Thursday, March 08, 2007

Grit Stuff - National Women's Day; TDH Strategies

Happy National Women's Day. I have one comment on this: We need to see more vocal action from women's groups on the direction this quite sexist government is going. The barrage of anti-feminist rhetoric coming from the American neoCon camp and neoCon supporting media has really tainted people's thoughts here North of the border. If someone speaks out they get shut down as "the lunatic fringe", "pinkos", or worse. As Canadians we often don't think of the implications of allowing American media, movies, and "culture" to have free reign in Canadian markets. Where is the CRTC? Being dismantled by the Cons... As Liberals we can carve out some tractable ground on the topic of Canadian cultural industries. We need to ensure the sexist, melting-pot, mono-cultural media in the US stops interfering here, North of the border.

TDH Strategies (Jonathan) - Good work on your "5 Point Plan". I think the part of the plan that I have the most interest in is an area I have long thought we are weak in: getting the Dream Team out there. We have an incredible team of experts available to engage the public. We have used them poorly. Heck, as Liberals one thing we pride ourselves on is the academic, multi-cultural, and legal/constitutional expertise we have within our party membership. We nominate very qualified candidates who we know will be able to negotiate a complex international trade deal, discuss peace, intelligently approach Kyoto, or embark on a UN endeavor. Time to get these experts in the field.

If anything, we're allowing too much attention to be focused on Harper vs. Dion. In a comparison the public is always going to remember the PM. People have trouble remembering politician's names (less so than hockey players), but quite a few will remember who the PM is. While Mr. Dion brushes up on strategy the dream team can spend time engaging the public in key ridings across the country. Remember Mr. Cretien had a "brat pack" of talent which he used to incredible advantage pre-93. Sheila Copps, Don Boudria and crew were a constant thorn in Mulroney's side. I think that Ignatieff, Kennedy, Hall-Findlay, and Rae can fill that role quite well.

The challenge we've had in effectively engaging the public goes back beyond our current leader's office... Mr. Martin's (whom I supported in his leadership bid) office had challenges in communicating effectively with their own party members, let alone the general public. Perhaps leadership styles were different (Mr. Cretien was very cognizant of showing everyone he had balls - which seemed to capture the attention of the public), but that can't be a reason not to continue efforts to engage the public and media via the rest of the team.

If we can show we have a strong team, vs. the "cult of secrecy and personality" that Team Harper has, we can present a clear diametrical opposite to the public. Following some of the great ideas TDH has put into words will certainly help us in reaching our combined goal, and ultimate victory.

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