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Veteran MPP to run for leadership of Ontario NDP

KAREN HOWLETT

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 11:46 AM EST 15/07/08

Gilles Bisson, who has represented the Northern Ontario riding of Timmins-James Bay since 1990, is the first to throw his hat into the race for leadership of the party ...Read the full article

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  1. Captain Ontario from Canada writes: Anyone is better than the current clown who's not taken seriously and has let Daulton Rae-McGuinty run the ship into rocky shores!
  2. Adrian Howell from Toronto, Canada writes: Great...another Northern Ontario MPP who has no real life experience in dealing with large urban areas, and the VOTES that reside there. And no disrespect, but Timmins and Sudbury are not in the same league ( population-wise) as Toronto, Hamilton, etc.
  3. George BrownIII from Christmas Island writes: I even voted NDP but the idea of a bob rae clone as premier gives me nightmares!
  4. Honesty is the best Policy from Canada writes:

    I nominate Peggy Nash

    .
  5. Alex MacLean from Toronto, Canada writes: Jesus H. This is as uninspired as it gets. We don't need a stronger economy. Ontario's economy is healthy. We need a more equitable distribution of the wealth. Any economic plan predicated on more capitalist growth will only bring us to the wall quicker. We need some new ideas on the economy, and we need them soon. A quickly growing economy does not bring equality or justice. It always favours those with capital. People suffer and starve in growing economies all the time. The Industrial Revolution in England, the US today, Russia, all burgeoning economies with great deprivation and poverty in the midst of plenty.
  6. Anthony L from Canada writes: I love it! Let the communist banners fly at the NDP and the comment section of the G&M. Seriously Alex are you still trying to fly the canard about the evils of capitalism? All I have to say thank goodness for the NDP at least we know where the Loony Left is, safely out of power.
  7. Conservatives Lie from Canada writes: Congrats to Gilles Bisson for throwing his hat in the ring. He's a terrific MPP and has loads of experience. We would all do well with someone who has both the experience of urban regions and the down-to-earth common sense of rural regions. Ignore clowns like Adrian Howell who seem to think you have to hail from Toronto to run for office in the province. The last thing we need is an NDP leader on the provincial scene who is like that nutjob Layton. Give me social responsible leaders who are down-to-earth over the near communist fanatics like Layton any day.
  8. Wilfred Day from Port Hope, Ont., Canada writes: "Timmins and Sudbury are not in the same league ( population-wise) as Toronto, Hamilton, etc."

    What league is that?

    Toronto has 20% of Ontario's population. Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton and Brampton have another 20%. A group of 13 middling-large cities from London through Cambridge, including Sudbury, have another 20%. A group of 36 middling-small cities from Kingston through Orillia, including Timmins, have another 20%. And municipalities under 30,000 people (including 11 cities like Brockville, Owen Sound, Thorold and Pembroke) have the last 20%.

    Are any of these leagues better than any others?
  9. Kenneth Yurchuk from Toronto, Canada writes: I don't know Bisson. Of the potential candidates I do know, Michael Prue would be the best candidate to return the NDP to relevance in Ontario. The former Mayor of East York has shown an uncanny ability to attract support from across party lines, without selling out.
  10. Tony . from Waterloo, Canada writes:
    I don't know much about this guy, but I hope he has more to offer than Howard Hampton. I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to vote for the NDP given their rather misguided (my opinion at least) policies, but I do appreciate a certain balance that they bring to things.
  11. Peter Wojnar from Hamilton, Canada writes: >>George BrownIII from Christmas Island writes: I even voted NDP but the idea of a bob rae clone as premier gives me nightmares!

    Then you must be having nightmares right now, as we currently do have a Bob Rae clone. His name is Dalton McGuinty.
  12. Harper-approved lies are scripted talking points from Canada writes: Harper's Reform policies were tried by Harris, and failed miserably. As bad as McGuinty is, he could never be as bad as Harris or his cronies like Flaherty and Baird.
  13. Alex MacLean from Toronto, Canada writes: Anthony L: Capitalism isn't evil (constructs don't have personalities) it is simply a very recent and troubled economic system (albeit a very powerful one) which is predicated on constant growth. Constant growth reaches an end point when resources are finite, as with petroleum. Capitalism doesn't create equality, if equality is what we want, not because it is evil, but because that is not its purpose. So if we want a different world than the one we constantly reproduce, we need to do things differently. Simple, really. A growing number of people recognize that resources are finite and that changes must be made to how we distribute scarce resources. Given capitalism has been the status quo for the last couple of hundred years, many are asking if we might think of alternatives or changes. Are they all "Loony Left" too? There is a movement to seek creative alternatives. I suppose some people find that frightening. I find it encouraging.

    If the NDP wants to differentiate itself, then it needs to come up with some new ideas. Gilles Bisson doesn't seem to have any. That was my point. But I guess you were so giddy red-baiting and tossing epithets that you didn't think to respond with anything of substance.
  14. A Messing from Toronto, Canada writes: It's appalling that the NDP is charging an entry fee of $15,000 for leadership candidates on top of the 40% of campaign contributions it will collect from campaigns. The fee, which is twice what the federal NDP charged in 2003 and more that 4 times what the BC NDP charged, will make it impossible for anyone but an establishment figure to run. Leadership campaigns are an opportunity for a real debate in the party including candidates representing diverse and important opinions. There's a petition at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=747025992&ref=ts#/group.php?gid=20141476481 against the entry fee which people should consider signing.
  15. An Non from Toronto, Canada writes: "Toronto has 20% of Ontario's population. Ottawa, Mississauga, Hamilton and Brampton have another 20%."

    That's just silly. How does it make any sense to include the million residents of Peel with Ottawa, as opposed to their closest neighbours, with whom they shares transit, infastructure, a similar economy? That neighbour, of course, is Toronto.
  16. Philip Yu from Toronto, Canada writes: A Messing, how long have you been in the party and do you even have friends remotely tied to any of the other parties who know how the leadership process even works? $15,000 sounds pretty cheap but fair if you want to see the best and brightest who don't have to simply rely on oodles of "friends" on Facebook or MySpace to contribute what little they can in order to finance a leadership campaign.
  17. Stan L from Canada writes: Adrian Howell from Toronto, Canada writes: Great...another Northern Ontario MPP who has no real life experience in dealing with large urban areas, and the VOTES that reside there. And no disrespect, but Timmins and Sudbury are not in the same league ( population-wise) as Toronto, Hamilton, etc.

    What an incredibly ignorant thing to say. Do you think that people from Northern Ontario live in a vacuum? In fact, I would say they are in a better position to manage the ENTIRE province becuase at the very least they travel to the south and actually experience the whole province as opposed to just their city and the citys of the south. To listen to this would have you thinking that all northern MPPs are hicks too mesmerized by the big city lights to actually do anything in government....get some perspective, this is 2008 not 1888.
  18. Secretariat T from Kap, Canada writes: It is obvious that some of Bisson's friends can contribute to this discussion as often as they wantounder different names is obvious. What l read here is from the same gang of of his buddies trying ti buid him up at the expense of credible people. The real joke is that Bisson actually thinks he coud become Premier What an EGO.

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