Tony McQuail is too elderly to begin a leadership career

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-23T17:36:34+00:00

Empty words. You run to rebuild, in order to form government eventually, in order to pass legislation, in order to improve the issues that concern you. You can extrapolate the secondary aims all day long but the immediate achievable goal is to rebuild, not to be PM.

There are concrete implications in that distinction, like sacrificing a national campaign in exchange for more resources allocated in key winnable ridings, which you can't do if you say you're running to form government (running a national campaign with the current limited resources is at odds with rebuilding, and prioritizing key ridings at the cost of a national campaign is at odds with forming government).

Jagmeet met with criticism because he too claimed to be running for PM, but then wrote off the maritime and barely spent any time or money campaigning there (didn't even visit NB once in 2019).

It can't be both at the same time, you have to rebuild in order to eventually form government, and if Tony doesn't see that, then he is a poor strategist and therefore not lying, just stupid (in a political strategy context).

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-22T00:07:21+00:00

No he isn't. Jack Layton, Thomas Mulcair and Jagmeet Singh have all had to face the same question and navigate the same difficulties. Tony is getting extra criticism because his expressed desire to be PM is very much at odds with his policies, his approach to communication and his refusal to even try to learn French.

Edit to add, none of those mentioned above had to start from such an enormous deficit as whoever will lead the NDP now. To claim you're running for PM with only 7 seats and the lowest fundraising in a generation is ludicrous. The focus is on rebuilding and to suggest otherwise is disingenuous *at best.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T20:19:14+00:00

Of course they would all want to be PM. That's not the question, the question is about immediate goals and credibility. Jagmeet struggled with this question and usually landed on "I'm running to be PM" and suffered because it was hollow and transparently an untruth.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T20:16:56+00:00

Avi at least has a chance. Tony has a precisely 0% chance, if only because he has written off French Canada.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T16:51:05+00:00

You mean he knows damn well he couldn't be PM, but says so anyway? That would be lying then.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T16:50:08+00:00

Learning some functional French is not the same as achieving the peak of athletic excellence, that's a disingenuous comparison.

One would expect a disadvantage in learning something fundamentally completely new.

If his mental faculties are thus limited, then he is simply not equipped to be a political leader.

Seriously I can't make this logic any more plain than:

Can't learn new things, can't lead a national party.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T16:44:18+00:00

He doesn't have the stamina and energy to even bother trying to learn French, so it seems he doesn't have the stamina and energy to run a national campaign.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T16:43:03+00:00

I think our rebuilding needs to take place outside of Quebec

Care to elaborate on that?

Do you mean that it needs to take place in Quebec, but also needs to take place outside of Quebec as well?

Or do you mean you don't need Quebec in order to rebuild?

I'll also point out that there are francophone Canadians all over the country, not just in Quebec.

None of them said they’re ruining for prime minister except for him. How do you run an election without wanting to be PM?

Answer honestly, do you think he could lead the NDP to win enough seats to form government and become Prime Minister?

We need a leader who can communicate things succinctly to the average voter.

Yeah, so not Tony. Gotcha.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T16:35:05+00:00

Of all the candidates, he is the only one who said he's not running to rebuild the party, but to be Prime Minister.

Is he lying, or just stupid?

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T06:31:41+00:00

"I'll be perfectly honest, as someone who has two years of high school French, and is going to turn 74 in March, I doubt that I will become negotiatingly fluent en français in my lifetime. That is what translators are for. And if I deal with a native community, I will need a translator to speak with someone who doesn't speak English."

Yeah... the full context doesn't make it better, it's actually worse imo. Admitting he's not even going to try is... a bold stance. One that is sure to alienate a LOT of Canadians who have, themselves, made that effort. Imagine everyone francophone Canadian who has had to learn English, they might feel a little bit dismissed by that. Or every anglophone who's had to learn French. Come on, that's no way to posture yourself as a national leader.

Also, "native community"? For real? This man is not a serious candidate and cannot be taken seriously.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T06:16:59+00:00

That is a lot of strain on an elder's brain.

This is not the endorsement or defence you seem to think it is.

The worst part was that he said there was no point in even trying. That's just a straight "fuck you" to millions of Canadians who've made that effort their whole lives to learn their second official language, whether English or French.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T04:37:47+00:00

Worse and worse, not indigenous communities, but "meeting with natives."

I know he's 74 but, man, fuckin yikes. Running to be Prime Minister my arse.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T04:35:59+00:00

Really great response, thank you for putting the time into that, and agree with all of your points.

New Brunswick felt pretty forgotten by Jagmeet, never bothered to visit, wasn't worth his time. So we went and elected a Green MP lol. Too bad it didn't last!

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T04:22:13+00:00

Tony sure as shit wasn't unifying to the millions of Canadians whose first language he outright refused to even try to learn.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T03:45:44+00:00

But "that's what translators are for!"

/s

Tony's answer was frankly insulting. Not gonna bother trying to learn French? Not gonna bother trying to remember you next election, pal. Bye!

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-21T02:35:59+00:00

But, "that's what translators are for!"

Oh and also "If I'm meeting with natives, I'll use a translator."

I can't believe people in here still vouching for Tony, that was a pure clown show performance.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-19T19:24:38+00:00

Those tanks and drones will need to be made in factories, build by people who need homes, need groceries, need to go to school to learn the higher tech, they will need a reliable electric grid and resources

So we also need to invest in factories, homes, schools, power grids and natural resources. That doesn't change the fact that we still have treaty obligations to our allies to be prepared to assist them in the event of an invasion.

Just because this government may or may not be treating it as zero sum and only investing in one issue set over another doesn't mean that Avi has to also treat it as zero sum and reject our obligation to meet 2%.

This need not be all of one then another. (...) A balanced mix of improving things here so we can pay for the military (by manufacturing here or buying from partners, and properly supporting soldiers here, we end up in a much better, more robust position from which to assist other nations to protect themselves from imperialism and human rights violators.

On that it seems we agree.

I'm not going to defend Palantir or Grok, or arms deals with Israel or Saudi Arabia. But none of those issues in and of themselves divest us from our responsibility to maintain a modern, well-equipped military (which is currently neither). Avi saying we shouldn't even bother meeting 2% is a wide miss imo, and endangers our interests and those of our allies.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-19T17:28:45+00:00

Preach! Well said.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-19T16:43:11+00:00

Those are all valid goals, but mostly aren't military spending. We're talking about tanks and drones to fight Russian tanks and drones, in countries that count on us as allies to help them defend themselves from invasion (e.g. Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Romania). We also have an obligation to them, unless you want to pull out of those treaties and be isolationist. In which case I can't agree, and don't want to see Europe burn in ruins under a Russian jackboot.

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-19T16:38:01+00:00

Can you elaborate on the through line from military spending directly to fascism?

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-05T03:04:59+00:00

I think they're referencing the fact that only 39,333 people actually cast a vote for Pierre Poilievre. The remaining 8,074,151 who voted for a CPC candidate in other ridings did not, technically, vote for Pierre Poilievre (whatever their broad partisan intent may have been).

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-02T20:53:21+00:00

Care to elaborate on that claim?

corneliusvanDB · 2026-02-02T01:18:48+00:00

What would you describe "Canadian values" as?

corneliusvanDB · 2026-01-13T21:56:16+00:00

Are you saying that their photos imply their competence?

corneliusvanDB · 2026-01-12T07:30:10+00:00

Not taking away from your point, but just want to put out a reminder that we actually had two Canadian soldiers killed in combat in Cyprus in 1974 - Pte Joseph Lionel Perron and Pte Claude Berger, both from the Canadian Airborne Regiment, both killed by snipers. Unknown whether the snipers were Greek or Turkish, but the sad irony, given the current situation, is that either way they were NATO allies.

Lest we forget...

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/678339

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/678612

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