Tuesday Debate Day – Mayors

We’re back again, to give you an opportunity to share your input on political issues.

Yesterday Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford was found guilty of violating provincial conflict of interest rules and was forced to vacate the Toronto mayoralty. Earlier this month Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay resigned in the face of conflict of interest violations alleged in the Charbonneau Commission.  This coming April, Winnipeg’s Mayor, Sam Katz, will be in court over a conflict of interest lawsuit.

These three cases are alike yet different all at the same time. This week we’ll take a brief look at each circumstance and discuss whether they should all be treated the same or not.

Starting in Montreal, Gérald Tremblay’s resignation stems from allegations that he and his administration were involved in, or aware of, large illegal cash contributions to unions and governments from corporations bidding on construction contracts. This scandal is so massive in scale it required Provincial Officials to call for a a public inquiry known as the Charbonneau Commission. It is like something you would expect to see in the movies complete with corruption at the highest levels, exclusive clubs of the powerful elite of Montreal, and even ties to the notorious mafia crime family of Vito Rizzuto. This mayoral vacancy is high drama and comes without actual formal charges against the mayor, at least not yet. If it were found to be true that Tremblay received, or was aware of, funds being exchanged for construction contracts, it would be a pretty clear case of conflict of interest. From there, losing his job as mayor would only be the start of his concerns.

In Toronto, Rob Ford was forced out of office because he, as a city councilor in 2010 and before he was elected mayor, violated fundraising rules while soliciting donations for his football club’s charity. As a result he was expected to pay back a little over $3000. From my understanding, Ford ignored the fact he was expected to pay the donors back and a year later was elected mayor. This year he, along with other city council members, voted to rescind the previous decision that he would have to pay back the money and they would not pursue the matter any further. Because he didn’t pay back the donations, which relatively speaking is a small amount, and because spoke at and participated in the council vote the court found him guilty of conflict of interest charges resulting in removing him as Mayor of Toronto.

Now here in Winnipeg, Mayor Sam Katz will be in court this April over allegations he spent city money on a council Christmas party at a restaurant he used to own. The allegation is that Katz is in conflict because he is using city funds  without a fair bidding process and that the money was used with someone he had previously had business dealings with.

As we can see these a three very different circumstances with varying degrees of severity. What do you think? Is conflict of interest a simple matter where no-matter the incident in question people should lose their jobs?

Add your comment and join the conversation!

Tuesday Debate Day – Justin Trudeau in the race for Liberal Leader

Welcome to another Tuesday Debate Day! Earlier this week Michael wrote a wonderful post discussing Political Leadership Races with a focus on our provincial and federal Liberal Parties and mentioned the Quebec Liberals as well.

This evening, in one of the poorest kept secrets of the last few weeks, Justin Trudeau officially entered the race to replace Interim Leader, Bob Rae. Historically the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) has been a virtual juggernaut on federal level since confederation. In fact, Stephane Dion & Michael Ignatieff were the first full-time Liberal Leaders who did not serve as Prime Ministers of Canada. Since the 2004 Election, the LPC has been in sharp decline going from 172 to 135 to 103 to 77 to the current 34 seats in successive elections. This can also be demonstrated by noting that since 2004 the LPC has gone from have 57% of all the seats in the House of Commons to 11% in just 7 years. Juggernaut to Have-not in just a few short years.

Today’s question: do you think Justin Trudeau can raise the sunken ship that is the Liberal Party of Canada? As a follow-up, if he cannot will anyone or is the Liberal Party of Canada on the verge of disappearing altogether?

Add your comment and join the conversation!

Attack Ads in Canada

I don’t know about any of you, but I happen to dislike Attack Ads in politics. I think it is silly for opposition parties to WASTE money (when the topic is the economy) talking about ‘the other guy’. Check out this Globe & Mail Article explaining it.

MC solution:  take that same air time, that same advertising budget and instead communicate with us and tell us what you are going to do differently/instead.

The ominous music, the attacks, the insults. Lame. Thank you to each of the attack ads for bringing up specific quotes…I guess that is good.  But all this talk about economy without proposing alternatives is lame. I am dissapointed in both the governing Conservatives and the opposition NDP for their recent attack ads.

CONSERVATIVES ATTACK NDP

NDP ATTACK CONSERVATIVES

I was happy in the last federal election that the NDP took the high road, and focused on positive ads, as opposed to negative. To focus on hope and possibility other than ‘not a leader’ or whatever bullshit negative rhetoric comes out of the CPC. To me, this is an example of the NDP forgetting how they got to where they are, and that they are willing to play the mud slinging game.

I think many young people voted for the Federal NDP because they were different….their strategies were a positive alternative. After this attack ad released today…I am not so sure there is a difference.