{"id":31220,"date":"2012-06-18T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=31220"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:40:05","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:40:05","slug":"lorinc-the-case-for-nenshi-as-federal-liberal-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/06\/18\/lorinc-the-case-for-nenshi-as-federal-liberal-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"LORINC: The case for Nenshi as federal Liberal leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Will Bob Rae\u2019s unexpected but sensible decision to withdraw from the Liberal leadership race pave the way for the second coming of Trudeau?<\/p>\n

I certainly hope not.<\/p>\n

Let me declare my biases: while I was a huge fan of Trudeau p\u00e8re, I am not enthusiastic about inherited political dynasties, of any ideological stripe. Talent often dissipates across the generational divide, replaced by opportunism and the conviction that being born on third base looks good on a resume.<\/p>\n

Justin Trudeau, who got a gusty plug from The Globe and Mail\u2019s Lawrence Martin<\/a> a few days ago, may have a pugilistic streak, but his journey to the forefront of the Liberal caucus \u2013 which began, curiously, with the eloquent eulogy he gave at his father\u2019s state funeral \u2013 is hardly a stirring accomplishment. And while he\u2019s got that youthful swashbuckler thing about him, the promise he apparently brings is reminiscent of the hype that preceded Michael Ignatieff\u2019s ill-fated coronation.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a name, you ask? Less than you\u2019d think.<\/p>\n

Stephen Harper made sure there\u2019s not much bench strength in the Grit caucus. Dominic Leblanc, another political scion from Atlantic Canada, is sometimes mentioned, as is David McGuinty, brother of you-know-who, and Gerard Kennedy. Former Liberal justice minister Martin Cauchon, a savvy Chretien prot\u00e9g\u00e9 who is safely ensconced as a rainmaker for Heenan Blaikie, is another possibility, and would fit with the party\u2019s tradition of alternating anglo- and francophone leaders \u2013 assuming, of course, that such traditions mean anything at all in this day and age.<\/p>\n

If I was a Liberal strategist attempting to think outside the box, I would be focusing on the one politician in this country who can, in my view, solve a great many of the party\u2019s policy, positioning and organization problems: Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nenshi is a tested leader who could present Canadian voters \u2013 especially those in large urban regions \u2014 with a stark counterpoint to Harper\u2019s Conservatives, both in substance and style. And, what\u2019s more, he is the only public figure I can think of who has a hope in hell of surmounting the corrosive resource-sector-fueled regionalism that has transformed federal politics into a zero-sum game.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the obvious: Nenshi reflects the face of 21st century Canada \u2013 diverse, well-educated, savvy about the ways of globalization and totally at ease with the youthful pluralism that increasingly characterizes Canada\u2019s major urban centres, and therefore most of the country. He is smart, articulate, self-deprecating, and understands the fluid nature of engagement in the age of social media and Twitter. Indeed, his organizational skills in the run-up to the 2010 Calgary mayoral race were a spectacle to behold.<\/p>\n

Where Harper and his Conservatives thrive at the politics of division, Nenshi is all about adding, multiplying and synthesizing. As the Calgary race demonstrated, Nenshi is a guy who viscerally understands how to build complex coalitions and then deliver on key democratic principles, such as transparency.<\/p>\n

A few more points: he\u2019s a socially progressive yet unapologetically pro-business politician from Western Canada who has figured out how to romance Calgary\u2019s oil patch executives \u2013 a group not known for its love of progressives.<\/p>\n

It also seems increasingly clear that Alberta is no longer in lock step with the prime minister\u2019s brand of conservatism, as Alison Redford\u2019s election suggested. Yet if the Liberals want to capitalize on this opening, they\u2019re certainly not going to do it with a long distance phone card, much less a leader whose every utterance will remind the West about the indignities of Trudeau Sr.\u2019s national energy policy.<\/p>\n

More important, however, is that Nenshi represents an entirely different approach to politics and governance, and is well positioned to take advantage of the generalized discomfort with Harper\u2019s MO. The Tories, after all, don\u2019t do openness. They value tactical victories and heavy-handed message control over open-ended debate. And they display a breathtaking contempt for countervailing information, be it from StatsCan or government scientists or the criminal justice experts who have been stonewalled by Vic Toews and his Old Testament sentencing policies.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Harper, during his tenure, has placed a massive bet on the resource sector as the key to Canada\u2019s economic future, and has done so without seriously questioning the implications for Canada\u2019s more urbanized sectors, not to mention the environment. Are we to become a country which coasts along by selling rocks and oil to the U.S. and China, and Timbits to one another?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember ever having that particular debate.<\/p>\n

Harper, for all his coldness and fiscal self-righteousness, gets a pass from Canadians because many voters believe he won\u2019t blow the bank, even though the country\u2019s monetary stability is mostly the handiwork of Mark Carney and the federal banking regulators and Paul Martin\u2019s war on the deficit in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

To date, the opposition parties have failed to convince most voters that Harper\u2019s fiscal management is deeply risky because he\u2019s putting all our eggs in the resources basket without any kind of hedging strategy. What\u2019s more, it seems absurd that a modern, wealthy country should become so blinded by the allure of commodities and China\u2019s industrial customers that the federal government is willing to dismantle generations of accepted environmental protections to ensure that we can remain price competitive with all those developing world nations and semi-failed states that have little else to trade but rocks, fibre and oil.<\/p>\n

If anyone can challenge Harper by asserting the importance of developing a forward-looking, diversified urban economy based on innovation, it is Naheed Nenshi. He gets cities, and how they generate wealth. That\u2019s the choice he offers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Will Bob Rae\u2019s unexpected but sensible decision to withdraw from the Liberal leadership race pave the way for the second coming of Trudeau? I certainly hope not. Let me declare my biases: while I was a huge fan of Trudeau p\u00e8re, I am not enthusiastic about inherited political dynasties, of any ideological stripe. Talent oftenContinue reading “LORINC: The case for Nenshi as federal Liberal leader”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5471,20347,309,661,457,1846,20353,9465,20348,20345,20359,20361,651,11855,20346,20355,16273,20351,20358,20357,20352,20349,426,11856,20354,16578,679,20360,53,1439,950,1500,20356,4382,2092,314,10185,506,20203,6740,20350],"class_list":["post-31220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-alberta","tag-alison-redford","tag-bank","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-china","tag-chretien-protege","tag-conservatives","tag-david-mcguinty","tag-dominic-leblanc","tag-energy-policy","tag-federal-banking-regulators","tag-federal-government","tag-federal-liberal-leader","tag-gerard-kennedy","tag-justice-minister","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-lawrence-martin","tag-liberal-justice-minister","tag-liberal-strategist","tag-mark-carney","tag-martin-cauchon","tag-mayor","tag-michael-ignatieff","tag-missouri","tag-naheed-nenshi","tag-oil","tag-oil-patch-executives","tag-parliament-hill","tag-paul-martin","tag-politician","tag-prime-minister","tag-pro-business-politician","tag-social-media","tag-stephen-harper","tag-the-globe-and-mail","tag-twitter","tag-united-states","tag-vic-toews","tag-western-canada","tag-will-bob-rae"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLORINC: The case for Nenshi as federal Liberal leader - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2012\/06\/18\/lorinc-the-case-for-nenshi-as-federal-liberal-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LORINC: The case for Nenshi as federal Liberal leader - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Will Bob Rae\u2019s unexpected but sensible decision to withdraw from the Liberal leadership race pave the way for the second coming of Trudeau? 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