Young Liberals Fight Back!

The Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) released three great ads today, based on Apple's Mac vs. PC ads, in response to another round of Conservative attack ads. This is a much needed counter attack to the Conservatives ability to buy television and radio ads. (they have them running on Business News Network).

According to the YLC's press release,

“Look, it’s no secret the Conservatives are a wealthy party who can afford all kinds of fancy marketing executives and focus groups,” admits Pickup, “but within the Liberal family we’ve got talent, we’ve got dedication, and we’ve got a clear vision for Canada of which we’re proud.”

The three parody ads will be promoted through a multi-pronged approach that utilizes youngliberals.ca, Facebook, youtube.com, instant-messenger programs, and bloggers. This cohesive online campaign provides an opportunity for members and supporters to disseminate and share their messages quickly and affordably.

The ads have already garnered positive coverage in the Toronto Star, on CityTV's 6pm news, and much coverage throughout the blogosphere:

• A BCer in Toronto
• CTV's Politics Blog, Gauntlet.ca
• The Turner Report

The Facebook group has reached over 575 members and is growing fast.

(cross-posted at Progressive Dispatches)

~BT

Harper's EcoFraud Exposed!

In their own words:

We thought that http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca was a little too strong on the BS side, so we made our own.

Visit http://www.ecofraud.ca and raise awareness by spreading the word!

You need to check this out and spread the word!

Progessive Dispatches: 1 month old!

I was really surprised to notice that I have been blogging at Progressive Dispatches for 1 month now, mainly because it feels like I just posted And we're back! So, why post about a such a minor milestone?

Well, I had previously blogged for 3 months at Canadian Liberal @ Penn in the summer of 2005. True, I am only 1/3 of the way to my previous record in terms of longevity, in terms of number of posts, this is my 21st post so far, which is getting close to my previous record of 27. Unfortunately, I am not anywhere close to the amount of traffic I used to get, which is disappointing because the traffic provided me with active comments and conversation with others that made blogging more fun and meaningful. But last week's discovery of a burgeoning blogosphere at Penn has been pretty cool.

This time around, I found blogging to be both easier and harder. It has been easy because of the large range of topics that I want to blog about but tough because of the high speed and breadth of the constant flow of new information. The sheer size of the American political system allows for a sizable political chattering class of pundits, strategists, lobbyists, and has seen the emergence (pdf) of a vibrant progressive blogosphere that is fascinating to watch flex its muscle within the Democratic party. The progressive resurgence nationwide and the real notion that I could be part of this avant-garde progressive movement has been exciting. Most of all, it it the desire to bring this progressive infrastructure and success back to Canada that is most interesting me about US domestic politics right now.

In comparison, I was able to blog about Canadian politics at a much slower pace and there were less blogs and not much of an online opinion infrastructure. Granted, I was blogging within a nascent Canadian blogosphere dominated by well organized conservatives. Progressive Bloggers had just been founded and was quickly followed by Liblogs, both of which I joined and saw a steady traffic of around 50 unique visitors per day.

We find the the same thing at the early stages of the development of the US blogosphere. It started with conservatives having a powerful top-down infrastructure which has since stagnated. Meanwhile there has been an incredible growth of the progressive blogosphere with some asking whether it has reached its apex. This example shows how the Canadian right is able to effectively emulate their American counterparts and implement similar policies, strategies and ideas on a slight time delay.

In Canada, Conservatives have long mastered the art of borrowing from the US conservative movement and I don't see why Liberals shouldn't do the same thing on the Progressive side. Across the pond, British bloggers are similarly learning from recent progressive successes in America. From an initial glance, the Canadian landscape seems to have grown in size but I don't see Canadian blogs having the same sort of impact on politics yet.

(Posted at Progressive Dispatches)

Ignatieff coming home to U of T

Today, the University of Toronto will announce the Michael Ignatieff has accepted a position at the university and will be returning to Canada. Both the Star and the Globe have leaked reports.

This is a great move for Ignatieff as he needs to be in Canada to increase his exposure with Canadians. In my mind, Ignatieff is one of the top potential candidates being discussed in Liberal circles and this news definitely heats things up.

More commentary to come...

Canada Right to Urge Action in Niger

Our Liberal government is rightfully calling upon the international community to take action to deal with the humanitariam crisis in Niger as well as other West African countries. Minister Aileen Carroll announced on Friday that Canada would increase funding for the crisis in Niger. This is in addition to the help Canada is already sending through the Canadian Internationl Developement Agency (CIDA) to deal with the crisis.

Niger currently faces a serious food crisis. Drought and an invasion of desert locusts caused a 225,000 tonne grain deficit in the 2004-2005 harvest. The food crisis threatens some 3.5 million people in close to 3,000 villages. UNICEF made an urgent appeal on Friday for more aid, saying $14.6-million was needed “to help stop a deadly cycle of starvation.

The media is slowly paying attention to the crisis in Niger. On CNN, Anderson Cooper will be devoted his show on Monday at 7pm to this issue. From his site: "Anderson Cooper travels to Africa to put a human face on the hunger crisis in Niger".

I hope these efforts won't be in vain and the increased attention and Canada's efforts will be successful in convincing other countries to pay attention to this crisis. Props to Aileen Carroll and our Liberal government for continuing to be a positive force in tackling humanitarian crises.

Great Public Television: TVO, CBC

I am constantly reminded of the huge benefits of strong and vibrant public television networks. In Canada, we need to ensure that the regulations (think CRTC content laws) and federal funding currently in place be strengthened to continue to protect and strengthen Canadian culture and content. Check out Our Public Airwarves a campaign for a revitalization of Public Broadcasting. We need increased funding of public broadcasters and continued support for the Canadian Television Fund and Telefilm Canada among others.

Do your part, sign this online petition for a Strong CBC.

This weekend, I have had the chance to watch TVO's Big Ideas program which has brought coverage of Navigating a New World Symposium at UofT on November 6th, 2004. I am currently watching Naomi Klein talking about Iraq and the Bush Agenda, after seeing Romeo Dallaire, Irshad Manji and Loyd Axworthy. I have been thoroughly impressed with programming coming out of TVO and CBC. Check out TVO's 2005 fall programming preview here.

For the cynics reading this, all I can do is point to Quebec. The laws, regulations and government funding have ensured a vibrant cultural industry in Quebec. It is in Quebec where Canadian and Quebec films remain the most popular and successful. Yes, the language barrier makes it easier competing against Hollywood by it shouldn't mean that we shouldn't put up a fight in English Canada.

Frist Flip-flops on Stem Cell, Goes Against Bush

Wow, turmoil in the republican party now that Bill Frist, the senate majority leader has decided to break With bush on the stem-cell bill.

This could mean that up to 7 or 8 other moderate republicans might see some political room to do the same thing and vote their conscious. This could precipitate a veto showdown between the President and his Republican congress.

Already, Tom Delay has criticized Frist on his flip-flop in an interview with CNN this afternoon.

Interesting times to be a Democrat :)

With Rovegate going on, now Bush is losing his grip in Congress. This week, on the vote on CAFTA, 39 republicans voted against the president. Bush has also lost republicans on his position on social security. Now this. I hope the democrats can capitalize.

Update: Post-Secondary Transfer already Liberal Policy

I was reminded today that what the dedicated post-secondary transfer that the premiers were in the news about, is already Liberal Party policy.

I was at the Liberal Policy convention in March so I should have remembered. It was one of the Young Liberal resolutions and ended up being combined and adopted as a priority resolution.

Check out Jason Cherniak's posts to that effect:

Comments after Liberal Policy Convention in March

Premiers take up Young Liberal Cause

Some news articles which appeared after March Policy Convention:

BC Campus Paper

The Charlatan Paper

Liberal Fortunes Improve in Quebec!

Encouraging news out of Quebec yesterday! A new Decima Research survey, reported here in the Globe, suggests the Liberals, who were in the mid-teens in April, have clawed back from rock bottom and now stand at 28 per cent in that province. It looks like the Liberal strategy is working of avoiding any attention in Quebec is working.

I have been giving much thought to the dismal polling numbers coming out of Quebec and what that means for Canadian federalism and unity. After hearing from friends in Quebec about the situation there, I realized how grave the situation is. It is much more than just poor poll numbers. The seperatist cause has been slowly gaining momentum for a while now and is only picking up steam.

Building on my earlier posts about the importance of education, in Quebec they find themselves at the mercy of the educational sector (teachers, etc...) which is by highly inclined to favour and spread the seperatist cause. Case in point, Parizeau is on a speaking tour to Cégeps across Quebec. From my vantage point, there is absolutely no voice proposing an alternative to seperation. We need political leaders who will stand up for a unified and strong Canada, which includes a vibrant francophone Quebec. I believe that once there is a debate about it, the polling numbers in support of seperation will fall back down. Until then, the one-sided debate looks like it is producing a generation of young Quebecers who want nothing to do with Ottawa and want to seperate.

I think the other issue is the provincial political situation. Especially for young Quebecers but also for the generally more progressive Quebec population, the only way to express a desire for progressive government is by voting for the Parti Quebecois. The provincial liberals are being led by a conservative, read the unpopular Charest, and the ADQ is even more right-wing. What would change the dynamic is the emergence of a leftish provincial party who does not advocate seperation. Enter the NDP perhaps?

I have also been trying to wrap my head around how to reverse the huge tide of seperatist sentiment especially among young francophones. More posts to come on that, but I would love to hear your thoughts!

A Welcome Focus on Post-Secondary Education

It seems that our official past-time in Canadian politics for the last few years has been the state of Health Care. Don't get me wrong, I do think that maintaining a high-quality publicly funded equitable health care system is important. But, health care spending simply amounts to spending on consumption. If we want to improve the quality of life of Canadians we need to make investments that will pay off in the future. Which leads to the focus of this post: Education Funding.

Yesterday, Canadian Premiers announced that they would begin to push for more education funding from the federal government in the form of a dedicated fund like the one established for health care. This is welcome news! Although education is under provincial jurisdiction, the federal government can play a positive role in improving education across the country.

Today, Universities gave this education plan top marks saying that this dedicated funding in the form of increased transfers to provinces would improve universities. Universities could hire more professors, increase the number of spaces, increase financial aid and further fund research projects.

Where I disagree, is when people talk about the need to halt tuition-fee increases. For instance the folks over at Canadian Federation of Students who started this campaign denouncing Bob Rae's review of Ontario's post-secondary institutions.

Contrary to popular belief, it is PROGRESSIVE to increase tuition fees if it is coupled with increases in financial aid based on need. By keeping tuition fees artificially low, which they are in Canada, the government is essentially subsidizing better-off Canadians and foreign students who are able to pay more for their education. If tuition fees were increased then we would have a progressive system based on a student's ability to pay for education. The government would have more funds available to provide even lower fees to poorer individuals. Moreover, the increased revenue from the higher tuition rates paid by well-off Canadians would allow post-secondary institutions to provide better quality education.

It seems that Rae is advocating this course of action. According to Rae, tuition should not increase at all until the student assistance system is reformed and government has made significant new investments.

Instead of vehemently denouncing the Rae review, CFS and others who I consider my progressive peers, should truly think about how we can make our post-secondary education system more progressive and beneficial to students.