Here are my top ten reasons for supporting Andrew Coyne (@acoyne on Twitter) for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Please tweet any of these reasons, or your own reasons, and hashtag the tweet with #Coyne4LPC #cdnpoli #lpc.
- Andrew Coyne is a genuine democrat and he could lead democratic reform of our politics and political institutions. As he wrote in April 2011: "What we cannot afford is the continuing slide of Parliament, and parliamentary democracy, into disrepair. Conventions once discarded, habits of self-government once lost, are much harder to regain."
- The #lpc has a serious credibility problem and Andrew Coyne has credibility in spades. I'm sure he would resign rather than compromise his integrity.
- Andrew Coyne advocates for smart public policy, which will appeal to reasonable people who've supported the #lpc, #cpc and #gpc. Especially environmental policy (carbon tax, road tolls, etc).
- Andrew Coyne is a fiscal conservative who is unafraid of confronting sacred cow legacy #lpc policies such as supply management. He would shake things up in #cdnpoli, especially in the West.
- Andrew Conyne is a strong federalist and advocate for the liberty of individual Canadians.
- Andrew Coyne well understands our history and politics and is an excellent speaker and writer. He would perform well in the House of Commons and communicate well with Canadians.
- Andrew Coyne would not be a handmaiden to business, as he believes in unwinding government subsidies to businesses in all their various forms.
- Andrew Coyne is well respected for his understanding of both #cdnpoli and economics.
- Andrew Coyne would represent Canada well to the world. He's a bilingual patriot who is well informed on international affairs.
- It would be very difficult for the #cpc to effectively attack Andrew Coyne.
Comments from Canadians on the idea of Andrew Coyne running for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
- "Coyne as Liberal leader might be the only plausible scenario in which I'd reconsider my own allegiance [to the Conservative Party of Canada]" - a longtime Conservative partisan and organizer
- "That would be pretty awesome" - Curtis from Muskoka
- "#Liberals4Coyne? Yes, I can get behind this." - Brian from Ottawa
- "I highly endorse @jesse_helmer's #Liberals4Coyne campaign, although the Economists' Party hates to lose the guy" - Mike from London
- "He'd get my vote." Chris from Sudbury
- "I read your post [about Coyne for leader of the LPC] with interest." Dave from Waterloo
- "#Liberals4Coyne? Okay! #TeamCoyne" Heather from Ottawa
- "Hmmmm... that would be VERY interesting." - Matt from London
- "We should be so lucky." - Rob from Toronto
- "I'd probably vote for the Coyne Liberals." - Alex from Brantford
- "I'm serious. If you get Andrew to run, I will become a card carrying Liberal! I love Andrew Coyne (far too much for my hubs' liking... lol)" - Anonymous from London
- "Amazing choice. Would be a formidable opponent, and I know a lot of disaffected Libs that would come back for him!" Justin from London
- "It would suck, because I'm a commited Conservative. I prefer him in the media, where he can hold all parties to account." Tony from Ottawa
- "I'm liking the sounds of this! he seems to have a very high level of integrity and respect for government and could put up a strong fight in a campaign. Andrew is a bit 'right' on some issues but would certainly be much more compassionate than Harper and his trolls. this could be that 'wow' moment..." - Sean from Niagara Falls
- "I don't know about others, but I could use a fresh breath and new ideas from outside the traditional avenues of party politics. I would certainly be willing to listen to Mr. Coyne and his concerns and perspective." - Randy from Penatanguishene
- "Although I think that what the Liberals really need is a coherent policy direction (rather than some grab bag of ideas) and an attitude adjustment, having a leader with credentials and an ability to both analyse and communicate policy would be a tremendous boost. Coyne would help bring back all the "small 'l'" liberals who have been holding their noses and voting CPC because of the perception that the Liberals are too big-government oriented. Liberalism is supposed to be about small government and personal freedom, and I think the Liberal party would do well to get back to those roots." Devin from Saskatoon
- "As a voice of reason alone I would support his leadership. Lord knows we need some of that in Ottawa." Wes from Vancouver
If Andrew Coyne joined a political party, it would be the Conservatives. He criticizes the Conservative party, because he is in the media and has to. However, when criticizing the Conservatives, he is likely to throw in that the Liberals were much worse when in govt as an “aside”. The Liberal party needs a leader who will be passionate about the environment and those who are disadvantaged. Andrew doesn’t have a passion for ideas that are important to most Liberals today.
I can see the appeal of attracting conservatives to the Liberal party. However, to attract a significant number of conservatives, the party would need to move to the right. That would mean losing most of the progressive voters to the NDP and Green party.
Hi Chris:
Coyne voted for the Liberal Party in 2011. And he is a proponent of both proportional representation and a carbon tax, two ideas that lots of progressive voters are very interested in.
Jesse
I’m a long-time Tory, but also a long-time Coyne fan. And I have to say, Coyne has disappointed me a lot less. I’d really have a tough time deciding who to vote for in the next election if this happened.
That said, what do you think his odds are of getting the Liberal membership on-side? He seems quite a long way to the right of the Liberal Party of the last decade.
I think a large portion of the existing Liberal members would support Coyne and I think that he would attract a lot of new supporters if he ran for Leader. The establishment might work against him, but with one member one vote, I think he would have a good chance.
Hello all, I think that an important point is being missed. While, I respect Mr. Coyne, he is a columnist and a journalist. These positions generally do not make for great leaders. Leaders, for example, have to bridge differences between different factions. In the book, Double Vision, it is noted that Jean Chretien had to keep the left and right wings of the Liberal Party happy. Stephen Harper right now is negiotating between economic and social conservatives. While, Bob Rae – as an NDP premier – had a hard time keeping the various factions happy. Those included public sector and private sector unions, environmentalists, socialists and rural interests. Mr. Coyne has never had to balance various interests and as such would not be able to be a good leader.
Russell,
I think you’ve raised a good point. Being able to lead requires more than just clarity of thought and good judgement.
I think Andrew Coyne would bring a different, and needed, approach to leading the parliamentary wing of the party. I believe he would give more power to individual MPs and allow a much greater degree of free votes in the House of Commons.
It may be that the coalition of people who support the Liberal Party would change if Andrew Coyne was the leader. And I think that’s exactly what’s needed: the status quo is not good.
Let’s attract the libertarians, environmentalists and fiscal conservatives/Red Tories to the Liberal Party. If we lose some orange Liberals to the NDP in the process, c’est la vie.
More importantly, I think Andrew Coyne would be able to connect with Canadians who are not voting at all and get some of them re-engaged in politics.
Jesse