Well I had been expecting to see Bob Rae as the next liberal leader tonight, but it turns out that the Liberal leadership convention really did offer up a surprise.
Stéphane Dion won the liberal leadership. It was fascinating to watch, and I watched the coverage all day doing little else, besides a bit of homework.
It was riveting to watch the spectacle of the Liberal party choose a new leader, there was little dynamism however and I truly believe that the Liberals will lose the next election.
Because of a number of things going on recently I have been thinking about finding time to commit to doing volunteer work and becoming more engaged in the community.Although not the first thing I thought of, the action this weekend made me think about joining a political party. I have never really seriously thought about this before, and my dad had often cautioned me about thinking hard before making such a big decision, but I think the time may have come for me to at least look into it.
For me it wouldn't be so much about the partisan competition, but about becoming involved in an institution that can make a difference.
Again who knows at this point if I'll actually join one or not, but all the action this weekend certainly has got me thinking about it.
5 comments:
I commend you for thinking about delving into the chaotic world of partisan politics, by thinking about joining a political party. Being a member of a political party doesn't hold the same "meaning" as it did, say, thirty years ago (when everybody could identify themselves with a party), which is kind of sad. More and more people are turning to other outlets (i.e. NGO's, interest groups, etc) to influence and debate public policy.
Every month when I make my donation to my party-of-choice, I get this warm feeling inside knowing that I am helping the political process.
Kudos!
Which party? :)
Justin, you should become a Young Liberal.
P.S. I think Parliament is going to be awesome with Dion there. Harper, Layton, Gilles and Dion will make for a really odd bunch of people. In any case, Harper is going to dominate over the rest of them... I can't imagine Dion putting up much of a fight, but I guess we'll see.
-Gary
Yes, when I watched the results I kept wondering what you thought - I am sure we would have had a lot of fun with these four if we were back in Meadowlands :)
Yeah, it didn't occur to me what a bunch of weirdos there are in parliament as party leaders.
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