Le Bon Jack (Chapter two)
In the fifteen months between Chow’s election as leader and the 2020 election much of the Prime Minister’s time was spent attempting to repair the damage done to the NDP brand as a result of her victory over Mulcair. Although the Justice Minister was offered the opportunity to keep his position in Cabinet, Mulcair instead choose to resign and sit on the government’s backbench, publically announcing that his attention would turn to his riding and writing op-eds for the Globe & Mail. Privately however Mulcair’s loyalists were informed that their candidate’s mission was not in fact to live out his remaining political life on the sidelines, tweeting about events in his riding, but rather to achieve revenge on the couple he perceived had robbed him of the chance of becoming the Prime Minister of a potential majority NDP government. As such, Mulcair’s activities behind the scenes were to continue his push to move the NDP to the centre by working with and backing MPs and candidates who shared his vision for the country. A political player in her own right, Chow assigned key members of her staff to work on blocking Mulcair’s advances, whether in the nomination contests for the upcoming election or seats on the party’s executive branch. While the true bitterness of the civil war was initially kept from most journalists, blatant arguments between the Chow and Mulcair wings on Twitter and in public displayed the NDP’s disunity for the entire country to see. Both the Prime Minister and the former Justice Minister would publically dismiss such accusations, blaming the confrontations on a few disgruntled staffers from their camps, yet at the same time privately inform journalists of the deviousness and duplicity of the other. Conflicting rumours and stories began to float throughout the media, one suggesting that Mulcair had not in fact resigned but been forced to quit, that Chow planned to back a potential challenger for his seat, and another that Mulcair was attempting to sabotage Chow in order to become NDP leader. Although polling showed Canadians believed Mulcair was more capable at governing the country, pictures and footage featuring Chow and her diminished husband pulled at voter’s heartstrings.
For the Tories meanwhile the interim spent between elections was spent attempting to shed its image as the “Harper Party”. While many party members held the former Prime Minister in high regard, having had transformed what was a fragile coalition into a viable electoral machine that governed for nearly a decade, his more right-wing policies, the perception that he was a cold, morally ambiguous social conservative, had damaged the party. Under Jason Kenney’s leadership work was begun to make the Conservative Party more appealing to the LGBT and multicultural communities, as well as to women, a key demographic that had increasingly been drawn to either the NDP or the Liberals in the last two elections. Despite Kenney’s good work voter’s perception of him as a social conservative who hated gays and abortions stuck, due in part to a video leaked showing him to having been an anti-abortion activist during his academic years. By turning to the likes of Ontario MP Erin O’Toole many hoped to move past the images of a cold leader corrupted by power and a socially awkward leader without a family. Veteran, moderate, beautiful family, the Tory brass paraded O’Toole as the second coming of Brian Mulroney, having him appear on the Rick Mercer Report, The Hour Has 22 Minutes, and Hockey Night in Canada. The Tory leader even appeared on CNN during one of President Clinton’s visits to Ottawa, where he outlined common ground with the American Administration, awkwardly trying to portray himself as both a candidate who could strengthen relations while not becoming subservient. The National Press and voters seemed better disposed to the new Tory leader, who also took the step of rebranding the Tories with a new political logo, retiring that one used since its inception under both Harper and Kenney, in order to better reflect what he hoped would be a softer, more inclusive Conservative Party. But not all welcomed the incoming change brought by O’TooleLand. Social Conservative MPs like Brad Trost had previously denounced efforts to moderate the party, and in response to O’Toole they attempted to ratchet up private member’s bills designed to implement pro-life and anti-LGBT policies. Ezra Levant, dubbed by some as Canada’s leading right-wing ideologue, penned article after article condemning the Tory leader as “Liberal-lite” and other criticism designed to embolden members of the conservative base. Despite the fact that O’Toole’s moderate credentials were at times exaggerated, having previously squashed attempts to change party policy to being pro-abortion and pro-LGBT, his strategy was to accomplish what he and many others believed his predecessors failed to do, to find a larger support base for the party, namely Canada’s political centre, which was beginning to grow disenchanted with the NDP and unwilling to fully back the Liberals.
The Liberals, having selected Dominic LeBlanc as their new leader, opted to turn their attention to fundraising and preparing for a potential comeback amid the NDP’s civil war. Popular in the Atlantic region, the federal Liberals cemented their status as Atlantic Canada’s preferred choice under Premiers Stephen McNeil and Wade McLaughlin. While Premier’s Brian Gallant and Dwight Ball were initially popular with the electorate, both would fall victim to unpopular policies and increasing deficits. This did not damage the federal party however, who still held either a majority or plurity of seats in all four provinces. In Quebec Premier Couillard remained publically neutral, but made clear that without Tom Mulcair as Prime Minister, his private endorsement was up for grabs. Liberal leaders across the country, ranging from Ontario Opposition leader George Smitherman to Manitoba rising star Cindy Lamoureux prepped their political machines for what many party members believed was their best chance to defeat the NDP. Yet the New Democrats, even in their weakened state, were not entirely without advantages. Long time Green Party leader Elizabeth May, the lone Green MP in parliament, had been a supporter of many of the NDP government’s policies since its initial election victory in 2015. As murmurs of controversial candidate’s stances on certain issues, like Israel, became known, other murmurs emerged suggesting that May would resign as leader rather than continue on leading an anti-Israeli political party. On August 12, 2018, in perhaps one of the most shocking press conferences in modern political history, May announced her retirement as Green Party leader, followed by another announcement that she had agreed to cross the floor and become the government’s new Environment Minister. In the resulting leadership election Green Party members elected former Manitoba Green leader James Beddome as their replacement. The big loser of the pre-election coverage was the Bloc, which had continued its spiral into chaos following the resignation of not only their leader but their only remaining MPs in the House of Commons; Maria Mourani of Ahuntsic-Cartierville who had switched to the NDP, and André Bellavance, who had decided to run provincially for the PQ in the next provincial election in Quebec. For the first time since its 1990 inception the Bloc Quebecois was not represented in Parliament.
The 2020 election itself would be a battle between two untested leaders. While Olivia Chow had spent roughly a year as Prime Minister, Canadians still felt as though she lacked the polish of a successful leader. While some pundits on Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post cried sexism, others continued to be unimpressed by the NDP leader’s performance in both the House of Commons and the campaign trail. At times Chow came across as awkward, and surprisingly weak in her handling of the English language. While the presence of her ailing husband Jack Layton on the campaign hustle was a clear benefit, it at times reminded Canadians of the stark differences between the two. Another difference between Chow and Layton were their election strategies. As Prime Minister, Layton always set his target on the Conservative leader, to make the race a contest between going forwards or going backwards. By generally ignoring the Liberals he suggested that they weren’t even a real option. Chow on the other hand turned much of her focus to annihilating the Liberals, viewing their young leader as a very real threat in Quebec and Ontario. Television ads, radio messages, leaflets, surrogate speeches were always quick to include an attack on Dominic LeBlanc as someone out of touch, the son of a former Governor General born into privilege. The Prime Minister avoided drawing policy contrast between herself and LeBlanc, hoping instead to draw potential Liberal voters back into the fold.
Erin O’Toole and the Tories opted for an “above the fray” approach to the campaign, emphasizing the Tory leader’s family and staging campaign settings where he and the public could get to know one another. A departure from the tactics of Stephen Harper, campaign events sometimes produced awkward results. In some notable cases, a protestor dressed as a supporter would challenge O’Toole and issues ranging from the environment to his stance on LGBT rights, and more often than not would not be pleased with the answer they received, making them even more agitated as they were led out by the event’s security personnel. Agitated social conservatives, unencumbered by fear of retribution of Stephen Harper, let loose their frustrations in their ridings, and as such were often quoted by journalists saying things that their leader would otherwise not have them say. Accusations of a “hidden agenda” began to surface when O’Toole dodged questions regarding his personal stance on abortion and same-sex marriage. Ironically the more the Tory leader attempted to portray how different he was than Harper or Kenney, he was asked questions that he was forced to dodge or avoid answering. Political analysts and pollsters observed that while O’Toole was personally more popular than his predecessors, many Canadians believed that he was being disingenuous regarding policy and somewhat subservient to the party’s right flank.
Aside from the debates, which proved to be a major boost to Green Party leader James Beddome, the campaign proved to be rather uninspiring. No major policies were offered, and voters seemed willing to forgive Chow on her poor campaign, with most chocking it up to the fact it was the Prime Minister’s first federal campaign as leader. Thus on Election Day voters returned the NDP to power, albeit with a weakened minority facing one of the largest Official Opposition parties in Canadian history in the form of Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives. Dominic LeBlanc managed to reverse the Liberal’s slide, thanks mainly to the party’s showing in the East while the Green Party accomplished half of their election goals, winning at least two seats, while failing to defeat Elizabeth May in her BC riding. Olivia Chow was now the first woman elected in her own right as Prime Minister, but her win had spilt some of her blood, and Parliament was filled with sharks just waiting for the chance to take her down.
Le Bon Jack
Chapter one
Chapter three will hopefully be up within the week or so. I've got all political party infoboxes done, and an outline of events, so all that's left is the write-up. If anyone has any requests for an infobox of a certain politician, PM me and it might show up in the final update.
In the fifteen months between Chow’s election as leader and the 2020 election much of the Prime Minister’s time was spent attempting to repair the damage done to the NDP brand as a result of her victory over Mulcair. Although the Justice Minister was offered the opportunity to keep his position in Cabinet, Mulcair instead choose to resign and sit on the government’s backbench, publically announcing that his attention would turn to his riding and writing op-eds for the Globe & Mail. Privately however Mulcair’s loyalists were informed that their candidate’s mission was not in fact to live out his remaining political life on the sidelines, tweeting about events in his riding, but rather to achieve revenge on the couple he perceived had robbed him of the chance of becoming the Prime Minister of a potential majority NDP government. As such, Mulcair’s activities behind the scenes were to continue his push to move the NDP to the centre by working with and backing MPs and candidates who shared his vision for the country. A political player in her own right, Chow assigned key members of her staff to work on blocking Mulcair’s advances, whether in the nomination contests for the upcoming election or seats on the party’s executive branch. While the true bitterness of the civil war was initially kept from most journalists, blatant arguments between the Chow and Mulcair wings on Twitter and in public displayed the NDP’s disunity for the entire country to see. Both the Prime Minister and the former Justice Minister would publically dismiss such accusations, blaming the confrontations on a few disgruntled staffers from their camps, yet at the same time privately inform journalists of the deviousness and duplicity of the other. Conflicting rumours and stories began to float throughout the media, one suggesting that Mulcair had not in fact resigned but been forced to quit, that Chow planned to back a potential challenger for his seat, and another that Mulcair was attempting to sabotage Chow in order to become NDP leader. Although polling showed Canadians believed Mulcair was more capable at governing the country, pictures and footage featuring Chow and her diminished husband pulled at voter’s heartstrings.
For the Tories meanwhile the interim spent between elections was spent attempting to shed its image as the “Harper Party”. While many party members held the former Prime Minister in high regard, having had transformed what was a fragile coalition into a viable electoral machine that governed for nearly a decade, his more right-wing policies, the perception that he was a cold, morally ambiguous social conservative, had damaged the party. Under Jason Kenney’s leadership work was begun to make the Conservative Party more appealing to the LGBT and multicultural communities, as well as to women, a key demographic that had increasingly been drawn to either the NDP or the Liberals in the last two elections. Despite Kenney’s good work voter’s perception of him as a social conservative who hated gays and abortions stuck, due in part to a video leaked showing him to having been an anti-abortion activist during his academic years. By turning to the likes of Ontario MP Erin O’Toole many hoped to move past the images of a cold leader corrupted by power and a socially awkward leader without a family. Veteran, moderate, beautiful family, the Tory brass paraded O’Toole as the second coming of Brian Mulroney, having him appear on the Rick Mercer Report, The Hour Has 22 Minutes, and Hockey Night in Canada. The Tory leader even appeared on CNN during one of President Clinton’s visits to Ottawa, where he outlined common ground with the American Administration, awkwardly trying to portray himself as both a candidate who could strengthen relations while not becoming subservient. The National Press and voters seemed better disposed to the new Tory leader, who also took the step of rebranding the Tories with a new political logo, retiring that one used since its inception under both Harper and Kenney, in order to better reflect what he hoped would be a softer, more inclusive Conservative Party. But not all welcomed the incoming change brought by O’TooleLand. Social Conservative MPs like Brad Trost had previously denounced efforts to moderate the party, and in response to O’Toole they attempted to ratchet up private member’s bills designed to implement pro-life and anti-LGBT policies. Ezra Levant, dubbed by some as Canada’s leading right-wing ideologue, penned article after article condemning the Tory leader as “Liberal-lite” and other criticism designed to embolden members of the conservative base. Despite the fact that O’Toole’s moderate credentials were at times exaggerated, having previously squashed attempts to change party policy to being pro-abortion and pro-LGBT, his strategy was to accomplish what he and many others believed his predecessors failed to do, to find a larger support base for the party, namely Canada’s political centre, which was beginning to grow disenchanted with the NDP and unwilling to fully back the Liberals.
The Liberals, having selected Dominic LeBlanc as their new leader, opted to turn their attention to fundraising and preparing for a potential comeback amid the NDP’s civil war. Popular in the Atlantic region, the federal Liberals cemented their status as Atlantic Canada’s preferred choice under Premiers Stephen McNeil and Wade McLaughlin. While Premier’s Brian Gallant and Dwight Ball were initially popular with the electorate, both would fall victim to unpopular policies and increasing deficits. This did not damage the federal party however, who still held either a majority or plurity of seats in all four provinces. In Quebec Premier Couillard remained publically neutral, but made clear that without Tom Mulcair as Prime Minister, his private endorsement was up for grabs. Liberal leaders across the country, ranging from Ontario Opposition leader George Smitherman to Manitoba rising star Cindy Lamoureux prepped their political machines for what many party members believed was their best chance to defeat the NDP. Yet the New Democrats, even in their weakened state, were not entirely without advantages. Long time Green Party leader Elizabeth May, the lone Green MP in parliament, had been a supporter of many of the NDP government’s policies since its initial election victory in 2015. As murmurs of controversial candidate’s stances on certain issues, like Israel, became known, other murmurs emerged suggesting that May would resign as leader rather than continue on leading an anti-Israeli political party. On August 12, 2018, in perhaps one of the most shocking press conferences in modern political history, May announced her retirement as Green Party leader, followed by another announcement that she had agreed to cross the floor and become the government’s new Environment Minister. In the resulting leadership election Green Party members elected former Manitoba Green leader James Beddome as their replacement. The big loser of the pre-election coverage was the Bloc, which had continued its spiral into chaos following the resignation of not only their leader but their only remaining MPs in the House of Commons; Maria Mourani of Ahuntsic-Cartierville who had switched to the NDP, and André Bellavance, who had decided to run provincially for the PQ in the next provincial election in Quebec. For the first time since its 1990 inception the Bloc Quebecois was not represented in Parliament.
The 2020 election itself would be a battle between two untested leaders. While Olivia Chow had spent roughly a year as Prime Minister, Canadians still felt as though she lacked the polish of a successful leader. While some pundits on Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post cried sexism, others continued to be unimpressed by the NDP leader’s performance in both the House of Commons and the campaign trail. At times Chow came across as awkward, and surprisingly weak in her handling of the English language. While the presence of her ailing husband Jack Layton on the campaign hustle was a clear benefit, it at times reminded Canadians of the stark differences between the two. Another difference between Chow and Layton were their election strategies. As Prime Minister, Layton always set his target on the Conservative leader, to make the race a contest between going forwards or going backwards. By generally ignoring the Liberals he suggested that they weren’t even a real option. Chow on the other hand turned much of her focus to annihilating the Liberals, viewing their young leader as a very real threat in Quebec and Ontario. Television ads, radio messages, leaflets, surrogate speeches were always quick to include an attack on Dominic LeBlanc as someone out of touch, the son of a former Governor General born into privilege. The Prime Minister avoided drawing policy contrast between herself and LeBlanc, hoping instead to draw potential Liberal voters back into the fold.
Erin O’Toole and the Tories opted for an “above the fray” approach to the campaign, emphasizing the Tory leader’s family and staging campaign settings where he and the public could get to know one another. A departure from the tactics of Stephen Harper, campaign events sometimes produced awkward results. In some notable cases, a protestor dressed as a supporter would challenge O’Toole and issues ranging from the environment to his stance on LGBT rights, and more often than not would not be pleased with the answer they received, making them even more agitated as they were led out by the event’s security personnel. Agitated social conservatives, unencumbered by fear of retribution of Stephen Harper, let loose their frustrations in their ridings, and as such were often quoted by journalists saying things that their leader would otherwise not have them say. Accusations of a “hidden agenda” began to surface when O’Toole dodged questions regarding his personal stance on abortion and same-sex marriage. Ironically the more the Tory leader attempted to portray how different he was than Harper or Kenney, he was asked questions that he was forced to dodge or avoid answering. Political analysts and pollsters observed that while O’Toole was personally more popular than his predecessors, many Canadians believed that he was being disingenuous regarding policy and somewhat subservient to the party’s right flank.
Aside from the debates, which proved to be a major boost to Green Party leader James Beddome, the campaign proved to be rather uninspiring. No major policies were offered, and voters seemed willing to forgive Chow on her poor campaign, with most chocking it up to the fact it was the Prime Minister’s first federal campaign as leader. Thus on Election Day voters returned the NDP to power, albeit with a weakened minority facing one of the largest Official Opposition parties in Canadian history in the form of Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives. Dominic LeBlanc managed to reverse the Liberal’s slide, thanks mainly to the party’s showing in the East while the Green Party accomplished half of their election goals, winning at least two seats, while failing to defeat Elizabeth May in her BC riding. Olivia Chow was now the first woman elected in her own right as Prime Minister, but her win had spilt some of her blood, and Parliament was filled with sharks just waiting for the chance to take her down.
Le Bon Jack
Chapter one
Chapter three will hopefully be up within the week or so. I've got all political party infoboxes done, and an outline of events, so all that's left is the write-up. If anyone has any requests for an infobox of a certain politician, PM me and it might show up in the final update.
Last edited:
