Mulcair expresses misgivings about Keystone XL pipeline during U.S. visit

[GP_Matt]

So the leader of the opposition made a trip to the US to meet with lawmakers there and bash our environmental record.

In meetings with U.S. lawmakers and business executives, Mulcair is telling Americans the Canadian government is “playing people for fools” by claiming that its environmental record is world class and that it cares about climate change.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines..._lsa=0f10-3208

This sort of action really bugs me. Say whatever you want at home, but I hate when people go outside the country to score points at home. It makes me think of a couple who had a fight and then they try to bring all their friends into it.

I don't think it is partisan on my part. We are a small country and I really think we need to present a united front to the world. It doesn't help that he is playing regional politics by appealing to the East and attacking the West.

I have no issues with him making international trips but I really wish he would keep the message positive. If you don't like the line maybe just keep your mouth shut.

[Robbob]

I almost laughed out loud when I read this portion

Mulcair said his visit to the U.S. has been planned for months and his main intention was to introduce himself to Americans as the man who in 2015 could become Canada’s prime minister.

[GP_Matt]

I would drop the Conservatives and vote Liberal if I thought it would prevent the NDP from gaining power.

[CaptainCrunch]

Mulcair is a blundering idiot, and intellectual lightweight who has fallen in love with his own wacked out theories like Dutch Elm disease that every economist has said is the dumbest thing that they've ever heard but he keeps sticking to it.


Mulcaiir is so up the a$$ of the manufacturing unions that he's actively gone down to the States to screw up something that the government of canada deems as essential to economic growth.

Chances are Mulcair will drive his party back into the distant back benches in the next election. He's like Trudeau keep giving Harper some great ammo for the next election.

but him sabotaging the government in front of a foreign power is really wrong.

[SebC]

NDP theories on economics are like Christian theories on evolution ... completely invalid.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by SebC

NDP theories on economics are like Christian theories on evolution ... completely invalid.

Now if we could make a similar NDP theory to the earth is only 7000 years old

[Daradon]

Although I am split with a lot of the issues of the oilsands, I agree that opposition leaders and parties should not be going against the government internationally.

Wait till you get the support of the nation (more or less) and are the leader, then take your mandate and make your decisions.

It's just harmful. It really serves no purpose other than personal, and even then it often falls short.

A house divided... and all that...

[CaptainCrunch]

I wonder if Mulcair has set up a meeting with Darryl Hannah yet.

[The Coppernian One]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

So the leader of the opposition made a trip to the US to meet with lawmakers there and bash our environmental record.


http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines..._lsa=0f10-3208

This sort of action really bugs me. Say whatever you want at home, but I hate when people go outside the country to score points at home. It makes me think of a couple who had a fight and then they try to bring all their friends into it.

I don't think it is partisan on my part. We are a small country and I really think we need to present a united front to the world. It doesn't help that he is playing regional politics by appealing to the East and attacking the West.

I have no issues with him making international trips but I really wish he would keep the message positive. If you don't like the line maybe just keep your mouth shut.

I agree with the sentiment and most of your post but I actually do have a problem with opposition parties making international trips. They are an opposition party and not a representative of the government of Canada (or Alberta, etc.). The government, whether you like that party or not, represents us outside of our borders.

[GP_Matt]

I suppose I have a bit of an idealized version of politics where they can disagree internally but once they leave the country they should stay on the message of the government.
If he wants to go the the States though it should be only to talk about the good things that Canada has done or will do.

The odd thing about his trip is that in the lead-up to it he took some flak for saying that he would avoid the pipeline talk which I read as he was under fire for not supporting the pipeline. Somehow that resulted in him trashing the country.

[SebC]

While I don't agree with Mulcair on Keystone, when the PM only has support from the rightmost 40% of the population, there's a case to be made that he the government does not legitimately have sole authority to speak on behalf of the country.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Thomas is enjoying his final days of relevancy, as polls indicate the NDP is heading south, especially if Trudeau is the Liberal nominee. I guess he figures might as well try and drudge up support from the base.

[CaptainCrunch]

I was hoping that Mulcair and Trudeau would fight it out in the next election for the official opposition chair.

I think Mulcair is starting to prove that people probably voted for Jack Layton and not the policies and positioning of the NDP party as the parties numbers are steadily sliding down to third place, and idiotic actions like his rant in the States are going to give tremendous ammunition to the conservatives in the next election.

With Justin Trudeau all but being declared in a joke of a Liberal leader race he's now going to get the harsh reality that being a federal leader is not like being the darling of the ball in a leadership convention where everyone handles you with kid gloves because your cute and can twitter and you share your dads last name. But Trudeau has already had some idiotic actions and given the Conservatives a ton of ammo.

Right now there is going to be a battle on the left between Mulcair and Trudeau. Mulcair will rant and bluster, Trudeau will fire out empty headed platitudes while flicking his hair. Right now the left is going through what could be a massive leadership vacuum with Marc Garnaeu sitting on the sidelines as the only guy with the temperament, experience, intelligence and credibility to be the type of Liberal leader that could steal votes from the Conservatives.

I think the pre-election hype will be interesting in a couple of years with the Liberal's doing their usual, Harper is a meany with a hidden agenda, Mulcair doing the Trudeau is a double dipping work skipping moronic trustfund baby, and Harper stirring the pot from the side.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by SebC

While I don't agree with Mulcair on Keystone, when the PM only has support from the rightmost 40% of the population, there's a case to be made that he the government does not legitimately have sole authority to speak on behalf of the country.

In a non two party system where the government holds the majority of the seats in the Commons the current government absolutely does have the authority to speak on behalf of the government.

You would have an argument if the NDP and Liberal's were a shared party with a shared platform.

Mulcair was not speaking on behalf of the left, he was speaking on behalf of a non governing party with the second most seats in the house.

Beyond the fact that a member off the opposition is going out and basically slagging a project that is in his countries best interests is pretty dirt baggy.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by SebC

While I don't agree with Mulcair on Keystone, when the PM only has support from the rightmost 40% of the population, there's a case to be made that he the government does not legitimately have sole authority to speak on behalf of the country.

The role of the NDP and the Liberals are not to make a case for Canada and their supporters and the policies they agree with in other countries, but to make it at home.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by SebC

While I don't agree with Mulcair on Keystone, when the PM only has support from the rightmost 40% of the population, there's a case to be made that he the government does not legitimately have sole authority to speak on behalf of the country.

I hate this line of reasoning. He is the individual with the most support. There is no one in power who has more support than him so there is no one more qualified to represent our country to the world.

Muclair only got 30 percent of the vote. And if you want to dig into it, he only received 43% of the vote in the leadership race. By your logic, he isn't even qualified to speak on behalf of the NDP. He should stand up there with Brian Topp and Nathan Cullen anytime the NDP wants to say anything and they should all be allowed to shout their opinions.

The fact is that Canada is a multiparty country with a first past the post election system. There may be better systems, but we have to work with what we have.
To help with understanding the system, consider the way the system works without any party affiliation. Every riding elects their chosen MP and sends them to Ottawa. On the first day all 308 of them have a second election to pick a leader. Stephen Harper received 166 votes while Jack Layton took 103, Ignatieff got 34, Duceppe got 4 and May voted for herself.
The result is that Stephen Harper has the support of 54% of the House making him the leader of the country with a majority.

[TorqueDog]

Oh, how I hate Thomas Mulcair.

And yeah, his delusions about being the next Prime Minister make me laugh. Is there anyone less qualified? I'm sure we could dig up Jack Layton, get the Jim Henson's Muppets people to make him into a Muppet with the guy who does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog voicing him, and he'd make a better PM than Mulcair.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Oh, how I hate Thomas Mulcair.

And yeah, his delusions about being the next Prime Minister make me laugh. Is there anyone less qualified? I'm sure we could dig up Jack Layton, get the Jim Henson's Muppets people to make him into a Muppet with the guy who does Triumph the Insult Comic Dog voicing him, and he'd make a better PM than Mulcair.

That would actually be an AWESOME PM.

Zombie Jack with Triumph's wit and Jim Henson's puppeteers? I'd vote twice!

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

So the leader of the opposition made a trip to the US to meet with lawmakers there and bash our environmental record.


http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines..._lsa=0f10-3208

This sort of action really bugs me. Say whatever you want at home, but I hate when people go outside the country to score points at home. It makes me think of a couple who had a fight and then they try to bring all their friends into it.

Except that all politicians do this. Did you not see Romney in Israel during the U.S. election campaign. I think a politician who conducts business with other countries without a blindly nationalist agenda is perfectly fine.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Except that all politicians do this. Did you not see Romney in Israel during the U.S. election campaign. I think a politician who conducts business with other countries without a blindly nationalist agenda is perfectly fine.

1. Only recently have leaders started doing this, and it's a bad trend. While I agree that you do see it from other countries ESPECIALLY the US (and it's not the first time here either I don't think), it is fairly new and it reeks of poor politics.

2. Do you really want to take from the US political playbook?