Brison bows out of leadership

The speculation has begun! Scott Brison has announced that he will not be running as Liberal leader, as he and his husband are planning to start a family, and he doesn’t want to take time away from that. Meanwhile, party officials are looking at ways to get around the party’s constitution, which mandates a leadership contest within six months. Everyone pretty much agrees they need to do a full ground-up rebuild before choosing a leader, rather than going about it the other way around.

Ousted gay Liberal Rob Oliphant posts a letter to his supporters on his Facebook page.

Here at Xtra, Marcus McCann gives some pointers to the new class of young MPs. If I were to add my own piece of advice, it would be to stay away from the sanctimony. The youngest New Democrat in the last Parliament, Niki Ashton, was full of it during her first question period, which didn’t endear her to anyone.

One of those new MPs – the one who went to Vegas during her campaign – is now being subjected to questions about her nomination forms: two people whose names appear on her papers say they didn’t sign them. Drama! Thomas Mulcair will apparently coach these new Quebec MPs, but after his conspiracy-theory performance on Power & Politics last night (he doesn’t believe that photos of bin Laden’s body exist, though some have charitably argued that he was trying to make a point about what happened in the villa as opposed to what happened with the body itself), this could be an interesting proposal.

David Akin gives reasons why the NDP surge in Quebec may not be like the rise and fall of the ADQ. Paul Wells also has some interesting musings on the NDP in Quebec and likens the party’s rise to the genesis of the Bloc.

Andrew Potter gives a very sober look at the resignation of Michael Ignatieff and the slow demise of the Liberal Party.

Here are some thoughts as to why the NDP and the Liberals cannot and should not merge.

What’s that? Odious social conservatives and the religious right expect to be paid back for all their support now that the Conservatives have a majority? You don’t say!

Today in Bruce Carson news, we find that Indian Affairs was considering a proposal put forward by Carson’s girlfriend on First Nations water filtration systems.

And here is a long and thoughtful essay on the role that the media have played in the decline of Parliament, and how it has tacitly allowed this government to undermine parliamentary democracy in this country. I would highly recommend that people read it and reflect on what we, the media, are letting the government get away with because we’re afraid that people will be bored by parliamentary procedure.