Rae Offers Liberal Thoughts
Monday, November 12, 2012 @ 7:53 PM
Prince George, B.C. –It was a casual Bob Rae who met with about 50 interested Prince George residents this evening to talk about a variety of topics.On a western fact finding mission, the Interim Leader of the Federal Liberals was hoping to hear about what matters most to voters on this side of the country. He says there is a recurring theme, jobs and the economy.
Rae says the country is facing a serious skills shortage and something needs to be done to correct that problem, and the answer doesn’t lie in temporary workers. He says if he were Prime Minister, he would call an economic summit with all the Provincial Premiers and would set up a national strategy to ensure Canada’s youth had the right opportunities to develop the skills needed to fill the demand.
(click on photo at right for brief video clip)
Youth also play an important role in the revival of the Liberal party says Rae, who says the party needs to reconnect with Canadians and what matters to them if the Party is to regain its standing in the House of Commons.
While saying he is working on developing a national energy strategy he is not about to take a stand on the contentious Northern Gateway twin pipeline project . Instead, Rae says there is a process, a process that is based on science, and he is not about to take a stand based on ideology when the science based process has not yet delivered a decision.
Although he is the one doing the national tour to take the pulse of Canadians, he is not in therunning for the Liberal leadership, his role is interim only. When asked why he won’t seek the top spot in the party, the answer was simple “That’s the deal I made.”
Comments
“Youth also play an important role in the revival of the Liberal party says Rae, who says the party needs to reconnect with Canadians and what matters to them if the Party is to regain its standing in the House of Commons.”
It is not just the Liberal party who needs to reconnect with Canadians. It is all political parties.
Right from the municipal level up..
Does anyone find it strange that the going wisdom is that political parties have to reconnect with youth at a time when we are entering a period of at least a generation – considerd to be about 20 years – when those over 60 and those immediately following them will be the largest demographic groups of voting age?
I think that the belief that older people are generally to the right of center and younger people are to the left of centre should be re-examined.
From the link below:
“Amidst the bipartisan banter of election season, there persists an enduring belief that people get more conservative as they age — making older people more likely to vote for Republican candidates.
“Ongoing research, however, fails to back up the stereotype. While there is some evidence that today’s seniors may be more conservative than today’s youth, that’s not because older folks are more conservative than they use to be. Instead, our modern elders likely came of age at a time when the political situation favored more conservative views.
“In fact, studies show that people may actually get more liberal over time when it comes to certain kinds of beliefs. That suggests that we are not pre-determined to get stodgy, set in our ways or otherwise more inflexible in our retirement years.
“Contrary to popular belief, old age can be an open-minded and enlightening time.”
http://news.discovery.com/human/voter-conservative-aging-liberal-120119.html
So why does Bob Rae, a baby boomer of 64, think that everyone moves to the right of where they used to be as they age? Just because he did does not mean the majority have.
What the Liberal party needs is someone about 20 years younger than Bob Rae with an excellent track record in private life who can bring that experience to organizing the renewal of th Liberal Party.
Harper was that person for the right of centre political parties.
Justin Trudeau has the name and the charisma to go with it to move the party from virtual oblivion. I suspect he is, however, a bit short of some of the type of experience needed to be the head of a country. But he may be the best the Liberals have. We shall see.
Maybe Mr Rae should google the age of the rioters and the age of the protesters. It seems one is young or old ;)
50 people. Wow!! I’m impressed. (Sarcasm off).
50 people ?!?! Another waste of taxpayers money. He has really gone out on a limb……..jobs and the economy ! Nothing earth shattering in this visit! Next time stay in Ottawa and send us your daily allowance for our potholes and failing infrastructure !
Yeah, the 1%er substitute drama teacher, who happens to be blessed/cursed with his father’s surname, is going to be ride to the rescue of the Liberals…Just-in time?
How a guy, with all the doors held wide open for him, managed to reach his forties and have accomplished absolutely nothing. At least the Kennedy clan, parlays their name into meaningful careers.
“…he won a celebrity boxing match”, seems to be about the sum of ANY critical analysis of him.
“How a guy, with all the doors held wide open for him, managed to reach his forties and have accomplished absolutely nothing”
Are you describing Trudeau or every politician?
Oh and that’s not meant to be critical, it’s meant to highlight the fact that most politicians do not have “accomplishments” in the way that I think you are describing.
I’ll bet if you were to read the bio’s of most MP’s or MLA’s, you’d think to yourself “this guy or gal is just an average person” and in many cases you’d be right. That doesn’t preclude them from being effective politicians.
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