922...WFDS: Wrong Again

Post 918 I asked Whither Elizabeth May?

She whither be on the front page of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald.

Mea culpa.

Steven Maher writes that the Green leader "...is predicting that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will find a way to engineer an election this fall, even as he attacks Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff for trying to send Canadians to the polls."

The Tory reply from Dimitri Soudas was "Liz May who?"

And please allow me to point out that Ms. May is running in Saanich-Gulf Islands and is on the front page of a newspaper serving one of her old ridings, Central Nova, as far away from her new riding as one can be and still be in Canada.

WFDS

853...Great Minds Think A Like [Or Read My Blog]

I have taken a bit of a licking for not subscribing to group think and for saying that Elizabeth May is a kamikaze pilot but I am vindicated a bit by Kalvin Reid's editorial in today's Ottawa Sun where he says pretty much the same thing about her ill fated decision to run against Gary Dunn, the Minister of Sport, in Saanich-Gulf Islands.

I agree with Mr. Reid that the Green's would be better served with at least one elected MP.

Where I don't agree with Mr. Reid is when he says that he thinks Ms. May is a leader without "political acumen". Oh, no, she has a lot of political acumen it is just the self aggrandizing kind and I sincerely believe by tilting at windmills like Peter McKay in Central Nova and Mr. Dunn in Saanich-Gulf Islands, in combination with getting her face on the national debates, she is martyring herself into the cash for life confines of the Senate.

WFDS

827...Elizabeth May Deathwatch V. 3

And it is not just me who thinks her plan to run in Saanich-Gulf Islands is not well thought.

Here is a cut and paste from this morning's Halifax Chronicle-Herald:

May-first plan dubious in quest for Greener pastures


Fri. Sep 11 - 4:46 AM

A POLL last month suggested that more than 40 per cent of
 Canadians would like to see Elizabeth May win a seat in the
 House of Commons. Unfortunately for her, there is no
single riding in Canada in which she might automatically
 command 40 per cent of the vote.

The Green Party leader, who has tried her luck in two places
already, is faring progressively better as she
goes along in her quest to get elected.
In a 2006 byelection in London North Centre,
she finished second with 25 per cent of the vote,
 and in 2008 she was a respectable runner-up in
 Central Nova with 32 per cent support.

But Ms. May has since concluded that felling regional
 rainmaker Peter MacKay is too tall an order.
The absence of a Liberal candidate was designed
to help Ms. May, but the Tory defence minister
also succeeded in increasing his score six
percentage points over the previous election's results.
 And so Ms. May has split for the other coast and
announced her intention this week to challenge another
 Conservative cabinet minister in B.C.

The new No.1 priority of the decision-makers
 in the Green Party is to get Ms. May elected,
 no matter where. Hence the quixotic,
 cross-country quest for greener pastures.
 Unfortunately, her vagabond candidacy and
 tendency to publicly muse about suitable
 ridings only succeeds in exposing her to ridicule.
 It makes her look flighty, and for what?

Does the Green Party really need a seat
 in Parliament while it has Elizabeth May?
 As the leader of the fifth party,
 which garnered 6.8 per cent of the popular vote last year,
 Ms. May already punches far above her weight on the national scene.
 She attracts plenty of media coverage even
 in between elections and last fall she got
 a seat at an important table - the televised leaders' debates.
 Many Canadians were surprised to discover Elizabeth May as the feisty debater,
 the solid performer and the well-briefed and witty policy wonk.

It's hard to see what further advantages a Commons
 seat would confer on Ms. May, apart from a decent
 salary and some parliamentary perks.
 She would not get any more time of day, or power,
 in the House than Independent MPs do, which is to say very little.
 Nor would this pulpit boost her national profile much more than she already has,
 although it would give her bragging rights as the first Green elected to national
 office in North America.

So the Green Party's new tack - pouring all
 its efforts into getting Ms. May elected as a parachuted candidate
 in one of Canada's most green-friendly ridings - seems like more
 trouble than it's worth. It's trouble all
 right. Greenpeace activist Stuart Hertzog
 is challenging her for the nomination in Saanich-Gulf Islands
 next week, decrying the top-down decision-making within the
 party as being contrary to grassroots Green values.

Unquestionably, Ms. May is an asset to
the Greens, but concentrating on building
 up the party's assets - getting more votes
 nationwide and thus more federal
 electoral funding - would better
 serve the party's cause in the
 long run and better prepare
 it for a future
 without her at the helm.

See, I am not the only one who does not subscribe to group think.

WFDS

815...Elizabeth May Deathwatch V.2

In response to Post 812 Elizabeth May Deathwatch I recieved this thoughful reply:

janfromthebruce said...

Well than, the libs need to stand down (like they did in Nova Scotia) and give May a free ride.
Or is running as a liberal the only alternative you had in mind?

September 9, 2009 9:11 AM

Thanks for the comment but let's face it, the Liberals stood down in Central Nova and Elizabeth May got her head handed to her.

Ditto in Saanich-Gulf Islands. One on one Gary Lunn would destroy her.

It is fairly obvious to me that if after, as the Globe and Mail's Bill Curry reported earlier this week that the riding was selected "...after extensive party polling and research..." as the best chance for the Green Party leader it means that she has no chance anywhere in Canada.

Personally I think she is trying to position herself for the cash for life sinecure of the Senate of Canada.

WFDS

810...Kamikaze Mission Starts Today For May

Elizabeth May's failed run for parliament in the next election starts today when she announces that she is seeking the nomination for the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, suburban Victoria and environs.

The Globe and Mail reports what we already know: the riding is held by Gary Lunn, the Minister of Sport, heading into an Olympic year when the Olympics are in Vancouver, a city that most Victorians are very familiar with through friends, family and visits. Mr. Minister, the Honourable Gary Lunn is the man in charge of the games and if you don't think he is going to play the "I am Mr. Olympics" card hard, you are crazier than the leader of the Green Party.

She has been saying for eons that she wants an riding where she can be elected; this ain't it.

The Globe and Mail's Bill Curry writes that the riding was selected "...after extensive party polling and research..." This is a big steaming pile of bullsh't.

Ms. May, who earlier said that she would only only only ever run in Central Nova, way on t'other side of the country but equally remote from the vast majority of voters, is being challenged by Stuart Herzog for the nomination. I suppose her "...extensive...polling and research..." missed Mr. Herzog.

WFDS