Mediaboss Marketing

Related Stories and Links

Torontos outgoing police chief may not be out of work for long when his contract expires this spring. CityNews and 680News have learned that the federal Liberals are wooing Bill Blair for a shot at a second career in politics.

Sources within the federal Liberals say the party has been in talks with Blair. One Liberal source said, Everyone wants Blair and the Liberals would welcome him.

The chief declined to comment through his spokesman Mark Pugash. But in a year-end interview, Blair told CityNews, Ive spent my life in public service and Ill just find a different way to serve.

He added, Towards the end of April is when my term ends and I dont intend to take any time off. Ill just find something else to do and get right at it.

CityNews and 680News have also learned that the Liberals may not be the only party that has reached out to him. According to political analyst Jim Warren, both the Grits and the Tories want Blair to run for them.

Both the Liberals and Conservatives are very keen on having Bill Blair run for them in the next election, Warren said. Both want Bill Blair to run for their party.

A star candidate like Bill Blair that can shift a riding from one party to the next is going to be highly sought after.

Blair would be a game changer in any election, in any riding hed run.

Warren said Blairs experience as police chief would bode well for him in politics.

View post:
EXCLUSIVE: Liberals in talks with chief Blair to run in upcoming federal election

You might think Jodie Emery would be welcomed as a star candidate for the Liberal party in next Octobers scheduled federal election.

The Vancouver marijuana activist is young, articulate, telegenic and her work to legalize pot is in sync with the Liberals policy on the issue.

But you would be wrong. The Liberals seem to be nervous that the 30-year-old wife of Prince of Pot Marc Emery might become their candidate in Vancouver East, which normally is an NDP stronghold but may be in play with the planned retirement of longtime MP Libby Davies.

Evidence of that nervousness seems to be manifest in an email that CBC News reported was sent to some of her supporters from a Liberal worker in Ottawa stressing the party had no affiliation with the Emerys and it did not endorse the couples planned cross-country speaking tour.

Marc Emery, a high-profile pot advocate, was released from U.S. federal prison last year after serving more than four years for shipping marijuana seeds by mail to customers in the United States. He agreed to a five-year term after losing an extradition fight. He was eligible to serve part of his term in Canada but the Conservative government refused permission.

In an interview Tuesday with Yahoo Canada News, Jodie Emery said the problem stemmed from an incorrect media reports Trudeau had wooed her to run and that she was the preferred candidate in the riding.

That wasnt true, so from the get-go the Liberals have been accused of choosing me as a marijuana candidate because they support legalization, she said.

It may be the opposite. Trudeau has already been hammered by the Conservatives attack machine for the partys position on pot. The last thing they want is to give the incumbents leverage with moderate voters uneasy about the Liberal position, and the prospect someone like Emery might spearhead legalization.

The partys position remains officially neutral while Emery and three other potential candidates for the Vancouver East nomination undergo the green-light committee vetting process.

But her supporters worry the B.C. campaign will find a reason to reject her bid to run in order to avoid Emery becoming a lightning rod for Tory attacks.

See the rest here:
Princess of pot: Liberals may not be keen on allowing activist to run in Vancouver riding

Prime Minister Trudeau and his then-wife Margaret leave the city's Notre Dame Basilica Sunday afternoon after the christening of their 22-day old infant Justin Pierre James, Jan. 16, 1972. Tasseled shawls kept the baby hidden from photographers and the 10-degree-below-zero weather.

Eleven-month-old Justin Trudeau, urged on by his mother Margaret Trudeau, crawls up the steps of an aircraft in Ottawa Dec. 5, 1972 to meet his father, then-prime minister, Pierre Trudeau on his return from Britain.

Pierre Trudeau is saluted by RCMP Officer as he carries son Justin to Rideau Hall in 1973. Justin Trudeau teared up when he was presented with a framed copy while visiting Loyalist College in 2013.

Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau delivers a right hook to his older brother Justin during a play fight in 1980 at Ottawa airport as the boys await a flight with the return of their father, then-prime minister, Pierre Trudeau. Nobody was injured. Justin was born in 1971 and Sacha in 1973 - both on Christmas day.

March 1979 photo of the Trudeau children: Michel (front), Alexandre (Sacha) and Justin (rear).

It was a big day for Dad, but a long day for the three Trudeau children. Left to right, Justin, Michel and Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau attended the swearing in ceremonies of their father Pierre Elliott Trudeau as Prime Minister March 3, 1980 at Government House.

Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau and 10 year-old son Justin walk toward a plane at CFB Ottawa on Nov. 7, 1982.

Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, left, watches as his 11-year-old son Justin swings on a chain during a tour of an old fort in the Omani town of Nizwa Dec. 2, 1983. Trudeau and Justin spent the day visiting the towns of Jebel and Nizwa 165 kilometres south of Muscat.

Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau's 11-year-old son Justin jumps off an old cannon while visiting a fort along with his father in the Omani town of Nizwa and Jebel.

Justin Trudeau and friend Mathieu Walker in the Sahara desert in October, 1994.

See more here:
Bill Blair, Toronto Police Chief, Courted By Liberals: Report

OTTAWABill Blair could make the leap from top cop to Parliament Hill.

Both the Liberals and Conservatives have their eyes on Blair when he hangs up his badge in the coming months after a decade as chief of the Toronto Police Service, a source told the Star.

Nothing I can say other than everybody wants the guy, said the official of one political party in the hunt.

The long-serving and high-profile police chief, a polished speaker, would be a prize catch for any of the parties, especially in Toronto, which promises to be a hard-fought battleground in the fall election.

Blairs tenure as Toronto police chief ends April 25. In a recent interview with the Star, he left open the possibility of entering politics, saying he would not be done working at the end of his term.

Ive spent my life in public service. If this is not available to me, Ill find another way to serve, he told the Star.

Mark Pugash, Toronto police spokesmanperson, said Tuesday Blairs position has not changed since that interview, and the chief would not be commenting further.

Blair, a 35-year policing veteran, would bring instant name recognition and credibility in areas of law-and-order and social issues, thanks to his time as a police officer and volunteer in community organizations.

After two disastrous election showings, the Liberals have been working to bolster their slate of candidates by attracting people like former army general Andrew Leslie and CTV host Seamus ORegan.

And while the Conservatives too, reportedly, would like Blair in their camp, the chief sparked a backlash from the party in 2010 over his support for the long-gun registry, an episode that may influence Blairs political leanings.

Go here to see the original:
Liberals and Conservatives coveting Bill Blair for federal politics

Glenn Thibeault - Lliberal candidate in the Sudbury by-election8:03

Ontario's Liberals are sending in some high-profile cabinet ministers to help the party win back the Sudbury riding in the Feb. 5 byelection.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca, Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid and other ministers will hold joint events in Sudbury with Liberal candidate Glenn Thibeault.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is also making repeated visits to Sudbury to help Thibeault, who was a New Democrat member of Parliament until he was appointed to be the Liberal candidate in the provincial byelection.

Wynne's decision to lure Thibeault from the NDP instead of allowing the Liberal candidate in last June's election, Andrew Olivier, to run again upset some party loyalists in Sudbury.

Olivier, who finished less than 1,000 votes behind New Democrat Joe Cimino in June, is running as an independent in the byelection.

It was Cimino's surprise decision to resign in November, just five months after taking Sudbury from the Liberals, that prompted the need for the byelection.

Go here to read the rest:
Ontario Liberals round up the troops for Sudbury byelection fight