Thursday, February 08, 2007

Rising Star?

David McGuinty has been getting a lot of face time lately, hasn't he? More than his older brother, that's for sure. McGuinty, as the Liberal environment critic, is being the best apologist for the Liberal environment plan I think I have ever heard, and he's doing it almost daily. His frequent appearances on political talk shows and news channels lately have offered a spirited attack on the Conservatives' environment front, as well as a clear elucidation of Liberal views on the matter. He's also been performing well on committee, particularly when he goes up against John Baird.

I must admit, I've never really had much of an opinion of McGuinty one way or the other - again, I usually associate the name "McGuinty" with the premier of Ontario - but lately he's been impressing me. Where as previously I would have figured he would be unlikely to carry over his shadow cabinet responbility into a cabinet responsibility should the Liberals win the next election, but now I'd say it's a distinct possibility.

I'm going to make a prediction and say McGuinty will be someone to watch in the future, possibly as future (way down the line) leadership material; he's certainly young enough - the same age as Gerard Kennedy, actually - and seems pretty quick on his feet. (Wouldn't it be funny if the next leadership race featured McGuinty v. Kennedy?)

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6 Comments:

At 2/08/2007 3:21 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ha! David is HATED by his fellow Liberal caucus members.

 
At 2/08/2007 3:53 p.m., Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hated by his fellow liberal caucus members? What liberal caucus members are those? I haven't heard anything bad about the guy and obviously Stephane thought about him enought o make him environment critic.

The problem with such harsh statements like "hate" is that it can mean many things. While not everyone gets along with everybody all of the time you can still work together cohesively without letting personal feelings get involved. It's called being mature.

But I agree with the post. I think he's doing a great job and forcing Baird the Bear to tone down the yelling and bullying he usually gets away with.

 
At 2/09/2007 1:00 a.m., Blogger Monkey Loves to Fight said...

I think choosing him as leader someday would probably not be the best choice. I haven't fully understood why, but former provincial politicians always seem to bomb at the federal level if they lead. This is quite the contrast with the United States were a large chunk of their presidents were past governors.

I think the fact he is the brother of the premier could be a liability. The reason I say this is I think Canadians rightly or wrongly feel any past provincial politician will show favoritism to their home province, which is nonsense off course.

 
At 2/09/2007 2:55 p.m., Blogger Ryan Ringer said...

miles: I think you may be confusing him for his brother. I don't think David was ever a provincial politician.

 
At 2/09/2007 9:02 p.m., Blogger Monkey Loves to Fight said...

I know David McGuinty was never a provincial politician, but I still think having a brother as premier would hurt him at the moment. Since he is younger, this won't hurt him once McGuinty provincially is gone.

It is not so much that Dalton McGuinty is doing a bad job, it is simply Canadians for whatever reason seem to have a tough time supporting people who were previously provincial politicians or are connected.

 
At 2/11/2007 11:08 p.m., Blogger DivaRachel said...

I met David McGuinty at a Martin Luther King Celebration event last month. Did you know that he met his wife while they were both working to help the situation in Afrika years ago?

If the next Leadership Race is McGuinty v Kennedy, I don't know what I would do. I can't even imagine a race where you have so many good candidates, you don't know where to go, as opposed to having to pick the leaser of evils.

 

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