Let us recap what we know.
-His French is lousy;
-He doesn't like the current division of powers and wants to use the federal government's power to spend in provincial jurisdictions;
-At some point he left university without completing a degree.
-He was an Ontario MPP. He was also Ontario Minister of Education for not quite three years.
Here is what I need clarification on:
-What is this "historical researcher" position he had in Edmonton? Was it a summer job? Who was it with?
-How did he get involved with the food bank in Edmonton. We know it already existed when he became Executive Director. How did a political science university drop-out with "research" experience get a job managing a food bank? Was he a volunteer before that or was he a customer? Or both? Or neither?
-How many courses did he fail before leaving the political science program? What was his grade point average?
-While working at a food bank (in Edmonton or Toronto), did he ever bring home food from the food bank (and thus evade income taxes)?
-What did he accomplish as Ontario Education Minister?
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Update 2006-10-10
For you non-Ontarians, the title of this post is a reference to Ontario's last election campaign when a PC staffer got, shall we say, over-eager and sent out a press release with that as a title. I'm poking fun at myself, I don't actually think that Gerard Kennedy is a kitten eating alien from outer space. And yes, GASP, I've just outed myself as a former Ontario resident.
Some people ask why I am so angry at Gerard Kennedy.
Until recently, I was mostly indifferent to the whole Liberal leadership campaign. None of the candidates appeared particularly appealing.
I'm dismayed at the inadequate employment insurance program. $413 a week is a joke when you are used to so much more. They deduct your vacation pay and there is a two week deduction above that. And the payments don't last long at all. I wouldn't wish unemployment on my worse enemy.
Here comes Gerard Kennedy, branded as a progressive. I wanted to support him. I really wanted to.
I couldn't find any of his ideas but I was satisfied that he had two degrees, was semi-fluent in French and STARTED Canada's first food bank.
Then I read somewhere about him wanting education standards and became a bit concerned. Then I heard a radio interview he did on Thursday. I was livid. I can't imagine why any French-Canadian would support this guy (his wife notwithstanding). He wants MORE POWER for the federal government. I realised the upcoming disaster if Gerard Kennedy gets anywhere close to power. THAT INTERVIEW explained to me his 1.7% delegate showing in Quebec.
After reading all the theories and spin about why he did so badly in Quebec, I had to go negative on Kennedy and point people in the right direction.
Then on Sunday I finally hear him in French: horrible. Not bilingual, not by a long shot. The same day I read the two page piece on him in the Toronto Star and realised not only doesn't he have two degrees, he has NONE! And he didn't start the food bank in Edmonton. The food bank just happens to be the first in Canada, a coincidence.
Add to that the dozens of outrageous comments I was receiving on every Kennedy post and you had the perfect storm. So yeah, over the long weekend (which suck when you are unemployed), I went a bit Barbara Kay, Jan Wong, Barbara Amiel, Diane Francis and Bill O'Reiley and let loose. My audience shot up 600%. And since I have all those adds on my blog and an empty bank account...
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Upadate 2006-10-10 15:20
The following post is probably good advice (LMAO):
16 comments:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dqjFpBmk-Ig
The video answers none of my questions and continues the myth that he was somehow involved in the creation of the Edmonton food bank.
Calling his employer "Canada's first food bank" is simply not pertinent.
It would be like saying I worked at Canada's first department store because I worked at The Bay!
Hey "Sam"
You're about to get slapped with a lawsuit for defamation of character.
Congrats.
Dude, I'm no Gerard-lover, but you're going a little overboard here. This degree of vitriolic commentary is unnecessary and poisons the relatively cordial spirit which has otherwise largely existed.
Cut down the personal attacks; none of the reasons you've cited are reasons to not vote Gerard. Who cares what his GPA was? And as Minister of Education, at least from a left-of-centre perspective (which I don't personally share), he was alright.
If you want to disagree with Gerard's policies, that's fine. Potentially some character/personal/motive-related questions are fine. But the questions you've posed so far have next to nothing to do with how good a leader Gerard would be.
Anonymous liberal.
I think it is very important to know how smart (or stupid) this guy is. If he graduated we wouldn't need his GPA. But since he dropped out...
Do you want a repeat of Clinton? Of "Russian speaking" Kim Cambell? Of cocain sniffing Boisclert?
Many people, myself included, were under the impression Kennedy had two degrees, was fluent in French and STARTED Canada's first food bank.
I'm here to set the reccord straight.
Please refrain from calling me a liar. If you see ANYTHING on my ENTIRE BLOG that is factually incorrect, I'll be happy to post a correction. But be specific.
You need to chill. Why are you so worked up? Why are you focusing so much energy on Kennedy? I'm starting to wonder if you went out, got a university education, realized it didn't come with a six figure salary, expense account, company car, and a corner office at the end, now you're just angry that a potential leader of the liberal party didn't put in the effort that you did.
See update.
Fadi, based on the lenght of that comment, you will be an expensive lawyer ;-)
Now now. Im pretty sure Gerard isnt going to sue some blogger for libel in the middle of a leadership race. I think he would prefer to weather the criticism.
Criticizing Gerard's French and centralizing policies = fair game.
Criticizing Gerard for not having a degree = stupid.
I appreciate the information about Kennedy. As a former resident of Ontario as well, I wasn't impressed with Kennedy's record as Education Minister. I can't even think of one thing he personally accomplished.
The food bank thing is important because I and many others always thought that he STARTED the first food bank.
The refusal to show on a Quebec talk show isn't too important to me, but it makes sense as to why it would affect his Quebec numbers so much.
In any case, I think a lot of people like him because he doesn't talk too much. He hasn't made controversial comments in a few months, so naturally people see him in a positive light.
And whats so wrong about negativity? During the campaign the Tories will do much worse to him that what altavistagoogle has done.
I see none of my comments are getting posted. How mature.
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