Cullen Mulling Leadership Run
Prince George, B.C. – Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen has had a change of heart regarding a possible run for the leadership of the federal NDP.
Prior to this past weekend’s party convention he dismissed the idea as something that would take too much time away from his family, however the ouster of Tom Mulcair has changed things.
“I’ve been asked many times before the leadership vote and certainly many times since as to what my thoughts are in terms of something I was not contemplating,” said Cullen on a conference call with reporters this afternoon.
“I thought Tom would easily survive that confidence vote but now that that’s not happened, I’m taking some time with my family and friends and colleagues to talk it over. My inclination today is not strongly in favour of running but I certainly owe it to people to listen.”
He said he hasn’t “locked into” an exact time frame for his decision yet but noted there is a two year window before the party has to decide who Mulcair’s successor will be.
Either way, Cullen said he’s “humbled and flattered” to be considered for the job but added it’s not a decision he’ll make lightly.
“Anyone taking this on, this is a serious commitment but also a long one – it’s a 10 year or more effort and that’s a big part of one’s life so I’m taking it very seriously.”
Cullen is no stranger to questions of leadership, having first run for the party’s top position in 2012 when he finished third behind Mulcair.
He also considered but ultimately rejected a chance to run for the BC NDP after the party’s disastrous showing in the 2013 provincial election.
Comments
Mullin’ Cullen.
Who ever takes on the job will need a pipeline of superglue to attempt to mend all the fractures in the party. Is moving it in that manner dealt with in the leap manifesto?
24 Sussex or Stornoway will continue be beyond reach as they assume their tradition place as 3rd place also rans.
Like other political parties have never had rifts or periods of instability. For example, the “Progressive” Conservative party that was ionized by the likes of Brian Mulrooney, paving the way for the neanderthal Conservative party.
Or the SoCred party that was destroyed, but managed to reconstitute itself by infiltrating and corrupting the BC Liberal party and continues to hide behind that name, even though it is anything but Liberal.
your still giving us the old PC story sparrow.
Cheers
It was going to be exciting when Jack was brought on as leader. With his death, this party became irrelevant. Having it at a 52-48 split, it shows that the divide is right up the middle and as bad as it can be. This new manifesto regarding environmental issues is totally on the coat tails of the Liberals. How about being first with something as opposed to morphing to the flavour of the day.
He might just as well run for leader as he has accomplished zero as a MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley . as Leader he would be rocketing around the world on our dollar. and out of folks hair.
He’s very well respected in his riding. That’s why his percentage of the vote increased each election.
Look at the BIG grin on his face.. like saying… FINALLY>>> ole guy gone and IT’S MINE !!!
Doesn’t do anything now..might as well do nothing as leader except more money and benifits.
Yeah, I know what you mean… kind of like Rona and her ilk complaining about the Liberal’s “lack of transparency”, when that was a Conservative government standard practice for almost 10 years. Makes me laugh when, as the opposition, they demand the very thing they refused to deliver… hypocrites, the lot of them.
No kidding.. My fav is all the con supporters crying about the liberals running a deficit …how dare they.. But when the cons did it for 10+ yrs it was all for good reasons…lol
Interesting comment JGalt, except that your constant bashing of the Conservatives just doesn’t hold water! Don’t take it from me! Take it from the opinion of the Parliamentary Budget Office!
From the Globe and Mail, April 06, 2016:
“The Liberal government’s first budget is less transparent than Conservative budgets under Stephen Harper and overestimates the number of jobs that will be created, Ottawa’s non-partisan fiscal watchdog says.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer takes issue with the budget’s claim that its package of tax cuts and spending measures will create or maintain 100,000 jobs by 2017-18. It notes that these estimates were created entirely by the government, while the previous Conservative government subjected similar estimates to an outside review in its 2009 stimulus budget.
The PBO report is unwelcome news for a government that came to power with a pledge to be more open, particularly when it comes to how budget numbers are presented.
On fiscal transparency, Mostafa Askari, the assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer, says the 2016 budget is a step backward on several fronts.
“What they have provided is not sufficient. It’s certainly much less than what was produced over the last 15 budgets that I remember,” he said, referring to a period that covers both the Harper and past Liberal governments.
In the report, the PBO takes issue with several points related to how the budget numbers are presented.
The removal of key financial data from this year’s budget has limited the office’s ability to report to MPs and makes it harder for parliamentarians to review government spending, according to the PBO.
The PBO is critical of the government’s decision to add $6-billion a year in risk adjustments to its forecasts, concluding that this is “excessive” and is not presented in a clear and transparent way. As a result, the PBO says the forecast deficit of $29.4-billion for 2016-17 will likely end up being smaller than that, barring unforeseen events.”
Oh my JGalt, say it isn’t so!
ht tp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/first-trudeau-budget-less-transparent-inflates-job-growth-watchdog-says/article29537855/
JGalt, here’s more, this time from Kady O’Malley, Ottawa Citizen, April 06, 2016:
“It appears that Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s inaugural budget may have failed – rather spectacularly – to live up to the squeaky-clean open-book principles that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to uphold.
That, at least, is the verdict of parliamentary budget watchdog Jean-Denis Frechette, whose office issued a mild to middling-ly scathing review of how the government presented its fiscal plan.
According to Frechette, the changes made to the presentation of the budget under Team Trudeau go far beyond mere layout tweaks.
From fiddling with the dates to dumbing down the tables to releasing “key fiscal information” outside the traditional fiscal cycle, the new format “[has] made it more difficult for parliamentarians to scrutinize public finances.”
From the executive summary of Frechette’s report:
– The Government did not provide detailed tables that identify the impact of changes to its adjustment to the private sector forecast and the effect of policy measures.
– Budget 2016 shortened the time horizon of cost estimates from 5 years to 2 years.
– Key fiscal information is being released outside of the budget and Fall Update with no reconciliation between the main documents
Read it all here:
ht tp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/kady-omalley-so-about-that-promise-of-being-transparent-with-parliamentarians-liberals
So JGalt, tell us again about how transparent Justin is when compared to the last Conservative Governments! Go on, tell us!
I read this earlier today from the CBC and I had to laugh!
“Justin Trudeau got court extension after missing Elections Canada deadlines”
“Four Liberal MPs missed extended deadline to file post-campaign financial reports”
Haha, lazy a$$ Justin and three of his Liberal MPs asked a court for more time to file post-campaign financial reports after failing to meet deadlines under Canada’s election laws!
I suppose that he could have taken LESS vacation time since being elected so that he could meet his obligations, but we are talking about Justin so that’s not likely to happen!
Big difference between the Harper budget and the Trudeau budget as I see it was that Harper underestimated the deficit by overestimating the price of oil and GDP growth rates… while Trudeau has done the opposite. To me that is all about fiscal prudence. Also I don’t see Trudeau using the budget to push through an omnibus bill to deregulate the environment and other such shady schemes to change major laws using the budget as a hostage.
P Val, why is it that you always fail to mention that the previous Conservative Government ran deficits for the most part while in a minority government position and with the support of the opposition parties!
You also always fail to mention that many of these periods of deficit financing were during one of the worst global economic meltdowns in our history!
Also, now that we have Justin running deficits, why are you not mentioning that he ran with a promise of a modest deficit, a promise that has now clearly been blown completely out of the water to the tune of 30 Billion or so?
Perhaps you have selective memory? No, that couldn’t be it, could it, haha!
We need to question Cullen’s judgement . Did he really believe that Mulcair would survive the confidence vote??
He says that the job is a 10 year or more investment. Hmmmm. Mulcair never got 10 years.
Its time for the NDP to change their name to the Surprise Party.
1. They were surprised when they lost the BC Election.
2. They were surprised when they picked up votes in Quebec and became the official opposition.
3. They were surprised when the NDP were elected in Alberta.
4. They were surprised when Mulcair lost the confidence vote.
Seems they are just full of surprises.
Here are 15 pages of Harper Government secrecy, no government in history comes close to extreme measures the Conservatives enacted to avoid public accountability and questions from the press / media.
ht tp://www3.telus.net/index100/secrecy
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