Funny, one of the "expert" reactions after Mr Dion won (I heard this on TV when I was in Vancouver) was that his victory would make three people very happy: Steven Harper, Jack Layton, and Gilles Duceppe.

I think this is a tribute to the extent to which Mr Dion has been and continues to be underestimated. The Guardian editors may have shown better judgment.

Mr Dion's first and most ardent supporter in caucus is the MP Marlene Jennings. I'm not optimistic about the Liberal Party position about autism (currently, that autistics should be prevented) changing, but things certainly could be worse. I forget who Andy Scott and Shawn Murphy (the motion and the law against autism, respectively) supported as leader.

Edited by author 12-15-2006 02:13 PM
Hi Michelle,

Three of the nine Liberal MPs who supported Mr. Dion for his leadership bid - as listed in this article in this week's Hill Times: http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?.../11/cleanslate/&c=1 - did not vote on Andy Scott's motion against autism: Sue Barnes, Marlene Jennings and Paul Steckle.

Edited by author 12-15-2006 03:34 PM
Hi Philip,

Wayne Easter voted for Andy Scott's motion against autism. That's a disappointment. Mr Easter is jypsy's and Alex's MP, if I remember right.

I really wonder whether it was just logistics that kept Ms Jennings from voting.

While I remember, when I was in Vancouver, I saw a sort of special on CBC TV showing scenes from the Liberal leadership convention. This was after it was over, but this special showed behind-the-scenes stuff from the convention when it was in full swing. E.g., they followed some of the delegates around.

They showed one of these delegates lining up to vote. Joe Volpe was also in the line-up, and so was Scott Brison. Mr Volpe looked around and commented that he had lost his wife. Mr Brison looked around and commented that he had lost his husband. [grin]

Some day I hope there will be openly, happily autistic delegates and MPs and candidates...

Hi Michelle,

That's really cool about Scott Brison and his husband.

I hope that there will be openly, happily autistics playing an important part in politics. There was the discussion here way back about autistic candidates standing at the Canadian general election.

Edited by author 01-02-2007 11:24 AM
Hi Michelle,

I wish you a very happy autistic 2007.

Thanks Philip. I also wish you all the autistic best in 2007.

Thanks Michelle.

Edited by author 03-09-2007 02:10 PM
Hi Michelle,

I've been reading about the Quebec provincial elections on the CBC website.

According to its profile the riding of Notre-Dame-Grace ranges from "Trendy middle-class neighbourhoods near Monkland Avenue to working class St. Raymond south of the tracks." The language breakdown is Anglophone 45%, Francophone 27.4%, Allophone 27.6%. That must be one of the highest anglophone percentages in Montreal, let alone Quebec. In the 2003 provincial elections Russell Copeman (Liberal) was elected by a majority of 18,741 over the Parti Quebecois candidate. See http://www.cbc.ca/quebecvotes2007/riding/085.

The language breakdown for the Westmount-Saint Louis riding is Anglophone 40.3%, Francophone 26.3%, Allophone 33%. In 2003 Jacques Chagnon (Liberal) was elected by a majority of 15,843 over the PQ candidate. See http://www.cbc.ca/quebecvotes2007/riding/125.

What is your riding for the provincial elections?

Has autism been an issue in the elections?

Hi Philip,

So far as I know, I'm in Mr Copeman's riding (in one of the rougher parts), and I've met him--long ago. I haven't voted for him since. There are a lot of his signs up around where I live.

I remember when the MNA here was an Equality Party guy. That was embarrassing.

This is the first time (looking at the CBC page you provided) that I've seen that the late Eric Kierans (a very famous politician, who I heard on CBC radio a lot) was the MNA here, long long ago.

I haven't heard autism being mentioned at all in association with the election here. This is a big contrast with Ontario, where the election is scheduled (Ontario has scheduled elections now) for October, and where autism has already become an issue (the parties are jostling with each other to take the hardest line against autism) in this upcoming election.

Hi Michelle,

I hadn't heard of Eric Kierans before now.

I reckon that the Liberals will emerge as the largest party in the election, but will probably not be able to form a majority government. It looks if the ADQ will do well.

Hi Philip,

So far as I know, Eric Kierans was responsible for introducing postal codes in Canada. You can read a bit more about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Kierans

I remember him from the famous Camp-Kierans-Lewis political panel on CBC radio (Dalton Camp--the Conservative on the panel--has also since died, while Stephen Lewis, former Ontario NDP leader son of former national NDP leader David Lewis, has become well-known for his work re AIDS in Africa).

I wouldn't dare call this election, but I'm looking forward to a long, long night of listening to the results come in on the radio.