That’s why yesterday in Question Period I called on the Conservative Government to immediately launch a Royal Commission on electoral fraud.

And that’s why today the Liberal Party of Canada proactively disclosed its calling data related to the 2011 federal campaign to assist Elections Canada with their ongoing investigation, setting the standard for openness and transparency.

We need to determine whether the Canada Elections Act and other Canadian laws are sufficient to protect your right to vote.

Only an independent, fully-empowered Royal Commission, alongside the Elections Canada investigation – and any possible investigation by the RCMP – can rebuild that trust.

Please click here to sign the petition and add your voice to the call for a Royal Commission on election fraud.

Then please forward this email to family and friends and share the petition on Facebook and Twitter – because a Canada that protects your right to vote is worth fighting for.

http://lpc.ca/royalcommission

Thank you.

Bob Rae

In 1991-92 the first ministers of the country met many times to discuss the constitution.  In the corridors and in the inevitable discussions late at night we would gather together to talk about what was really on our minds – the economy and the state of public finances.  The recession was taking its toll, and a “Canadian consensus” began to emerge – the country, and its provinces had to get their finances in better shape.  The twenty year process of increasing deficits and debts had to come to an end.  It was not a Progressive Conservative insight, or a New Democratic one, or a Liberal view, it was simply a widely shared, practical perspective that there were limits to borrowing, and that it would take a common commitment to get us to a better place.

It was not easy, but it was also not bitterly partisan.  When Jean Chretien became Prime Minister in 1993, and began his own deficit attack a year later, most Canadians understood that it had to be done at the federal level as well as in every province. 

The red/blue left/right split in America makes bi-partisanship almost impossible, and has taken that country to an entirely avoidable brink.  As President Obama stated this morning, this is not some natural disaster beyond the wit of people to resolve.  It is fixable and takes political will and a sense of the common good to fix it.

Most Canadians do not actually want a viciously partisan, left/right divide in this country.  Despite Stephen Harper’s musings, the country has not suddenly turned hard right.  Sixty percent of Canadians voted against Mr Harper’s party and its politics.  And we need to understand that most goals in politics, as they are in hockey or soccer, are scored from the centre.  That’s where the action is, and that’s where most Canadians are.

But not the dead centre where it’s safety first and always ‘on the one hand and the other hand,’ but rather an action-filled, resilient, and lively centre that is not afraid of ideas, debate, and looking at issues afresh.  And that’s where the Liberal Party needs to be as well. 

The one note the Conservatives can’t seem to avoid is the note of smugness and arrogance – about the election, about everyone else’s finances, about whatever issue they discuss.

The Conservatives insist that Canada’s economic record is light years ahead of the rest of the world.  And yet the Canadian economy actually shrunk in May, and the combined debt of all governments in Canada – the number that matters in a federal country where provinces can borrow on the open market – is well over a trillion dollars.  We have no grounds for smugness, and no basis for arrogance.

Canada’s big aid agencies need to listen carefully to the activists in the community who know what has happened and want to help.  The people I met with today want a special envoy to be appointed to emphasize the need for political solutions, and encouraged parliamentarians to meet quickly to deal with the full depth of the humanitarian crisis.

“Cut the red tape and bureaucracy” was a common cry, as was the need for the Canadian government to meet with the diverse Somali community to discuss how to help and respond.

There was disagreement as well as discussion.  Some urged donations to charities that others said were not necessarily reliable or on the ground.  Any government has to insist on accountability and transparency before matching funds.

We need to harness the knowledge and energy of Canada’s Somali community as we respond with the rest of the world to the famine that has now struck the Horn of Africa. We have a chance to show we’re ready for the world and ready for leadership.

There’s been no rain in the area, but this alone doesn’t explain a famine, it only explains a drought.  It’s human failure that produces a famine, not climate change working on its own. 

A major premise of Canadian and other advanced countries’ foreign policy has been that good behaviour on the part of developing countries should be rewarded and bad behaviour punished by neglect.   Somalia has proven to be ungovernable for over a quarter century.  Violence, conflict, and corruption have been the order of the day.  The world has expressed worry about the violence, and Ethiopian troops have been fighting away against the forces of Al Sha’aba, trying to establish order, but the extent of the sectarian fighting has been such that life has been reduced to the “war of all against all” a state of nature where life is, as Thomas Hobbes would have said, “nasty, brutish and short.”

The tens of thousands of Somalis who have Canada home have warned of the consequences of not so benign neglect, but nothing changes.  Somali Ministers who are Canadian citizens come back and plead for help, but they are told that Somalia is “not a country of priority.”

Neither CIDA nor Foreign Affairs takes real responsibility for failed states, and the result is a complete policy vacuum.  Norway and Switzerland have made conflict prevention real priorities for their countries, but not Canada.  Bev Oda’s trip to the region will produce more cash for some UN and other agencies, but no real strategy.  When the presence of such a substantial and articulate diaspora should make us a leader, we are strangely quiet and absent.

My comments on this issue have prompted more reactions along the lines “why are we spending so much time on other people’s problems,” which prompts me to answer, along the lines of Toronto’s first Mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie, “charity starts at home, but does not end there.”  We can’t turn away and do nothing.

What is happening is obviously a failure within the traditional structures of Somali society – famines are more about politics, war, ethnic brutality, and the cruelties of terrorism and violence than they are about the changing ways of Mother Nature.  There is nothing either inevitable or natural about a famine. 

But there is another failure as well – UN agencies have been warning for a long time about the consequences of neglect, and Canada, together with the rest of the world, didn’t listen.  That failure needs to be fixed.  The chaos and absolute poverty that produce mass starvation can be stopped, the world can do it if it sets its mind to it. 

And Canada could lead the way.  It’s as if we’re not  ready for the world as it is, and so act surprised when bad things happen.  Let’s roll up our sleeves and get better at dealing with these problems.

We are grateful to the police and emergency crews for responding promptly and professionally, and for taking excellent care of our staff, whose wellbeing was and is our primary concern. We are relieved that all of them are completely safe.

Public service entails risk, which is borne not only by elected officials, but also by our staff. We are incredibly proud of our team, their courage and grace, and the outstanding work they do on behalf of our constituents in Toronto Centre. That work continues unabated.

The celebration of diversity and sexual identity is a great achievement for Canada.  As the member of parliament for Toronto Centre I am proud to represent a constituency that is at the heart of the LGBTQ community.  As leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, I am proud to walk in a parade that has become a great celebration of Canadian diversity, as well as a reminder of the many barriers still to be broken down. In far too many countries homosexuality is still considered a to be a crime, in some cases punishable by death, where democratic elections are still non-existent, and respect for independent courts and the rule of law unknown.

This is a week of celebration of our rights and freedoms, of who and what we are as Canadians.  I shall be walking with pride, determined to defend human rights and democracy around the world, as well as here in Canada.  We have come a long way, but, “we have promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.”

A Canadian is anyone who loves this land and its people and has chosen to make it home.  Period.
There is no “Un-Canadian Affairs Committee” of the House of Commons.  There are two official languages, dozens of languages and dialects indigenous to the land, and hundreds more spoken in families, on street corners, and in churches, temples, synagogues and mosques.

The diversity of opinion expressed in these places could only threaten the security and civility of Canada if people forget the underlying values we share as citizens.

We know from hard experience how countries can explode with violence, and in turn find ways to put themselves back together.

Canada is real to me in countless ways – in the thousands of conversations about our history, our conflicts, our achievements, our stories.

We like to think of ourselves as a peaceable kingdom, whose history is as dull as ditchwater and whose politicians are full of it.  Yet conflict and its resolution have been an indelible part of our story.

The meeting several hundred year ago between priests, soldiers, explorers and aboriginal people was hardly a friendly event – it was  shattering, a defining encounter whose trauma we continue to feel to this day.

And on:  the multi-year conflict between English and French was not resolved in 1759 .  It took over a hundred more years to build a new way of living together.  It is an issue we continue to work through every day.

1867 was a “coming apart” as well as a “coming together.”  Ontario and Quebec had been artificially fused into one by the British after the rebellions of 1837.  It a quarter century of Canadian argument and dialogue to let people be themselves in their own provinces, and at the same time recognise the need for co-operation and unity in Confederation.  It is a lesson to be re-learned in each generation.

The morality of federalism triumphed over other visions because it alone allowed different people and groups to live together without submerging their own identity.  The Supreme Court of Canada put it this way in their landmark unanimous opinion on secession “a thousand strands of accommodation make a nation.”

Nor should anyone think that these acts of accomodation are signs of weakness.  This active celebration of diversity, this recognition of difference, this acknowledgment of the integrity of “the other” – all these imply a rejection of something else: simplistic bumper sticker slogans that fail to reflect the complexity of things.

Nor do we have to define ourselves by what we are not:  our self-definition includes that we are North Americans, that we share a continent with others who are at once more populous and powerful than we are.  Anti-Americanism, with its roots going back to the very formation of our country, is too limiting, too narrow, too carping, to really reflect who we are today.  We are alike, and we are different.  We shouldn’t be preoccupied with proving either.

Lester Pearson knew that when he insisted on Canada retaining an independent perspective on both the Middle East and Vietnam.  He knew it when he crafted the Canada Pension Plan and the framework for our national health care system.

Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien each knew it instinctively as they kept Canada on the path of a sovereign foreign policy as the basis of their approach to politics.  Canadians want a voice, and not an echo.

It should be a firm voice, and not a strident one.

The country’s commitment to diversity should not be confused with a reluctance to insist on shared values as well.  Far more than we realised at the moment of patriation, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms expresses these values.  Due process, respect for the judiciary, democracy, equality before the law, pluralism, the recognition of diversity: at key points both parliament and the courts have gone out of their way to reassert the common values that matter.

I spent today at four events in Toronto – a celebration of multiculturalism in Dundas Square, another for the St Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, a third Punjabi Mela in Brampton, and finally a celebration with the Ahmadiyya movement in Mississauga.  Each was very different, but in all we celebrated Canada.  What a truly remarkable country.

It confirms what anyone watching politics in North America and around the world knows only too well.  The Conservatives and Republicans are running “permanent campaigns” – their discipline and focus are admirable, their goals not so much.

Liberals have to understand that the campaign for the election in the fall of 2015 starts now.  An election campaign no longer begins five weeks before e-day.  It began on May 3rd.  A campaign is about persuading people, identifying people, and then making sure they actually vote.  The last step alone happens during the writ period.  Everything else happens now.

The key to the Conservatives’s success has been organization, focus, money, and a ruthless willingness to campaign all day and night.  We know they have the money to advertise and launch artillery fire against our leaders.  Not enough of us are aware of the Conservative call centre which even now is reaching out to potential supporters, raising money, and identifying levels and depths of support.

In our re-building work we have the opportunity to become a permanent campaign ourselves.  Our goals are different, we shall have to depend on an army of volunteers, but we shall have to learn how to be better focused and better organised.

The days of “titleitis” are over.  The days of waiting for the election itself to start the campaign are over. The election of 2015 starts now.

The Liberal Party’s defeat on May 2nd was tough for all of us – supporters who gave their all, candidates, M.P.’s, so many wonderful people who’ve worked for the Liberal cause for years – and for some the emotions are still very raw.

They say that victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan. My own sense is that we need to keep assessing what happened, what went right, what went wrong, lessons to be learned, without getting into the “blame game”. And then we need to take those lessons and move on, with good humour and good grace, to the days ahead.

Michael Ignatieff is a friend of mine and deserves our thanks for his strong devotion to the cause, as does Zsuzsanna and his team. There is never shame in fighting and losing.

The Liberal Party is also a movement. One that shares Canadians’ most deeply held values: diversity, freedom, a government that respects us and doesn’t take us for granted, a powerful commitment to a prosperity that is at once socially just and sustainable. We want our country to be at its best in the world, leading the way with our commitment to the same values abroad as we hold so dear at home.

We are facing a Conservative government that will over-read its mandate and an NDP opposition that will over-read its success. While the extent of our election defeat is there for all of us to see and analyse, there is no time for us to wring our hands in despair. We have to get to the task at hand.

If the caucus, the Party, and the thousands of volunteers throughout the country can be brought together in the common interest, we can succeed. If we can keep our eyes focused on the tasks ahead, we can succeed. If we remember how deeply Liberal values are appreciated across Canada, we can succeed.

Success will require change; it will require a willingness to stop some bad habits we’ve fallen into, and a deep commitment to humility and learning the “lessons of defeat”.

It can be done. But I can’t do it alone. We’re all builders and re-builders. In my discussions with Liberals from all walks of life and parts of the country, my sense is that we’re up to the challenge.

Bob Rae

“Choosing Mr. Rae to steer the party for the next 18 months or so was a sound decision. He’s a known quantity: articulate, highly competent and certainly not shy about mixing it up with political opponents.” (Chronicle Herald, May 26, 2011)

« Le Parti libéral du Canada a fait un choix logique en jetant son dévolu sur Bob Rae comme chef intérimaire. … D’ici à l’investiture d’un nouveau chef, Bob Rae dispose du temps nécessaire pour amorcer une démarche plus profonde, plus réfléchie que la simple rédaction d’un programme électoral. Il ne s’agit pas simplement de panser des plaies, mais de viser la guérison. » Patrick Duquette (Le Droit, 26 mai 2011)

“[Mr. Rae is] one of the few natural Parliamentarians, knows Canadian politics from both the provincial and federal level, and has wandered through defeat to a larger view of the politics and the country.” Rex Murphy (National Post, May 28, 2011)

« S’il est vrai que les libéraux doivent reconstruire leur parti de fond en comble, un travail de longue haleine qui exigera des heures de travail en coulisses, ils doivent aussi survivre dans l’imaginaire populaire. D’où leur besoin d’avoir à leur tête un Bob Rae capable de poser la question qui leur donnera du temps d’antenne au petit écran, qui attirera l’attention des médias un peu comme Jack Layton l’a réussi ces dernières années. » Raymond Giroux (Le Soleil, 26 mai 2011)

“… Rae’s promise to serve only as interim leader, and not to run for the permanent job at the end of it, is surely an act of selflessness rarely seen in party politics.” Greg Weston (CBC.ca, May 25, 2011)

« Immédiatement après le vote, [M. Rae] a commencé à songer à la meilleure façon de mettre son expérience à profit pour reconstruire le parti… En fait, il y un consensus: celui de prendre son temps. Personne ne veut brûler les étapes. La majorité conservatrice offre aux libéraux quatre ans pour faire les choses dans l’ordre. » Manon Cornellier (Le Devoir, 28 mai 2011)

“Rae is a smart politician and knows the ropes inside out… The articulate Rae promises to be the right guy at the right time for the Grits who need a helmsman to keep the third place party, with just 34 MPs, front and centre during a parliamentary session that will be all about a scrappy and invigorated New Democratic Party fighting a majority Conservative government.” Barbara Yaffe (Vancouver Sun, May 26, 2011)

“He’s the right person for the job. … Mr. Rae has demonstrated himself to be an accomplished player in federal and provincial politics. He’s widely regarded as a likable, smart and insightful politician who communicates easily and effectively on practically any subject.” (The Guardian (Charlottetown), May 28, 2011)