Why I am voting for Chrystia Freeland for Liberal Party Leader and Prime Minister

As an accomplished scholar, journalist, politician and social justice fighter, Ms Freeland offers the most profound and complete resume of the candidates in the field. A master of 5 languages, the daughter of a prairie family Ms Freeland, the author of Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, Ms Freeland is neither a rookie to government nor a new-comer to the issue of the divide between the have's and the have-not's. 

Her mind-set is not restricted to a specific academic discipline, nor a specific file; her focus encompases the panorama of issues, and gets to the core of each issue. She is the only candidate who, thus far, has asked the "less than 1% if they really want to live in a land where a young woman seeks an abortion because she does not have adequate funds for contraception'....She is also the only candidate so far who has dubbed the current crisis with the United States as an existential crisis, and has underscored the threat to the sovereignty of Canada as the core issue. She is also the only candidate so far who has publicly (on MSNBC) told the Americans Canada wants the Americans to attend to the flagrant issue of smuggled guns that are killing Canadians at an unacceptable rate.

No a 'johnny-come lately, ' Ms Freeland entered politics when the Liberal Party was on life-support, and served nearly a decade as minister responsible for several portfolios, including the NAFTA CAMUS (Nafta .2), as well as Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. Ms Freeland claims to be running as the ant-establishment candidate, referencing, we can infer, her split with the Prime Minister, and her further inference that the PMO prefers the candidacy of the former Governor of the Bank of Canada. 

Determined to broaden the influence of both parliamentarians and members of the Liberal Party of Canada, as well as to subject the future leader to regular party evalutaions and votes of confidence from the caucus, Ms Freeland advocates for accountability, transparency and a PMO that listens to both the Cabinet, the Caucus and the citizens. Trying to get a message to the Liberal PArty for the last several years, through the party website has been a nightmare for those of us who have tried.

Another honourable candidate, Ms Gould continues to remind party members that 'we do not need a coronation' as has been the preferred 'choice' and method of 'appointing' a new leader for too long. Ms Gould is right that a coronation is neither appropriate for the party nor for the country. And given that the first ballot is a preferential ballot, Ms Gould will be my second choice for leader. It is the question of depth and range of experience that qualifies Ms Freeland, over Ms Gould. My perception of the also honourable third candidate is that, coming from the theatre of central banks, both in Canada and in England, his perspective has been shaped and formed in the board rooms of both insitutions and, while it might bring the business community (and the largest number of cabinet ministers into his fold), I suspect the glow of another shiny object, another 'heroic' masculine alpha leader at a time when the feminine is so clearly needed here in Canada adn around the world. And this need is no better exemplified than in and through the current occupants of the Oval Office where the absolute worst features of toxic masculinity abound, and threaten the stability andf security of not only the United States by the global community.

States-man-ship, even the word demonstrates the implicit bias of the vernacular....Diplomacy, serious thought and analysis, a commoner's perspective, a biography that exudes both confidence and competence, and even a needed note of 'defiance' when necessary,  are just some of the exemplary traits Ms Freeland brings to the table. The inside popularity of the former Bank Governor, paradoxically, eschews the depth of unpopularity of the party over the last several months and a potential desperation to seek a hero or another messiah that can rescue both the party and the government.

There is no heroic messiah either inside Ms Freeland nor projected by her onto the Canadian landscape. She may not be the hail-farewell old-boy who covorts on John Stewart's television show; nor is she the push-over that secured the renewed trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico the last time around. She has demonstrated effective adn responsive relationships with the premiers of the provinces, as has neither of the other two primary candidates.

When I wrote to a friend to ask him to support Ms Freeland, he replied that, while he had listened and watched her interview with Fareed Zakaria on GPS on CNN, he thought she was 'wishy-washy'....that was his word...so he is voting for the former Bank Governor. My response to his 'critique' runs this way:

As a communicator, Ms Freeland has a very unique speaking pace, timbre and pacing. She speaks slowly, thoughfully, reservedly, and extremely precisely. I cannot recall her being caught out on an 'off-the-cuff' comment that seems to be a frequent faux pas of politicians. Her public presentations may, to some, seem somewhat pedantic, and perhaps even a little patronizing, as if she were carefully explaining a complex issue to a person or audience who might be unfamiliar with the nuances and the subtleties of the whole picture. Indeed, I think we can all agree that most of us fall into the category of being far less informed, familiar and steeped in the subtleties and complexes of almost all issues than she is, particularly on those issues on which she speaks publicly.

Care, not only in the details of policy, or the re-discovery and deployment of the party membership, including caucus and cabinet, extends for Ms Freeland to her very manner of delivering whatever it is that needs to be conveyed. This, rather than demonstrating a wishy-washy demeanour, demonstrates a sensitivity, an empathy and a degree of patience with both the subject and the listener that is so clearly missing from most person-to-person and politician-to-public comunications. Carefulness, attention to detail, and mastering of the various files that land on the desk of all chief executives....these are all part of the package that Ms Freeland brings to her candidacy and to the party and nation for their serious consideration.

(This is a wholly independent, unpaid, unsolicited, and private opinion of an absolute outsider.)