Layton's wife will run for Parliament

TORONTO - NDP Leader Jack Layton and Toronto city councillor Olivia Chow could become the first married couple in the House of Commons as Chow has decided to run in the next federal election.

CBC News has confirmed that Chow will be running in the downtown riding of Trinity Spadina.

Chow ran in the riding in 1997 but lost out to incumbent Liberal MP Tony Ianno by 2,000 votes.

Layton, also a former Toronto city councillor, and Chow have spent more than a decade in municipal politics.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/05/canada/chow040505



Expected, but glad it's confirmed. With a popular new mayor and high poll figures, NDP fortunes in Toronto are looking pretty good. Both Layton and Chow should win walking away, and their former city hall collegue Peter Tabuns should take Beaches-East York. Three or four other city ridings are real possibilities, too.

Would she even have a chance?

Not for long, though.

Used to be NDP (Dan Heap's, until he retired.) And Chow's city ward covers the same territory.

"Would she even have a chance?" Surely you jest! She almost won it in 1997, when NDP support was half it is today.

Don't laugh, I'm from the USA. Be nice to us folks from that big third-world nation to your south. :)

--bkl

To do with horses.

Had to go to the dictionary for this. "A Canadian administrative or electoral district." (Webster's)

A voting district. Hope this helps.

It's like we got a word for...well, somethings.

I've been studying for my immigration test and that one got by me entirely. I figured it was some kind of municipality but had no idea which kind.

Heck, I even read the Canadian press and missed it ...

--bkl

That is, if I properly understand congressional districts.

Immigration test? Are you definitely planning to move, or is it contingency planning?

stand for and were is it on the real political spectrum, not a U$ one?
Right Center Left?

From the party's mission statement:

New Democrats seek fundamental change. We will apply the resources of government and the strength of cooperation and community to advance our society toward the goals of equality, social justice and democracy.

The primary purpose of the New Democratic Party is to offer a vision for Canada where people come first; a clear democratic socialist political alternative. We seek to govern, to be a strong force electorally, so that we can implement our agenda of economic, political and social change. We recognize that our electoral success, whether as an opposition party in Parliament, as the balance of power, or as government, provides us with the opportunity for significant and lasting change.

Whether in or out of government, our purpose must be to influence the public agenda, to establish cooperation, caring, and compassion as legitimate and essential values in the development of public policy, and to win support for progressive political alternatives. A central task of the Party is to empower Canadians to speak up for and work for social change. We seek to empower and represent all those members of our society who wish to live in a better, more cooperative and compassionate society.

...

The New Democratic Party is part of a greater national and international movement that seeks to challenge the dominant political agenda of market globalization and resulting environmental, social, and economic problems. We are committed to working with our partners in the labour movement, our allies in social movements, and all those who share our vision of a society based on human dignity and social justice. We offer Canadians a renewed sense of community and a new vision of government. Internationally, our mission is to cooperate with democratic socialist organizations and other groups who share our values and our mission of building a global community.

http://action.web.ca/home/ndpnpd/en_aboutus.shtml?sh_itm=dd6a1651b4576c7edf77070a6d2bd8c0

May she win!

Wish we had one of those partys in the U$, of course then it might become the US.

Is she running on an actual platform, or just pissing and moaning about the old Toronto Airport?

After the scandal of the blue uniforms she might be able to add something to the national scene.

http://toronto.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=000623chow

Olivia Chow resigns from police board


Interpretation- Pushed Out!!

About the airport - you mean, I suppose, Chow and the Toronto NDP fighting the expansion of the Toronto Island airport? Well, that was the issue of last year's municipal election, but the election of David Miller decisively won that battle. I didn't hear "pissing and moaning" from Chow when it was a concern, and I sure don't now it isn't.

There is about as much integrity in the case Miller made against the airport as there was in the case made for the war against Iraq.

There was not a single factual statement made during the entire campaign, Community Air makes Colin Powell look like an unimpeachable figure of truth and virtue.

And Miller didn't win anything, Miller is about as able to say the bridge is dead as Bush was to say the war was over. It is completely beyond his control.

If the City Of Toronto doesn't make a satisfactory settlement to the port authority by June 1st, construction will resume July 1st. All the federal permits are in place, nothing can be done to stop it if the port authority decides to proceed.

Mr. Layton, 53, and Ms. Chow, 47, have been partners in politics and in life since they met nearly 20 years ago.

Born in Hong Kong, Ms. Chow moved to Canada when she was 13. She's served in Toronto municipal politics since 1991-- much of that time alongside Mr. Layton, a former Toronto councillor himself.

...

Ms. Chow, who also serves as Toronto's Children and Youth Advocate, will announce her candidacy at the Orde Child Care Centre in downtown Toronto this morning.

Alan Whitehorn, a political scientist at Royal Military College who studies the New Democrats, said Ms. Chow's candidacy should help the NDP more successfully tap ethnic support from communities such as Chinese-Canadians. "They're a good political tag team and a fascinating power couple."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040506/CHOW06/TPNational/TopStories

But more importantly, we need someone of Olivia's calibre in Ottawa. And she's going there. We nearly took Trinity-Spadina in 2000, when we were less than half of what we are now in the polls.

She's got a "ruling class" mindset and has bragged about the fact that she refuses to interview white job applicants.

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