(no subject)
Robert Chisholm has withdrawn from the NDP leadership race. Did you just feel the planet lurch beneath your feet? Well, did you?!
More seriously, while it might not be terribly interesting to learn that one of the nine (now eight) candidates has withdrawn, what is interesting is the reason why: because, he admits, his French sucks. It sucks so much, and there is so little prospect of it improving by the March leadership election, that he no longer considers his candidacy viable.
The common wisdom is that Quebec will struggle to affect the NDP leadership race, as the leadership will be decided under a one-member-one-vote system, and--although membership has grown significantly in recent months--the party still has more card-carrying members in Alberta (where it has 1 MP) than it does in Quebec (where it has 59).
Is this evidence that the leadership candidates are starting to care about Quebec, or at least taking it more seriously than they may have when the race started?
More seriously, while it might not be terribly interesting to learn that one of the nine (now eight) candidates has withdrawn, what is interesting is the reason why: because, he admits, his French sucks. It sucks so much, and there is so little prospect of it improving by the March leadership election, that he no longer considers his candidacy viable.
The common wisdom is that Quebec will struggle to affect the NDP leadership race, as the leadership will be decided under a one-member-one-vote system, and--although membership has grown significantly in recent months--the party still has more card-carrying members in Alberta (where it has 1 MP) than it does in Quebec (where it has 59).
Is this evidence that the leadership candidates are starting to care about Quebec, or at least taking it more seriously than they may have when the race started?