Let’s begin our Liberal convention coverage with this bit from the Globe’s preview.
Let’s begin our Liberal convention coverage with this bit from the Globe’s preview.
How does choosing a 63-year-old former NDP premier of Ontario signal renewal for the Liberal Party? The very question “suggests there’s a terrible ageism at play,” believes Aidan Johnson, the 32-year-old policy chair for Ms. Copps’s campaign. “To suggest someone isn’t capable of renewing the party because of their age is profoundly bigoted.”
Bob Rae will be a few months past his 67th birthday in October 2015. Were the Liberals to win an election around that time with him as leader, he would become the fourth oldest prime minister to take office, bested only by three 70-somethings: John Abbott, Mackenzie Bowell and Charles Tupper.
In addition to our rented Liberal friends, the whole Maclean’s team will be on the convention floor this weekend: myself, John Geddes, Paul Wells and Peter C. Newman (who offers this assessment of Mr. Rae’s situation). Frequent blogging and tweeting (#MacLib) will ensue.