Larry Zolf on why Bob Rae could be a big threat to the Conservatives, if he’s elected the new Liberal Party Leader.
(so normally this would be a “elsewhere” sidebar link, but I posted to the wrong blog and am too lazy to move it. So here it is)
Looking for a place to happen
Bob Rae came to speak at UVIC a few weeks ago. I was hired to videotape the speech. At lunch he talked about constitution building in Iraq. In the afternoon, it was more of a pre-campaign launch; lot’s of press and members of the public. The constitution building talk was way more interesting. Far more in depth and theoretical. The afternoon talk had a pretty simple message: Must balance the needs of social programs, vs. the dislike of taxes. Basically, his message was that Bob Rae was premier during hard economic times, and had succeeded at getting the economy on track by investing intelligently in social programs, like education, etc… The public is always behind medicare, but the importance of investing in education is often ignored. I liked both talks, and generally was left with a favorable impression of the man.
Bob Rae came to speak at UVIC a few weeks ago. I was hired to videotape the speech. At lunch he talked about constitution building in Iraq. In the afternoon, it was more of a pre-campaign launch; lot’s of press and members of the public. The constitution building talk was way more interesting. Far more in depth and theoretical. The afternoon talk had a pretty simple message: Must balance the needs of social programs, vs. the dislike of taxes. Basically, his message was that Bob Rae was premier during hard economic times, and had succeeded at getting the economy on track by investing intelligently in social programs, like education, etc… The public is always behind medicare, but the importance of investing in education is often ignored. I liked both talks, and generally was left with a favorable impression of the man.
Full disclosure: I vaguely know Bob Rae – he was friends with my neighbour growing up, and I’d seend him at a couple of dinner parties. He was always pretty good with making sure whatever kids were there felt included in the conversation the adults were having.
I’d agree with his assessment that while premier, he had some really hard decisions to make, with the Ontario Economy in the tank. He had to close hospital beds, create the infamous “Rae Days”, where hospital workers had unpaid time off to save money, and had to make huge cuts. That cost him the union vote in the next election. However, from what my parents (both medical professionals) tell me, in hindsight, the decisions Rae made were all good, cutting as little as possible, while, as you say, mainting spending on education and other social issues as much as the horrible budgets he had to work with allowed.
Full disclosure: I vaguely know Bob Rae – he was friends with my neighbour growing up, and I’d seend him at a couple of dinner parties. He was always pretty good with making sure whatever kids were there felt included in the conversation the adults were having.
I’d agree with his assessment that while premier, he had some really hard decisions to make, with the Ontario Economy in the tank. He had to close hospital beds, create the infamous “Rae Days”, where hospital workers had unpaid time off to save money, and had to make huge cuts. That cost him the union vote in the next election. However, from what my parents (both medical professionals) tell me, in hindsight, the decisions Rae made were all good, cutting as little as possible, while, as you say, mainting spending on education and other social issues as much as the horrible budgets he had to work with allowed.
I don’t know… hasn’t he gotten all fat though? I mean it seems like a huge problem (judging by the amount of media attention it has received) that Harper has put on weight, maybe we should be looking less at the ideas that the man has and more on what he represents: physically.
I don’t know… hasn’t he gotten all fat though? I mean it seems like a huge problem (judging by the amount of media attention it has received) that Harper has put on weight, maybe we should be looking less at the ideas that the man has and more on what he represents: physically.