeault’s decision, we in the NDP remain focused on holding Stephen Harper’s Conservative government to account. We will continue to propose the practical ideas that help Canadian families with their important priorities like childcare and health care.”
Meanwhile Christina Blizzard says this is Andrea's fault
One thing this demonstrates is the shocking inability of New Democrats to hang on to their MPs and MPPs.
Cimino quit Nov. 20, with just 12 days left in the Legislative calendar before the House rose for the Christmas break. No matter what overwhelming personal issues he was dealing with, it surely shouldn’t have been too much for NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to convince him to hang in for those few days.
Let him take time those days off, if necessary, to deal with the issues.
In a majority parliament, it wouldn’t have made much difference.
As it is, the NDP will be hard pressed to hang on to the seat, although voters will view Thibeault’s defection with great skepticism.
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/12/16/liberals-may-feel-public-wrath-over...
What article did you read? Blizzard litteraly doesn't even mention Mulcair or Horwath. Instead, she rightly condemned the arrogance and opportunism of Thibeault and the Liberals. And the Thibeault's disgusting betrayl of a party that got him elected.
Justin Trudeau is a formidable politician with strong leadership skills. That's why no MP's have defected under his leadership, whereas half a dozen have already done so under Mulcair!
It's also why the Liberals are entering 2015 with a strong chance of beating the NDP. Even Stockwell Day (certainly no Liberal!) just predicted on Power & Politics tonight that Mulcair & the NDP are in serious trouble and that Trudeau will beat Mulcair next year. (Day predicted Harper will finish 1st, Trudeau 2nd & Mulcair 3rd.) It remains to be seen whether Harper will be 1st, but the point is that even Conservatives can see which Opposition leader has done the best job over the past 2 years.
Brian. You should never have even run in that thing. You have never held an elected post, or been a front man for a political organization, let alone the leader of the official opposition.
I have no idea why this foray was pursued at all.
I was simply observing a fact, about the obvious merits that Mulcair had in comparison to the other leadership contenders. Making Mulcair the leader was practically a forced play, in regard to criticism of the NDP leadership choice.
I gues both the tories and liberal have problems retaining thier people too...you know since Stronach, Martin, Brison, Emerson etc etc etc have all crossed the floor as well. Do tell how this is just an NDP problem. Might I again note Emerson just 2 weeks after the election left the liberals. I guess you guys must have been saying the same thing..oh right you were complaining about how shitty and trecherous it is. But that was then and this is the NDP right.
Scumbag Glenn (found on Reddit): https://imgflip.com/i/fdu3i
Maybe the ONDP (or fed NDP) should get the disabled person the Liberal forced out to run for them? http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2014/12/15-liberal-bobmshell.aspx
The so called leadership had to have a revolt with fundung witheld over the summer before they changed their tune about policies. Mostly on traditional NDP core items. I have complaints about our policies, but the liberals sure make it hard to be a critical voice when they are just spew bullshi on here that you have to counteract, but that is exactly what concern trolling is all about. Taking time and energy away from proper discussion. Which our liberal friends are very good at.
I don't approve of all floor-crossing. But you can't lump all those people into the same category.
And the David Emerson defection was disgusting. Because it happened just a few days after he was elected. That one is practically in the record books. He definitely deserved to be criticized. I agree with you on that one.
But how can you put Scott Brison in the same category? He made a change for largely principled reasons. He was a gay man who was uncomfortable with the way the Canadian Alliance took over the old PC party. Remember that he was a PC MP -- he didn't want to be part of the new Conservative Party that took the Progressive out of its name and which still to this day won't let a single CPC MP come out!
Brison was representing a riding (Kings-Hants) which had voted for the PC's far more often than it had for the Liberals historically, so he took a risk by becoming a Liberal. It's not as if Kings-Hants was a Liberal stronghold. It voted Liberal in 1993, and then was right back to the PC's again in 1997 & 2000. But because Brison is well-respected locally, he has been able to get elected repeatedly since 2004, 2006, 2008 & 2011 as a Liberal.
Of course Brian Topp should have run, leadership untested is weak, look at Trudeau, the challenge put forth by Brian and the others only made Mulcair stronger just as running against Harper and Pierre Elliot Trudeau's ghost will make him stronger.
I waa watching Marco Polo tonight and one thing stood out in my mind. The most important trait in a hunter is patience. Mulcair hasn't come this far amd faced the challenges he has, as well as his predassors have, for us to be intimidate by bad polls.
Blizzard CHANGED her article. In an earlier version she wrote "One thing this demonstrates is the shocking inability of New Democrats to hang on to their MPs and MPPs."
The old version was posted in the afternoon. This new version has been time stamped at 6:10 PM.
She completely deleted any criticism of the NDP in her earlier version, and re-wrote it to slam the Liberals.