How ironic that Gerard Kennedy wants a National Education Strategy. According to an article today in the Toronto Star, Kennedy spent one year at Trent, droped out and went to the University of Edmonton where he dropped out of his BA in Political Science and Economics.
So let's recap: Gerard Kennedy is not fluent in French, has no university degree and worked giving away food.
Ah, but he was Ontario Minister of Education. As his website brags, he had responsibility for two million students, 4,800 schools and a $17 billion annual budget.
Last time I checked, school boards ran the Ontario school system in Ontario.
Gerard Kennedy's main qualification is he has empathy for poor people. That's not nothing in today's political climate, but couldn't he have more impact as a cabinet minister in Ontario's largest province? I mean what can the federal government do about poverty, really? They can fix the Employment Insurance program, they can make unionising easier in some industries and they can raise the federal minimum wage.
But provinces control the minimum wage in most industries, are responsible for social assistance and, most importantly when it comes to poverty, are responsible for land-use.
What has the Ontario Liberal Government done to alleviate poverty in Ontario: NOTHING. At least they didn't make it worse. But I would have expected them to raise the minimum wage and welfare rates to pre-Harris level. But no, all they have done was raised them with inflation.
Did they fix the housing situation? Nope, new green belt around Toronto (granted, that could have a trickle down effect if land prices go up and developers build at a higher density).
In my book, giving away food and running a department that simply overviews school boards does not make one qualified to be Prime Minister. If he had other qualities sure. But it just gets worst. No education to speak of, inadequate French, and not a good public speaker.
But people seem to like him in person. 30 million people in Canada, you do the math.
The Toronto Star article says Gerard Kennedy has supporters that are "cult-like in their devotion". Looking at the comments to my Just Say No to Gerard Kennedy post yesterday, I believe it.
18 comments:
You need professional help. Get it.
More lies from you, gee, what a surprise. I am a delegate and I am part of a group of 12 delegates voting together. Due to your lies and rude behaviour, we have officially eliminated Ignatieff off of our possible list of leadership choices.
Keep up your lies and smear posts and I'm sure you will be successful at driving delegates away from Ignatieff in droves.
As an Ignatieff supporter, I am embarrassed by posts like this. I suspect Ignatieff would be embarrassed by them too.
Do yourself and Ignatieff a favour by removing this post and apologizing.
Even without a University degree, Kennedy did a great job in the Ministry of Education:
He came in at a time of extreme labour strife in the education field of Ontario, and tension between the government and the teachers. He came in, fixed the problem, and came out of it being Ontario's most popular politician. As a Minister of Education, he ran the Ministry with the largest budget in Ontario's government.
I read the same article you did. There was a lot of positives in that article. Why highlight only the negatives?
The line is not so fine between fair criticism and a smear campaign so as to not be able to present a fair assessment of the man.
The article in question is a lot more positive towards Kennedy than what you make it out to be...
Fadi,
The individual that runs this blog is not interested in balanced discussion, that is obvious. He/she has one goal in mind: character assasination of Mr. Kennedy by spreading lies about him.
Unfortunately, the only thing being accomplished is driving delegates away from Ignatieff. It also demonstrates that some are driven to spreading lies because they know Mr.Kennedy is doing well.
I think the person that runs this blog should join the "Stop Iggy" people because they are one of the same.
Anonymous,
Name one lie on my entire Blog!
see for me this is old news, I knew this in the middle of May when I saw him speak. It wasnt that he couldnt handle finishing his degrees, he just had other oportunities in his life. TO me he sounds like an inteligent guy, and if he could get away from the label of not being able to speak french, he might be a good leader.
If this post is the result of a University degree, I'd say that those degrees are highly overated.
height impaired,
You make a good point. Kennedy actually has 4 years of university education. Quite frankly, 80% of the Canadian population does not have a university degree and they do not care if their prime minister has one. They want a leader who has a record of delivering results and can relate to them. Kennedy is one of those leaders.
As for the French, Kennedy's French is actually pretty good and getting better all the time, despite what some fanatical bloggers supporting other candidates may tell you!
Chantal, Kennedy's French is terrible (by Liberal Party standards). There are plenty of journalists who used similar language to describe it.
Yes, having a University degree is important. A masters degree even better. A PHD, well that is just showing off.
Who was the last Prime Minister without a university degree? I can't think of one.
Altavista,
I am assuming you have a University degree yet you dont seem very smart. Michael Ignatieff has a PhD yet supported Mr. Bush's march to war--a war that has since been thoroughly discredited. Bob Rae has more education than Gerard yet didn't have the necessary foresight to implement economic policies to preserve his provinces economy. Stephane Dion... well I like Dion but he is imperfect. Meanwhile Gerard Kennedy has had a successful career in government and the non-profit sector.
I am surrounded everyday by people who have at least one degree, and I would choose Kennedy over any one of them for leader.
Harping on Gerard's french is one thing--that is fair game--but this is just assinine.
This is not helping the Liberal Party at all. People like you do the Conservatives' work. Don't think for a moment that the Conservatives are not taking notes of all those things. They will use it against whoever is elected Liberal leader.
People like you will have to accept responsibility should the Liberal Party implode as a result. All I can say is, shame on you - and get professional help, as already suggested by several others.
Right on, Winnipeg Liberal: Iggy is a great human being and would be ashamed to have someone like this blogger among his supporters. I think I am going to forward all these articles to the Iggy campaign.
Just contacted the Iggy campaign and forwarded all these articles to them, telling them that they should clearly distance themselves from supporters such as the author of this blog.
If you think having a university degree is essential than you have no idea how to beat Stephen Harper. Do you think the Conservatives won the election by making policies for people with Masters degrees?
I have 5 degrees and it doesn't qualify me to do anything except be a researcher.
You need some education in the school of hard knocks where the average Canadian has been.
Shame on you Werner.
check the current crop of Conservative MP's with a focus on the Alberta caucus. The vast majority have little more than bible school education ,LITERALLY. The current PM has never held a legitimate job though has been touted as a lecturer at university which was more likely a post as a teaching assistant. The entire caucus is a bloody sham, short on education, common sense and work experience. Church attendance was the qualifier for most of them .... and you're worried about Gerard?
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