Not just the great white hope. The idea I had when I initially presented this to TrueGrit is that all of the heavyweights who sat out in 2006 end up running (hence the name ), which is why we see not just McKenna running, but also Rock, Tobin, Manley, Cauchon, and Copps.So you're writing a timeline where the great white hope actually jumps into the leadership race! It'll be interesting to see how this goes. Hard to see him running a worse campaign than Dion, certainly.
I can't speak for Grit, but my own personal reasoning was that, as Ignatieff talks about in this clip (from the time stamp to about 22:10), IOTL he considered not standing at all and waiting in order to learn the political ropes, and ITTL with a much stronger field he ends up staying out.Interesting that Ignatieff would choose to stay on the sidelines, considering he was drafted by a bunch of backroom boys with the explicit purpose of being the party's next leader, and when he ran in 2006 he (if no one else) expected a coronation. In fact I'm very much hoping it's addressed why he chose not to run.
Subscribed, and looking forward to more!
Honestly, I don't hold that against him. I am of the opinion that Jesus Christ himself couldn't have saved the Alberta PCs in 2015. Prentice could have run the greatest campaign of all time, and the PCs would still have lost. It was just one of those elections (and I have always felt bad for politicians who have to fight unwinnable elections, so I feel some sympathy for Prentice in this respect).Amusing that Flaherty managed to clinch the win when neither he nor his wife/widow ever could IOTL. It'll be interesting to see how he runs a campaign because of course we know that Prentice had campaign experience IOTL, which ended rather badly for him.
You know, I've actually toyed with the idea of having Day win the CPC leadership in a scenario or two. Needless to say, those scenarios don't go too well for the Tories .Day marches to the beat of his own drummer but I'm stunned that he'd actually run for leader again. I remember reading a Liberal blogger once putting it this way after the 2011 election when Ignatieff stepped down and the question of who might be the next leader came up, when Dion was suggested he said "we do at least want to force the Tories to go to the trouble of writing new attack ads". Similar story here. Day's campaign was a disaster and he should never ever be party leader again - he's kind of the opposite of the Peter Principle, he was party leader first and sucked at it but then turned out to be much better suited to Cabinet (as acknowledged in the text).
This isn't the last you'll see of Bernier in this timeline .A particular humiliation for Clement, who ran previously for leader, to finish behind Larry Smith, who holds no political office, past or present. I feel worse for Verner, though, coming in dead last despite having been the de facto Quebec lieutenant prior to 2006. Cannon and Bernier took up way too much of her oxygen.
Thanks! For the Liberals in particular I’ve always thought the 2006-2011 period is super interesting, since there’s a bunch of people who could’ve become huge heavy hitters in the party if not for the 2011 loss/subsequent rebuilding process reducing them to footnotes at best (aside from Martin [a perennial favourite of mine], there’s Martha Hall Findlay, David McGuinty, Siobhán Coady, hell even someone like Gerard Kennedy).It took me too long to find out about this! I love the premise of this TL: that the Liberals had this really deep bench to draw from in the early 2000s, only for the people to retire to fade away and leave the party desolate in only a few years, is one of those oddities of political history. This also made me realize there was a similar situation in the Conservative Party, too— not to the same extent, of course, but there were more viable leaders at this point than they would have at the end of the decade. In fact, this period IOTL is so defined by the dearth of leadership that just having new figures leading the parties feels massively divergent. I look forward to seeing how TTL's decade plays out!
The McKenna cabinet is interesting, a real picture of the era; you've got the contemporary heavyweights and up-and-comers, but also the could-have-beens— Brigitte Legault and Briony Penn are real clever picks. On a personal level I'm happy to see Ujjal Dosanjh, a great guy who's never really got the recognition he deserves, and Keith Martin, a real interesting figure whose stars never aligned but seems ripe for AH.
You know, I truly believe the Liberals could have won the 2008 Election had Kennedy been at the helm, or at least gain enough seats to form an NDP+Liberal coalition without needing the Bloc.hell even someone like Gerard Kennedy
Honestly, I don't hold that against him. I am of the opinion that Jesus Christ himself couldn't have saved the Alberta PCs in 2015. Prentice could have run the greatest campaign of all time, and the PCs would still have lost. It was just one of those elections (and I have always felt bad for politicians who have to fight unwinnable elections, so I feel some sympathy for Prentice in this respect).
I suppose that’s true, (about the Wildrose) but waiting until 2016 would also allow the Wildrose more time to organize after being decimated. I mean, by the end of the campaign, there was such a strong anti-PC feeling that a plurality of Wildrose voters second choice was the NDP. When you’re facing such a strong headwind, I just can’t see a victory happening.The Tories absolutely could have won another term in Alberta. If they waited until 2016 a lot of those voters who went to the NDP might go elsewhere due to the federal party’s...downward slide let’s say.
If they called it in 2016, it could have allowed them to better integrate Wildrose defectors into their camp rather than trying to rush them into winning nominations.
Plus waiting until 2016 would’ve given Wildrose more time to fuck themselves over, which they always managed to do. Remember, despite everything, they still came third in terms of total number of votes.
Look on the brightside friend, at least your province finally has a PM to its name.With the talk of Flaherty and Bernier, I feel like I better brace myself for the worst.
I suppose that’s true, (about the Wildrose) but waiting until 2016 would also allow the Wildrose more time to organize after being decimated. I mean, by the end of the campaign, there was such a strong anti-PC feeling that a plurality of Wildrose voters second choice was the NDP. When you’re facing such a strong headwind, I just can’t see a victory happening.
Look on the brightside friend, at least your province finally has a PM to its name.
You know, people did often accuse Prentice of using the premiership as a stepping stone for the PMO. I don’t think he’d run in 2017 (seems a bit soon IMO) but he’d probably run in the next race after 2017. Wonder how he’d do.A year is an eternity in politics. Just as people thought the NDP winning was impossible, you could make the same argument for the PCs.