Tuesday, November 30, 2010
If You Can't Take Winnipeg North
You may as well fold your tent. I bet the next gun control vote will be whipped. Layton, I am sure, will want to thank the NDP provincial government, for closing community police stations in a crime-infested riding. The people of WInnipeg North sent a message and that message is "Smarten up and start acting like a social democratic party again. We can vote for real Liberals if that is all that is on offer."
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Surely you realize that, in fact, it was NOT the Government of Manitoba who was responsible for closing the Community Based Policing stations here in Winnipeg.
ReplyDeleteRather, it was our fascist, pro-business and elitist minions on Winnipeg's City Council who don't (and didn't) give a damn about the lived reality of the "other" that were responsible! With the departure of former Winnipeg Police Chief David Cassels in 1998, his community based policing model was to receive very little support from his successors. Coupled with former Mayor Glen Murray's departure - it left no authoritative voice left at City Hall to back the initiative. Just to be clear, the closing of the inner-city policing outlets was a municipal decision that had nothing to do with the provincial government. The NDP may have lost Winnipeg North last night, but the loss had precious little to do with the actions of the provincial NDP. Rather, it had everything to do with Judy's poor performance in our recent civic election and the general feeling among the voters (rightly or wrongly) that the federal NDP does not really have anything substantially different to offer than the Lib's.
Was it the right decision? Who knows? But it was not one borne of ideological backlash against a provincial government that had nothing to do with the closure of community policing stations in the north end. One would think you would know better that to base your post-election take on Winnipeg's local press stories ... our local press is notorious for playing up factors that have nothing to do with voting patterns.
Fact is Kevin Lamoureux had a high profile and it is not at all surprising that Chief (a decent but bland guy) came up short.
Up your game, Dippers! My guys need you to!
ReplyDeleteExplain the vote, FA. We are talking about one of the only safe NDP seats in the country (former). To me, that constitutes a surprise, and not a pleasant one.
ReplyDelete@Greg,
ReplyDeleteSorry for delay in getting back to you; was busy honing my dart skill with new pics of Fantino and Sopuck gracing the camel hair for last few days!
True, Winnipeg North was complacently viewed by many with the NDP as a "safe" seat... and that was their undoing! Underestimating how the beating Judy took at the hands of our impish, peevish and divisive Mayor Katz just a weeks ago would taint the voter's view of her legacy in the riding - it provided an opening for a very well known (albeit Liberal) candidate to then then appropriate the language of the NDP and themes (crime) of the Tories while at the same time neutralizing the exceedingly weak PC candidate. End result, an NDP loss!
One wonders if they'll learn from this? I doubt it.