Harper and Ignatieff receive invitation for two-man debate

Decision Canada is carrying this:

OTTAWA — While the Liberal and Conservative leaders exchange barbs through Twitter over the prospect of a two-man debate, a public policy centre has made an earnest offer to host the two men.

“We believe that this format will allow Canadians to hear directly from you and learn of your contrasting positions on key issues as they make their voting decision prior to Election Day,” Canada 2020’s advisory board chair, Don Newman, wrote in a letter to Michael Ignatieff and Stephen Harper on Thursday.

Newman —a former broadcast journalist with four decades of experience — would moderate the 90-minute bilingual debate, which would take place within a week of the already-planned leaders’ debate which is hosted by a consortium of broadcasters.

...In Canada 2020’s proposal, each leader would make his opening statement, then take part in eight 10-minute debates based on questions posed by a panellist.

There would be no in-house audience, and there is still no guarantee that national broadcasters would carry the event, Newman said in a release.

“I look forward to hearing from your representatives in the coming days to discuss this invitation in greater detail,” Newman wrote to the leaders.

Do it! If no broadcaster picks it up, stream it, and YouTube the thing. Those are friendlier formats these days anyway.

Harper is back to running in a bubble. He's severely stage managing everything, and refuses to take more than a handful of questions a day from journalists. Being out in the open has never been something he's been comfortable with. Too bad. He's been PM for five years. He really shouldn't have a choice.

If he respects the Canadian people, he'll debate. As he doesn't we'll just have to shame him into it.

No Coalition? Don't worry about it. Here's how the Liberals can get power

Short of Harper getting a majority, if the Liberals truly know what they are doing, Ignatieff will be our PM within six months.

Ignatieff has ruled out a coalition. Good for him. This election can not be about whether we should be governed by a coalition. This election must be about the Harper Government and its lack of ethics, contempt for democracy and screwed up spending priorities.

People concerned about Harper winning again are... well, right. He will.

But even with Harper returning with yet another minority government, there is another way for Ignatieff to become PM.

Parliament must squash Harper at the first opportunity.

When Harper returns with a minority, the first order of parliamentary business for the 'new' government will be a Speech from the Throne. Convention says defeat him then (see CuriosityCat's excellent piece on this), so close after an election, and the Governor General will give serious consideration to giving the second place party a chance to govern.

Indeed, if a Harper government fails to gain confidence, so close after an election, it's all but an absolute given that the GG will grant the Liberals an opportunity to gain the confidence of the House.

(Technically -- and it's an important technicality -- the GG will consider any and all proposals from any MPs, regardless of party affiliation. We are represented constitutionally by MPs, not political parties.)

Will Ignatieff seek the PMO with an official coalition in hand? I doubt it. It's not in the Liberal's interest as it plays against the Liberal's 'natural governing party' instinct, spreads out the glory, and (sadly) gives credibility to the Harper Conservative's arrogant and hypocritical rhetoric about "risky, unstable" coalitions. (As if Parliament hasn't been unstable for the past five years...)

The Liberals should be able to negotiate sufficient ongoing support in the House regardless for, say, 18 months.

Having just found the 'Harper Government' in contempt, the other parties will be in an awkward position supporting a Conservative government.They also must hate dealing with Harper's hyper-partisanship. Allowing Parliament to accomplish very little while extending the powers of the 'executive' under the motto "majority or bust" has been Harper's legacy of the past five years. (Five years already?) For all the opposition parties, enough must be enough.


Working with the Liberals vote by vote, under the theme of democracy renewed, the Bloc and the NDP (and maybe, just maybe, one Green seat -- we'll see) will have more influence than they do currently. And yet, without a formal coalition, they will be unconstrained in their potential criticisms of the government.

In other words, if everyone knows their hand, they can get more without losing independence.

And the public gets to see Parliament finally work as it should.

It's my theory that this is the Liberal's intent.

Let's pray they are as smart as I hope they are.

Coalition to Protest Against Mayor's Call for TCHC Tenant Directors To Step Down

Sunday, March 6, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Coalition to Protest Against Mayor's Call for TCHC Tenant Directors To Step Down

The Coalition to Protect Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) will hold a protest and press conference on Monday, March 7th at 1pm at 931 Yonge St. to rebuff calls from Mayor Rob Ford that TCHC's elected Tenant Directors resign.

The Coalition believes that it is imperative that these two directors remain on the board in order to ensure continuity of tenant representation at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. If they are in fact removed from the board, the Coalition contends that tenant representation will soon become non-existent.

The two have been elected by tenants to serve a full term up to December 31, 2011. Even though the City has ultimate control over who serves on the Board, none of the tenants who voted had an expectation that their elected directors would be terminated early without cause or without fault found.

"In fact," says Danish Ahmed, leader of the Party for People with Special Needs and former TCHC tenant, "We call on the two of them to serve as interim co-chairs on the board of TCHC."

In November 8, 2010 and January 1, 2011, the two directors made a pair of requests to Doug and Rob Ford that an equivalent of Baltimore's CitiStat accountability program be established in Toronto, starting with TCHC. The program would save hundreds of millions of dollars and would ensure accountability at TCHC on a bi-weekly basis. Mayor Ford ignored this request and called on the tenant directors to resign.

The Party for People with Special Needs is a leading voice in the Coalition, and its leader points to the CitiStat proposal as an example of the tenant directors' dedication to accountability at Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/04/pdf/citistat_report.pdf

"The removal of the two elected directors would spark discontinuity at TCHC. The pair have shown that they are committed to serving their tenants and the City competently," Ahmed says. "Our proposal is that they be appointed interim co-chairs to bring the innovations they have recommended for accountable government to Toronto."

Further information on the Coalition and its protest can be found at:
http://specialneedsparty.blogspot.com/

For media requests regarding the coalition, contact Danish Ahmed
at 647-439-5011 or cell 416-500-0216 or coalition@ppsn.on.ca

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Dale Goldhawk Live Tonight: One of the remaining TCHC board members

I know one of the board members -- Dan King -- and he's on Dale Goldhawk Live tonight at 9 pm to set the record straight. He has refused to resign.

Here's what he's sent around:

ON TV Tonight!
Program: Dale Goldhawk Live
Time: 9pm
Date: Thursday March 3rd, 2011
Channel: 63 in Scarborough
      10 in the rest of Toronto
Dial in to our talk Show!
Dial in #: 416-446-7090 @9pm.- state your opinion!
Topic: "Should we Privatize Public Housing!"

Today, March 3rd 2011 was a dark day for public housing in Toronto.
Today, all of the citizen board members, seven in all, resigned.
This was a week of onslaught in the press about 1% of our spending that we admitted was out of control. We know we have problems in Public Housing.
Additionally, in order to ensure that we got government grants with tight time application deadlines, our staff circumvented the purchasing regulations to make sure TCHC did not lose valuable federal and provincial infrastructure funding.

It is alleged that up to $10 million might have been saved if staff had followed procedures. Up to $300 million might have been lost had staff not met the deadlines.

The mayor is now calling for privatization of public housing.
My first question is, will he also privatize our ...
* Tenant Participation Program
* Tenant Capital budget allocation program
* Social Investment Fund (SIF) grants
* Eviction Prevention Program
* Lesage report: 81 recommendations

Additionally, we are considering tenant social support recommendations stemming out of a demand for change to the Social Housing Reform Act, TCHC's mandate.

I am open to this discussion as long as it includes the valuable programs above, programs that we already have. I wonder if the mayor is?
He may make a guest appearance on our show, tonight at 9pm.
Come and see your tenant board members, Dan King and Catherine Wilkinson, on TV Tonight.
We have not resigned.
...Dan King, TCHC Tenant Board Member