Did It Work?

So it's been a week now. My blog's spent the whole week headlined with a hopelessly out-of-date post about Nycole Turmel, leftover from a previous era of Canadian political history.

It's not that I haven't tried to write about the death of Jack Layton - it's just that everything I wrote sounded trite, insincere, bandwagon-jumping. I might write something some day, once the moment has passed.

Well, the moment is already passing. Today is Monday, the one-week anniversary of his passing and the first weekday after the funeral. A fog has already lifted, that strange feeling that permeated the air last week is already going away. The line in Reverend Hawkes's eulogy, 'Hi Jack, how are we doing?', that mere hours ago had me in tears already seems pretty cheesy. Nycole Turmel is already moving into Stornoway, the Star has a headline with Bob Rae crassly claiming the Liberals can win the 2015 election, and the chalk at City Hall is probably fading away.

But that doesn't mean things are back to normal; I truly believe they aren't. This week was an amazing mix of spontaneous mass emotion and of intelligently crafted calculation: Jack Layton and his team of advisors really did turn this week into a celebration of the New Democratic Party. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting this week was staged. I don't think anyone in the country could have predicted how much emotion would be spilt over Layton's passing. But while the media has a vested interest in shaping the image of the man we mourn as one of a charismatic uniter of people who wanted to change the tone of politics, few Canadians fell for it. This week was very political, and very partisan. This week really was all about the NDP, or hopefully all about how the idealistic, progressive hopes and dreams of a still-strong majority of Canadians are finding focus in the NDP.

For all the people saying people care about Layton and not his party, I think the message was really pushed out there that you can't separate the man from the party. I mean, think about it: the CN Tower and Niagara Falls were turned the colour of the NDP, not the colour that uniquely belonged to one man. Stephen Lewis got a standing ovation (from the Prime Minister too!) for declaring Layton's letter a 'manifesto of social democracy'. There was no sense in any of the official occassions this week that Jack Layton even existed outside of the confines of the party. All of his pallbearers were party luminaries - would anybody else tie himself to his party so closely?

But there was a reason, and it was not by any means 'vainglorious'. It was all about transferring focus to the party, to build something permanent from the transience of human life. To turn despair at the loss of the principal face of opposition to Harper into hope at the establishment of a vehicle of opposition to Harper. TO make it clear to every Canadian that there is only one way to oppose Harper from here on, and the door ain't red.

Did it work?

Well, it'll be tough to tell. No pollster was crass enough to poll last week on party support: it would have been an ugly move, and it wouldn't have told us anything relevant anyway. Even during this cooldown, though, I have a hunch that the NDP is at first place nationwide as we speak, a place it hasn't been since Broadbent. I bet more Canadians see themselves as NDP supporters than see themselves as Conservative supporters at this unfortunately irrelevant juncture years before the next election. And I bet way more Canadians see themselves as NDP supporters than as supporters of Bob Rae's tired and directionless party, where confusion is currently reigning within its ranks over whether or not it should even continue to exist as an independent entity. As much as the media likes to paint the NDP as a headless chicken, aimlessly flapping its wings, consider the following: as high as the NDP's profile, and goodwill towards the NDP, has risen over the past week, is there a single Canadian who is currently saying, 'I supported the NDP just a few weeks ago, but Jack's death and the national response has suddenly made me a Liberal or Conservative'? Leaderless yes, worried about the future certainly... but no longer committed to the party? That's impossible to imagine. We're living in an NDP Canada at the moment, though who knows how long that will last.

There's a long road ahead, and there are countless forces out there wishing the NDP to failure. But I don't think there's any going back now, and the sooner the Liberals realise this the better. The Liberal-propagated fallacy that Canada exists on a binary red-blue axis with the NDP as a sideshow is permanently dead. If anyone wants to talk about door colours, no-one would pretend anymore that the orange door is somehow a lesser choice. I don't want the Liberals to admit defeat; I want them to stop nipping at the NDP's heels and redefine themselves as a party equally comfortable courting current Tory supporters as current NDP supporters. The NDP have the goodwill right now, they have the monopoly on righteousness and on idealism, and that's incredibly valuable - now all they need is the legitimacy. I'm pretty sure they'll be able to pull it off, but it'll be rocky. People who have held their tongues this past week aren't going to hold them anymore.

Good.

I personally believe in the ideology of the NDP. I believe it's the right course for our country, and i believe it stands up to scrutiny. We should fear nothing of being subjected to that scrutiny. We can't meet attacks with indignation anymore; we should take pride in those attacks, because people only attack what they perceive as a threat. And the NDP is a threat now, a very serious one. We can't meet those attacks with indignation, so we'll have to counter them with reason and with poise. Jack Layton was inspiring because his politics were inspiring, and his politics have not died: they remain very much alive in Canada's main party of the opposition. If you believed the media in that oh-so-distant month between Layton's announcement of his illness and his death, the appointment of Nycole Turmel spelt disaster for the party, whereas interim polling suggested it mattered not a whit - people believe in the NDP.

It wasn't just Jack's death that created this belief. But Jack's death has brought it out into the open, in the form of a genuine yearning for the kind of Canada that the NDP is uniquely able to provide.

The Conservatives' spin recently has been amazing. So many of us have started to feel that this country is slipping away from us, being pulled in a different and unwelcome direction. But hey - look around. This is still our country, this is still a worthy place to build our dreams. Canadians haven't become more conservative at all. We'd just lost sight of who we are. Jack's death was a horrible, senseless tragedy, but one that has served to remind us of who we are.

And the only way the moment will pass is if we suddenly, en masse, decide that it's the Conservatives, or the Liberals, or the Bloc, or the Greens, in whom that vision is best manifested. And how likely is that?

So thanks, Jack. It worked.

On Jack Layton: We've Expected Too Much

It's weird thinking about it now - it's odd how the most obvious things somehow only seem obvious in retrospect. Of course Jack Layton is sick. We've all known that for a while now. Before he bowled us over with that Cinderella story this spring, all the talk around Jack Layton was about his health. That's what the press asked him about the day the writs were dropped. Nobody expected much from him, and his health seemed to be the most noteworthy thing about him at that time.

But God we do love a Cinderella story. it wasn't just the come-from-behind, it was in fact the health battles, the idea that someone can overcome adversities both political and personal and achieve his dreams if he just pushed hard enough. Yes, the cane was a prop. But it was a constant reminder, too, that nothing could stop Jack Layton.

The whole saga has been inspiring, and I'd like to think that even if I wasn't a lifelong NDP supporter I'd still be enchanted by it. It's tough to imagine that the day will never come when we'll say the name 'Layton' with the hushed awe we usually reserve only for the very cream of the Canadian political elite.

The story is so enchanting, so exciting, that we could do nothing but to carry it on to the next level - to sit back with bated breath and watch Layton push that steamroller ahead and redefine the position of Official Opposition while consolidating his party's success in a big push for 2015 when he hit the road one more time to sell his vision to Canada and emerged triumphant at the first NDP Prime Minister in Canadian history.

God, were we stupid to dream that.

Don't think poorly of my usage of the past tense. I have not written the man off yet. But I can't help but feel that even the best-case scenario at this point precludes a Prime Minister Layton come 2015. That's too much to ask. We've been asking too much of Jack Layton for too long now. We've known he's been pushing himself too hard, wasting precious days of his life for the immediate short-term political goal. And we've let him.

Now, I know few people have given themselves over as wholly to the public life as Jack Layton has, and I'm well aware that trading a few years of comfortable retirement for the step forward his engineering has allowed his party to take would be a no-brainer of a decision for him. I am quite sure that he realises his political ambition and drive have if not caused than aided this cancer, and I'm quite sure he has no regrets about that.

But we should. For letting him. For letting our recognition of how much we needed him outweigh the very large number of things he obviously needed. Things he couldn't admit to himself. It is certainly true that the NDP tends to allow the personalities of its leaders to define the party to a perhaps frightening level, but in no small part that is because Jack Layton embodies not merely the spirit of the party but, outside of partisan designation, the passion, the unwavering belief and dedication and the selflessness of public spirit that so many natural NDP allies cherish both within the political arena and outside of it. Jack Laton is exactly what his supporters wish they could be.

And so we project. We put our own dreams and perhaps even disappointments on his shoulders by the millions, and we don't stop even when it becomes painfully obvious he can't bear them.

And yet he gamely tried to. And though I would be honoured to be wrong in saying this, it very well might kill him.

We had no right to expect all this from Jack Layton. He's already done more for the cause of progressivism in Canada than anyone for decades. As much as we would have hated it, and perhaps hated him for it, if he had retired from public office on the third of May, his place in Canadian history, and in the history of the NDP, would already be assured.

If only he'd retired on May 3.

I've spent a few months now dreaming of a Prime Minister Jack Layton in 2015. I no longer wish for that; what I dream of now is merely a healthy Jack Layton in 2015.

The Old Stephen Harper

I don't have very much to say about the debates. I watched the English one but didn't see much of the French one - less to do with linguistic preference than what was going on in my life those evenings. I enjoyed what I saw, even if I saw it as mere theatre and not very consequential. There is one thing Jack Layton said, though, that I'd like to comment on. Here is one representative quote:

...I remember a Stephen Harper once upon time, who came here to change Ottawa, who was going to stick up for the little guy. But you've become what you used to oppose, you've changed in some way. I mean you used to care about the environment and now we're back of the pack internationally. You said you'd clean up Ottawa from scandals and now we've got the most closed, secretive government we've pretty well ever had, with scandals and people stuffed in the senate and charged with fraud. Our healthcare system, you said you'd care about that, we've got people with no family doctors, what's happened to you? What changed?

I enjoyed hearing this on the night, and although it might be too little too late, I'd encourage Jack Layton to run with this. After all, it's a really useful strategy. Here's why: So far in this campaign, we've seenthe Liberals shift to the left and the NDP shift to the centre. Both are very actively courting each other's votes, with a notion that Conservative votes are stitched up, so they might as well each present themselves as the only real opposition to the Conservatives. Meanwhile, the assumption that 'Conservative votes are all stitched up' becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Tory leaners become Tory core as they see little in the other parties to reflect their interests. Previous Tory hardliners now soured on the party will still line up to cast their vote for them, seeing no alternative. The assumption is that the Tories can only bleed to the Liberals, as the right would move more easily to the centre than it would jump straight over the centre to the left. But I think this shows a very significant reality, one that the mutations of both the NDP and the Conservative Party tend to conceal: the two have similar roots. The two were born as 'populist' protest movements critical of Ottawa-based 'élitist' politics. And yes, the two were both born of 'Western alienation'. Now, neither are very willing to remind you of that. Both want desperately to be seen as having legitimacy coast-to-coast. In the case of the CPC, though, they can turn their gaze east knowing that their Prairie populist core will stick with them. The NDP, on the other hand, seem at risk of permanently losing that Prairie populist vote. Which really will turn them into just-another-Liberal-party. The long-gun registry matters. And that's not been going well for the NDP. In voting against the Conservative private member's bill to kill the registry, Layton spoke about finding new alternatives, a new solution, etc. But I haven't heard anything about that. On the long-gun registry, the Conservatives' position is crystal clear, as is the Liberal and BQ position. All three are even willing to lose votes on it in order to gain votes from people passionately pro- or anti-gun. The NDP is lost. They could have brought out a new policy and said, 'this is how to breach the divide between urban and rural'. I don'tknow what it would have been, but it should have existed. It would have played well to the 'Ottawa's broken' idea of the NDP as the bridge between opposing interests. But there's more: the birth of the Reform Party in the early 1990s did more than just kill the PC vote out west - it gave the NDP a real thump, too. That's not as illogical as it seems: the paradigmatic differences between the two parties was less relevant than the idea that someone would stand up for regional interests in Ottawa, that an alternative to Liberal and PC governments that didn't care about 'the little man' in the West existed. People in the West have always craved this: in Alberta and rural BC, this once meant Social Credit, but elsewhere it has always meant NDP. Preston Manning had a folksy charisma that the NDP was starting to lose sight of. And in the West, people continue to vote for Preston Manning. People continue to see Stephen Harper as 'our man' (fair enough - the rest of the country sees Harper as 'the West's man' as well). The respect people have in the West for Stephen Harper is to a large extent based on a Stephen Harper who hasn't existed for ten years now. Jack Layton needs to seize on that and throw it in Harper's face. Layton needs, in every campaign stop in the West, to praise Harper. That is, to praise the man Harper used to be. To paint a picture of a man who at one time stood up for 'the little guy' but is now every bit the Ottawa élitist he used to hate. Paint Harper as a sell-out. Grab the 'Western alienation' vote. Why? Well, the best way to hand Harper another mandate is to allow him to keep all of his votes. In the past three years, Harper has been slowly working on shoring up his base. And what is remarkable is that no-one else has made much of an effort to erode it. It's a really bizarre turn of events that Harper has been able to 'widen' his tent by shoving more and more people in the front door and not allowing a single one to leak out the back. And it's the other parties' fault. Ignatieff isn't even trying. The Liberals could steal economic conservatives more easily than social conservatives, but Ignatieff has taken the tax-and-spend mantle and run with it. Elizabeth May has largely eroded Jack Harris's cross-spectrum consensus, returning the Green Party to its roots as a left-wing party (something that in other circumstances I would praise). Duceppe looked like being able to squeeze Harper out of Québec City at one point, but now I'm not so sure. And that leaves Jack... I'm astounded to find myself saying 'praise Stephen Harper in order to steal votes from Stephen Harper'. But that's the point - there are two Harpers out there. They share the same name and the same body (and the same love of Nickelback), so it's easy to confuse them. Layton nees to remind people of the differences betwen them. Not only will it stop the Harper majority, it could potentially sweep Harper out of power entirely.

The Jack Party

The NDP released their platform today. A bit late, but better late than never, right? Anyway, the first thing I noticed about it had nothing whatsoever to do with the words in the document. So let me speak about it first, without offering comment on the contents of the budget.

The document has nineteen pictures in it. This document, which represents the shared ambitions of 308 candidates and of 36 incumbent MPs, is illustrated with pictures such as these:

• Jack Layton smiling in front of a big Canadian flag.
• Jack Layton smiling at a baby.
• Jack Layton looking a bit awkward in front of a big Canadian flag.
• Jack Layton smiling at a big scary-looking machine.
• Jack Layton about to be attacked by a pharmacist.
• Jack Layton buying tomatoes.
• Jack Layton speaking into a mic in front of a big Canadian flag.
• Jack Layton and his wife and fellow NDP MP Olivia Chow playing with Play-Doh.
• Jack Layton smiling at a lectern.
• Jack Layton looking at children.
• A two-page spread of Jack Layton smiling in front of a big Canadian flag.

This party, with a candidate in every riding in the country, feels no need to show pictures of any of them who do not presently live in the Layton household. The front page uses the same logo that you see on signs in front of houses - the logo that puts Jack Layton's name before the party's name and in a bigger font. The preamble to the platform uses the first-person singular, 'I' or 'my', fourteen times. The word 'we' appears four times.

Now don't get me wrong: I like Jack Layton. I think he's a great leader for the party and would make a very good prime minister. I'm happy that he is as admired and liked as much as he is by the Canadian public. I like that he's a 'likeable' guy. I'm pleased at the number of Canadians who think he'd make the best Prime Minister.

But I think the NDP is currently going too far in what analysts might call a 'cult of personality'. I think the extent to which they're willing to hide the identity of a 79-year-old party behind the smiling face of a single individual is worrying. It's worrying for the long-term identity of the party, which will be around long after Jack Layton has entered his richly-deserved retirement. I worry that people see the NDP as 'Layton's party' - particularly in Québec, where its current good polling numbers are by no means permanent and appear to be at least as much a reflection of a personal attraction to Layton as to anything the party, which got 1.8% of the vote in Québec in the last election before Layton took over as leader, has to say.

We've seen it before, after all. For whatever reason, the NDP is a party that gets more attached to its leaders than other parties. And whenever they leave, the party struggles to recover its momentum. Will it happen this time too? Well, barring the remote possibility that Layton will be replaced by someone with off-the-bad star power even greater than Layton's, yes. And potentially the fall will be hard.

And will that party that abhors the Conservatives' rebranding of the Government of Canada as 'the Harper Government' but has no problem rebranding itself 'Jack Layton NDP' be able to rebound? I hope so... but it might be a long itme coming.

The Guns of the Left

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It's never been easy being the NDP. The main problem with any traditional left-wing merger of farmers' and workers' interests is that farmers' and workers' interests differ, and that diversion has only increased with time. You only need to look at the NDP's numbers in rural Saskatchewan vs. the Conservatives' numbers in the same place to see the extent to which the NDP has already lost ground in its 'traditional' ridings. They're still doing well in BC, but otherwise the NDP is slowly mutating into an Eastern Canadian urban party.

As an Eastern Canadian urban NDP supporter, I can't say I mind: the party is starting to look more and more like me. What's to complain about? But I know that any party that wants to present itself as a legitimate alternative needs to present itself as as nation-wide as possible. Not only West/East but rural/urban as well. Plus those rural NDP seats are in many cases long-term seats.

But to what expect are the NDP required to turn away from values that the majority of their supporters have? When it comes to economic matters, there's little divergence. It's the question of social matters that matters, no pun intended. Rural voters tend to be more socially conservative, and while 'economically progressive and socially conservative' is not an impossible position for a party to have, I'd like to think it's an one for the NDP to have.

I am bothered by the notion that any or some NDP MPs would vote against the gun registry. It's not that I don't understand the delicate position these rural MPs are in - I do - but ultimately I am a supporter of partisan politics, and the reason why parties exist is to establish voting blocs in parliament along lines that can be anticipated. That the NDP would be in favour of stricter gun regulation is one of the things we ought to be able to anticipate. Putting aside all the nonsense both the Liberals and the Conservatives are tossing about at the moment, I still feel that the party I support ought to be one that's unwavering on gun control.

I have faith they will be. Jack Layton should have put his foot down sooner, but I think he will. But will it be too late? Will the NDP brand have been tarnished too much?

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The NDP manages somehow to excite

Image by mattjiggins via Flickr

The NDP has got an interactive graphic up on their website outlining a point-by-point plan of how they can take on the Harper Conservatives, positioning themselves as the main alternative. Sure, a lot of it is just fantasy, the 'la-la land' stuff the NDP are famous for, but much of it seems somehow tantalisingly obtainable, and it's made me feel something I haven't felt about the NDP in a long time: excited.

In all likelihood, I'm probably a committed lifetime Dipper. There isn't any time so far in my adult life that I've seriously thought about voting for another party, and it's tough to see what could pry me from the NDP. At the moment the only party I could even concievably see myself voting for is the Greens. I know - everyone says that. But I doubt I would. Just like everyone else.

Back to the NDP. I've never felt like wandering, but lately I've felt that the love has gone out of our relationship. I've been feeling uninspired by the NDP - at times they've seem wrongheadedly obstructionist, at times wrongheadedly compliant. They're off-message when they should be on, and on-message when they should be off. Sadly, they've lost their role as the 'conscience' of Parliament to, of all people, the Bloc. Suddenly the NDP have all of the trapping of being an 'establishment' party with none of the advantages.

I hate the idea of a Liberal-NDP merger. But what I love is the idea of a progressive party, that may or may not carry the name "NDP", that leftist Liberals can take seriously - one that Dion Liberals (where are they now?) can appreciate. Back in the eighties, Ed Broadbent embarrassed himself a little by predicting that the NDP and the PCs would squeeze the Liberals into irrelevance... er, not quite. Not then, anyway. But Michael Ignatieff is another John Turner (why do the Liberals ever trust Ontarians?) and Jack Layton is, well, kind of an Ed Broadbent. And the Liberal brand name has perhaps never been worse off than at present - even provincially, I don't think there's a single Liberal party on the ascendant. Will it last forever? Of course not. Will it last until the next election? Well, if it does, the results might be tantalising. With proper momentum, if an election were called now, I could see, within 90 days, the NDP pulling within reach of official opposition status. And that would be interesting.

The ndp.ca graphic highlights some interesting trends: clearly, a massive increase in NDP seats has to come in large part from where it's always come from: the West. In particular, the non-Alberta West. The news is crazy good in BC, and Saskatchewan might... just might... come back into the fold. I've been watching NDP numbers slowly inch up in Québec over the months, and while I take those numbers with a grain of salt, I discovered something completely unexpected yesterday in a Léger Marketing poll: currently, the NDP is polling higher among francophones in la Belle Province than among anglo/allos. I certainly didn't see that coming... but it may be indicative of something that could potentially happen in much larger numbers: long-term Liberals disenchanted with their party giving the NDP a second thought. As silly merger talk carries on, this might be the real 'merge' - a drift of individual votes from the Liberals to the NDP. I doubt permanently, but this time round. And if so, that could give the NDP a real legitimacy. And if that happens, two very important things could happen: (1) people flirting with the NDP might not develop their traditional last-minute cold feet come election day, and (2) people flirting with the Greens might let their cold feet turn them orange. If the next election turns into a referendum on Harper, as it's inevitably bound to be, and if we get a lot of 'ABC' tactical voting talk, well this time around 'ABC' might not be a mere synonym for 'Liberal'. And then? Well who knows?

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Canadian Political Leaders Quiz: page eight

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This is page seven of a quiz. If you're flying in here from a Google search or something, click here to go to page one.

So, the results to the last question then:

1. Entered electoral politics in 1980 as a member of the so-called "Small Party". Elizabeth May.
2. Never changed parties, but father was a Progressive Conservative cabinet minister and grandfather was an Union Nationale cabinet minister. Jack Layton.
3. Ties to current party go back to 1965, but rather inconsistently until 2004. Michael Ignatieff.
4. Was a Young Liberal before being elected as an MP for three different parties. Stephen Harper.
5. Was a member of the Workers' Communist Party of Canada for three years. Was first elected to parliament as an independent. Gilles Duceppe.

Duceppe's Maoist history is yet another surprising fact about him. Harper the Liberal surprised me too.

So that's it for now. Seven questions is hardly comprehensive, and my resources (mostly Wikipedia or their own party websites) hardly exhaustive. Still though, some brief portraits of five people who in different ways each break the mould of Prime Ministerial candidate.

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Canadian Political Leaders Quiz: page four

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This is page four of a quiz. If you're flying in here from a Google search or something, click here to go to page one.

Anyway, that wide selection of cities of birth plays out as follows:

1. Montreal, Quebec. Gilles Duceppe.
2. Montreal, Quebec. Jack Layton.
3. Hartford, Connecticut. Elizabeth May.
4. Toronto, Ontario. Stephen Harper.
5. Toronto, Ontario. Michael Ignatieff.

An odd list, and it does little for the notion of Canada-wide representation that of five leaders, there are only two Canadian birthplaces: Toronto and Montreal. No points for guessing Ignatieff is from Toronto, but a surprise to find that Stephen "The West Wants In!" Harper was not only born but grew up in Hogtown. Or that Mr. Hogtown himself, long-term Toronto city councillor Jack Layton, was in fact born in Montreal. Again no points for pinning Duceppe in Montreal, but Arnold Schwarzenegger might be intrigued to find that Elizabeth May, candidate for Prime Minister of Canada, could be President of the USA sooner than he could (foreign-born Canadian prime ministers are not unheard-of. The most recent was John Turner of Surrey, England) - I could also say that May is one of two PM candidates who self-identifies as an American...

So moving on to a list that is actually an easier one: where were their spouses born?

1. Hong Kong.
2. Hungary.
3. Montreal, Quebec.
4. Turner Valley, Alberta.
5. unmarried.

Click here to find the answers.

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Canadian Political Leaders Quiz: page three

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This is page three of a quiz. If you're flying in here from a Google search or something, click here to go to page one.

The skinny on the middle names:

1. Evans. Elizabeth May.
2. Gilbert. Jack Layton.
3. Grant. Michael Ignatieff.
4. Joseph. Stephen Harper.
5. none. Gilles Duceppe

Prize for geekiest middle name goes to Jack (John, of course, to be exact) Layton. I can't be 100% sure Duceppe doesn't have a middle name or, as a French-Canadian, five or six. But I can't see any anywhere on the net.

Carrying on with 'basic inormation', this next question is nowhere near as easy as I'd have thought it would be. Where were they born?

1. Montreal, Quebec.
2. Montreal, Quebec.
3. Hartford, Connecticut.
4. Toronto, Ontario.
5. Toronto, Ontario.

Big list of choices, isn't it? Well, click here once you've decided.

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Canadian Political Leaders Quiz: page two

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This is page two of a quiz. If you're flying in here from a Google search or something, click here to go to page one.

So, the answers to question one:

1. Born 30 April 1959 - aged 50. Stephen Harper.
2. Born 9 June 1954 - aged 55. Elizabeth May.
3. Born 18 July 1950 - aged 59. Jack Layton.
4. Born 12 May 1947 - aged 62. Michael Ignatieff.
5. Born 22 July 1947 - aged 62. Gilles Duceppe.

Interesting that all five are, broadly speaking, the same generation. Aged between 50 and 62 counts as actually a relatively young bunch in the plutocratic world of politics. Also interesting is that the Prime Minister is (by a fair bit) the youngest of the bunch. For a man who's already been PM for a few years now, 50 is remarkably young. No points for picking Ignatieff as a boomer, though Duceppe doesn't seem a typical boomer.

Moving on then, to a perhaps simpler question: what are their middle names?

1. Evans.
2. Gilbert.
3. Grant.
4. Joseph.
5. none (as far as I can tell).

Click here once you've decided.

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Canadian Political Leaders Quiz: page one

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So Canada has five mainstream federal parties. Each of them has a leader at the moment who, if nothing else, is an interesting character. You could make an argument that confidence in party leaders has never been lower than it is at the moment (and you could make the case that there's never been a bunch of leaders less inspiring of confidence), but the truth remains that they are interesting individuals. That does not necessarily mean good candidates for Prime Minister, but at least it's something...

So seven questions, then. How it works is that each question is in five parts. The correct answer to one of the five is 'Stephen Harper'. The correct answer to another is 'Michael Ignatieff'. Another is 'Jack Layton', another is 'Gilles Duceppe' and another is 'Elizabeth May'. In short, match the leader to the choice that describes him/her.

Question one: simply put, how old are these folks?

1. Born 30 April 1959 - aged 50.
2. Born 9 June 1954 - aged 55.
3. Born 18 July 1950 - aged 59.
4. Born 12 May 1947 - aged 62.
5. Born 22 July 1947 - aged 62.

Click here once you've decided in order to see the answer...

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