Bob Rae

Rae will decide on Liberal bid in next few days

WINNIPEG — He may need a few more days to make up his mind about a federal Liberal leadership bid, but former Ontario premier Bob Rae was much more decided Monday about the greatest challenges facing the country and how to tackle them.

Rae was quick to tell his Canadian Club luncheon audience that his speech would not contain any revelations about his political future.

But his passionate address, centred on a quote from former Liberal prime minister Wilfrid Laurier that "hope is stronger than fear," left some listeners convinced they had heard a dress rehearsal for a campaign stump speech.

Rae acknowledged he is seriously considering jumping into the race to replace Paul Martin, but said he has a lot to think about after being out of politics for 10 years.

"To go back in is a change and it would be a change in my life, which is quite a big deal," Rae said following his speech.

"Then there's always the question of: What can you do? And then there's another question, which is: Have you got a chance? I don't know the answer to those questions."

Rae, who was Ontario's first NDP premier from 1990 to '95, said he expects to make a decision in the next few days.

He would be no stranger to federal politics, having been elected in 1978 in a federal byelection in the Toronto riding of Broadview-Greenwood.

Rae was re-elected in 1979 and 1980 and was the NDP finance critic when he resigned his seat in March 1982 and switched to provincial politics.

Toronto lawyer Martha Hall Findlay is the only declared candidate. Rae joins a list of more than a dozen others, including several former cabinet ministers, who are considering entering the race.

Should he run, sources say Rae would have the backing of some of the party insiders closest to former prime minister Jean Chretien, including his brother John Rae and right-hand man Eddie Goldenberg.

While he would be seen as a candidate well-positioned to create a powerful left-of-centre political force, his supporters acknowledge he would also carry the baggage of his poor economic record in Ontario.

His government posted the largest deficit ever at that time and followed it up with massive cost-cutting.

In his speech Monday, Rae cited higher education as the greatest challenge facing Canada, especially as it struggles to remain competitive with emerging economies such as China and India.

"There has to be a national vision for learning and for education to make sure that Canada maintains the prosperity that is such a key part of our social justice," Rae said to warm applause.

Alternating between English and fluent French, Rae also addressed the problems he sees with the previous Liberal government's deals with individual provinces in areas such as natural resource revenues.

"It's not transparent," said Rae.

"If you're going to have an equalization formula, everybody has to understand it, everybody has to stick to it, it has to be consistent, it has to be clear. You can't have one deal for one province and a completely different deal for another province and nobody being clear about what the overall impact is going to be."

He also said discussions need to take place with provinces such as Alberta to make sure others aren't left behind in the wake of high oil prices, but he did not put forward any concrete suggestions.

Rae is the second prospective leadership hopeful to swing through Winnipeg in the last week.

St. Boniface MP Ray Simard listened to Rae speak and was also in the audience last week when Ontario MP Belinda Stronach addressed a fundraiser for the Liberal youth wing.

He said he hasn't thrown his support behind anyone yet.

"His Achilles heel is probably his fiscal record in Ontario," Simard said of Rae. "At the same time the delegates would have to establish whether or not that is such a negative thing that we could maybe lose Ontario."

I don't think I have been attracted to any of the leaders, in particular, so far; I would have to say that of the contenders that I know of so far, assuming she would run, the Honourable Belinda Stronach, P.C., M.P., would have to be my preference at this point.

Unless, of course, they got some cute guy to run.

Well if your a Conservative this could be good news. Rae's political correct "revolution" in Ontario has failed miserably, not to mention his pitiful economic record (although he was governing at a time of recession, like Murloney).

This would be a blessing for Mr Harper. Even with all the stupid mistakes he has made, his popularity has not gone down and some may argue has gone up. Most agree that if he does not make some huge mistakes he will have nothing but gains in the next election. It seems he has gotten the attention of Quebec and all he needs is Ontario (which is where Rae comes in). This could be the perfect storm.....

Unless, of course (as is possible) the House of Commons actually convenes, and the Prime Minister of Canada experiences a "crash-and-burn" sort of effect.

Ha, I doubt Stronach, Brison, and Rae would ever be able to pull of an election victory unless it was practically handed to them. These three are all divisive not only to the public but within their own party. There will be some internal blood spilt over thisleadership bid. Right now the only contender I can see making a serious run against the Conservatives is Dryden. He would however move the party more to the left wing economically than Martin which might be a problem.

So the best the Liberals can hope for is they elect a new leader from the three turncoats mentioned above?

That's great news......

No, Jay, don't put words in my mouth, hehe.

I am not a representative for the Liberal Party of Canada; however, of those who have (as of yet) expressed a true interest in running for the leadership of the party, my preference is the Honourable Belinda Stronach, P.C., M.P. — however, only of those who have expressed a vested interest in running for party leadership.

I would need to see a more developed list of leadership contenders to make a decision.

As for the "turncoat" comment, why would I blame anyone for wanting to switch to the Liberal Party of Canada? Hehe, seriously though, those who crossed the House to join this party were quite moderate, or left-leaning, conservatives to begin with — and with the direction that it seemed apparent the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., had intended to take this nation, I would have been surprised had they not left the Conservative Party of Canada.

Wailing loudly Sassy asks Jay "Is that list of three really what one has to choose from?" I wish my dog could get on that list. He speaks French, English and American sign language. He does not lie, steal (Well he has on occassion eaten other dog poo)always speaks the truth. Oh, and very loyal.

You would vote for a dog or Billy Ray Virus wouldn,t ya.

You would vote for a dog or Billy Ray Virus wouldn,t ya. Hi Sassy

Yes sir I would. Picken on Billy Rae Cyrus is just wrong. During the election I had a couple of Farm rats hanging around the property so I took photos, put the photos on a board and tried to run the rats as an independants. Neighbours went a little wonky and i had to take the sign down. Life's to short Beaver to be angry all the time.

You should be sued for actions detrimental to the reputation of rats...............

Oh, sorry.

I thought you ran them as Liberals.

Because the Liberal Party is morally, intellectually and financially bankrupt?

God no Colpy the SPCA would of been over me like ugly on an ape. My rats are Independants!

Jay, that is the most concise, and the most accurate description of the Liberal Party of Canada i have read in a long time.

If the Liberals elected Bob Rae as leader, they would be in about the same position as the PCs in the first election after Bulroney stepped down...........Nowhere...

Quite seriously, I think Rae has one thing only going for him.....he believes the "progressive" parties (Liberals and NDP) should unite.

Probably a good idea. Some Liberals would abandon the Liberal Democratic Party (as I would call it) for the Conservatives, some would stay and modify some of the weirder NDP policies, and the NDP might just give the party something faintly resembling a conscience. (which the Liberals are conspicuously lacking)

It might improve Canadian politics immensely.

I couldn't see me voting for them........but....

Well, don't think it would be a very good idea for either of the parties. Although they have similar ideals, there would still be too much infighting, and I'm sure it would last 5-7 years and then they would split again....

Bob Rae is not a turncoat. Rae has slowly edged away from the NDP for the best part of a decade (if only he had done so sooner he might have been a better premier) positioning himself on the rightwing of the NDP or the centre-left of the Grits. He has also excelled in the jobs he has been given since being turfed from office, recently his ongoing investigating the Air India inquiry. Rae has deep roots within the Grits, his brother is a MP and I believe his dad also was high up in the echelons of Grit power, fully bi-lingual and already a national figure Rae would move easily into the leadership except for one thing; his disasterous temure as Premier.

One of his governments most famous quotes relates to the Ontario budget during the 1990's recession with a balloning defict Rae's finance minister proudly declared that: we (the Government of Ontario) had a choice to either fight the deficit or fight the recession, we are proud to say that we have decided to fight the recession. This of course meant a soaring deficit which in the long run probably hurt Ontario, never mind the 30 some-odd tax hikes and other measures which scared investment. In short Rae does not have enough good will left among his fellow Ontarian for them to give him a second chance, I think he may run but would be shocked if he ended up winning.

As for his belief in a merger of the 2 socially progressive parties Grits and Dippers, I think this is a sure vote killer. A lot of people I know would never vote NDP but do vote Liberal because of their socially progressive yet fiscally conservative ways. A merger would alienate those people and drive them to the Tories. Similarly I know lots of people who vote NDP simply because they are not the Tories or Grits a merger would drive these folks into the arms of the Greens. In any case while in some respects the Grits and Dippers are ideologically similar in many aspects of their being they are quite divergent. Both parties position on constitutional issues provides a good case in point: Dippers are republicans and Senate abolishtionists; Liberals are constitutional monarchists and believe Canada should have a bi-cameral Parliament. Grits favour FPTP while Dipper are stong advocates of PR. For my own part I ma quite happy to see them separate as it gives me more options when I go to the polls.

I believe Stephane Dion just declared his intentions to run today.

hahaha, I am hoping they do.

seriously the best people i can think of to give Harper a good fight is Dryden, or maybe even Dion.

no doubt, electing a leader who has no chance of popularity in your largest bastion of support (Ontario) would seem a pretty foolish move....

Looks like the Conservatives are holding:

OTTAWA (CP) - A new poll suggests Tory support is as strong as it was in the Jan. 23 election, despite the political furor over Stephen Harper's cabinet choices.

The Decima poll, conducted March 9-13, suggests the Conservatives had the support of 37 per cent of decided voters, up slightly from the 36 per cent of the vote they won on election day. The Liberals had the support of 28 per cent, down from 30 per cent on election night.

The New Democrats were up to 19 per cent after taking 18 per cent of the January vote, and the Bloc Quebecois had 10 per cent, down from 11 per cent.

"In this week's poll, the Conservatives have more support than the Liberals in every part of the country except for Ontario, where they trail by only three percentage points," said Bruce Anderson, Decima's chief executive officer.

Harper has come under some sharp political criticism for a couple of controversial cabinet appointments.

David Emerson changed parties to join the Tory cabinet just two weeks after being elected as a Liberal. And Michael Fortier, who didn't run in the election, accepted a Senate appointment to take the public works portfolio.

But that does not seem to have shaken public support.

"While not enjoying an extraordinary honeymoon, the Conservatives are certainly not losing ground in their early weeks in office," Anderson said.

He also said the Tories seem to be gaining ground among younger people and women "as anxiety about the social policy agenda may be dissipating."

The poll was conducted as part of Decima's national omnibus telephone survey. It was based on a sample of 1,012 people and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.

©The Canadian Press, 2006

I personally have mixed feeligns about Bob Rae.... I come from Ontario so I lived under his government, I'm also a Member of the Ontario NDP and the Fed NDP. Though Bob Rae has made it clear in the last few years that he is indeed a Social Democrat still I still don't think he is reliable as a leader. He has changed his views on many issues many times back and forth and I have no idea how he bases these dessions on.

Also as many of us on the left right and centre know and why many of us don't like him, is he started off as a socialist in Ontario and ended as a neo-conservastive, even at one point supporting Mike Harris's cuts after Bob Rae and the Ontario NDP got decimated at the polls. Bob Rae has moved from being a socialist, to a neo con, to a social democrat, to a liberal social democrat. He doesn't know where he stands, how would he run Canada? One year perhaps has a socialist the next the unions are being forced into deals and we are all taking unpaid rae days.

Though I think he has made many bitter enemies on the left right and centre I think we also tend to be a little over critical of him. He ran Ontario during the deepist darkist days of the ression in times of increasing unemployment and times of hard economic times where he just couldn't be a socialist, neo-con or a liberal all the time. I think he has taken a hard beating from all of us pretty well. I think Bob Rae's biggest foe isn't the Neo-cons in Ontario, but those of the Ontario NDP who cringe at how his policies almost destoryed a strong Ontario NDP party. If he becomes the leader of the NDP he will have to work hard on fixing his image in Ontario, I do not think it is immpossible to do for I think he could do it. But if he fails the Liberal party could lose all of Ontario to the NDP and the Conservatives which would be a death blow to the Liberal party and perhaps give the conservatives a magority or even the NDP official oppistion status.


Well thats my two cents.

Paradox, Belinda!!! why don't you just hand the Conservatives the next election. lol

(kicking this up since it is still in the news)

Finder, between Belinda and Hedy? Stronach would get my vote any day lol

Nice choices....

I know, eh?

Been there though!

What's a guy to do?

Well
1. Belinda is extremely new and cocky to politics.
2. She crossed the floor in less then a year of being elected
3. She a billionairess and has the interests of the the economic hard right of the liberal party in interest. Another problem with this is that she could not work well with the left wing of the party which still has alot of sway.

Well more less I don't like anyone who is going for leadership right now. I do however think Bob Rae could make a good leader but I'd have to say he would have a extremly difficult time in Ontario unless he was able to reaccess his image. Because in Ontario both the left and the right don't like him very much.