Speaker by Various Artists

The 'Scottish' Candidate...
Ummm, James,

There are a number of questions that I think the people of Christchurch deserve to have answered.
What are you going to do to fix EQC, and all the insurance claims that are still outstanding?
Are you going to renegotiate the cost-sharing agreement with the council, or are you going to stick with the plan of forcing the council to pay for things that they can’t afford, like a stadium, whilst compelling them to sell productive council assets?
And, probably most importantly, if re-elected, would a National-led government have Gerry Brownlee as earthquake recovery minister...

...doesn't sound like you think Labour is going to get in...

More importantly could you articulate Labour's answers to those same questions here as well (except the Gerry one of course) - because that would explain what you were standing for, (chasing Party Vote too I assume) and that it's not just some 'punitive signal' generation action.

after all 'here' is just one big doorstep to many rooms...
just sayin'

Good luck, go get him!

(Maybe you didn't put the policy stuff in because it would have made this an ad, which it seems it is any way if I understand Russell aright over on the other thread)

Great attitude ... bold, brave and resolute. I'd vote for you if I was in the electorate!

Ditto!

Go James! (And Stephen:))

Comprehensive Labour policies for Christchurch all available here:

Policies for Christchurch

I'd read through them and give you chapter and verse myself, but I've got to race out the door to a candidates' forum.

Also, bravo James and Stephen. I really, really appreciate the magnitude of the task you have taken on. From the inside.

all available here:

ta

Comprehensive Labour policies for Christchurch all available here:

Shame Rino Tirikatene didn’t have a better grasp on all that in Monday night’s Native Affairs debate.

Mind you, none of the candidates really impressed. Te Tai Tonga is a vast electorate with hugely varying needs and I wonder whether the system is serving those voters very well.

But Jodi Ihaka’s report did give a peek into a largely untold story – Maori in post-earthquake Christchurch.

Well done James, you've genuinely produced the funniest electoral advertisement of the campaign, and you did it deliberately. No mean feat considering ACT set the absurdity bar so high.

Props for your tireless advocacy for your community, especially in light of the tribal blue electorate you're in.

I don't know what the answer to making wider NZ care more about Christchurch -I suspect there is a lot of quake fatigue out there in the wider populace, not just those in the region. I think that's why appealing to NZs self interest over Chch as our only source of near term growth is very smart.

I'll admit that I'm guilty of skipping most news story about the place as every reporter is trained to emphasise the human story - which turns into yet another interminable feature on some unfortunate sod trapped in their personal leaky/flooded/uninsurable/unbuildable hell. 'Whats-er-face is tired of living with 90cm of water in her lounge every weekend: "It's not very nice for my asthmatic grandma to have to swim to the kitchen."'

Chch problems seem to be made of terribly unsexy components like local politics, gov bureaucracy, insurance policies et al. We only seem to get engagement from our leaders with those problems when some local scrapes up the courage to confront on the PM at the shopping mall.

Sorry Christchurch - we've failed to rebuild you, and from what I can work out most of us probably don't care all that much.

Here is the electorate ad in question - well deserving of more than the 125 odd views it has thus far,

Key likes us to believe that he and National are “safe economic managers”.

Why do arseholes in suits always think that about themselves?

I really, really appreciate the magnitude of the task you have taken on.

Thanks! And back atcha.

I'm playing with pivot tables in spreadsheets right now to try and figure out where best to direct volunteer effort instead of, I don't know, doing something fun. There so many houses in a block, so many target voters, it takes n hours to walk a block, blah blah mnskl b&^BHN >Gkvn

Also I really must work up that post on door knocking. It's been an incredibly educational experience.

Shame Rino Tirikatene didn’t have a better grasp on all that in Monday night’s Native Affairs debate

he was terrible.

Mind you, none of the candidates really impressed. Te Tai Tonga is a vast electorate with hugely varying needs and I wonder whether the system is serving those voters very well.

verily

please do. much to learn

avatar

how awesome would be if you managed to boot Gerry Brownlee on the back of excellent spreadsheets, and is suspect a special door knockers coffee blend from Mr Judd.

On Rino Tirikatene I know a few people in the Te Tai Tonga electorate who switched off maori roll to avoid voting for him based purely on his no vote for marriage equality.

Reviving night classes is definitely on the agenda.

The first time I voted it was in Ilam for anyone-who-isn't-Brownlee. We've recently moved back into the electorate and I am beyond glad that the not-Brownlee candidate, this time, is someone I actually want to vote for.

Adult and community education - we've got a policy on that too.

Adult and community education

Labour will:
Restore $13m per year for Adult and Community Education
Another $9m per year on top of that from 2018
$1m per year of extra funding for ACE English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)

This is partly why I'm getting grumpy about people saying, "Where's the policy?" As it turns out, we have a heap of policy out there.

Also I really must work up that post on door knocking. It’s been an incredibly educational experience.

Do. We've been Labour-knocked in Port Hills despite the huge vote Green billboard out front: that's commitment.

Anyone voting about Port Hills should realise every electorate vote will count. Ruth Dyson for Labour and Nuk Korako for National are both strong candidates and quake displacement and boundary changes are complex.

Electorate votes for Ruth, party votes Green here. The two voters in the house have been grilled by the not-yet-voting teenagers, who are attempting to claim ownership over half our votes.

This is partly why I’m getting grumpy about people saying, “Where’s the policy?” As it turns out, we have a heap of policy out there.

I also feel saddened when headlines like ,'Cunliffe aint sexy' stay online on the Herald for months and Labour are painted as no alternative when they are any day of the week. Labour have and have been working on policy all year. I know, as I keep checking and should I have a question ,all of their mps are happy to correspond with me . With the wonderful sense of humour Ardern is able to display, I really hope Cantabrians can see Labour are not the enemy.
Isabel has given me hope.

National's party vote in Christchurch will collapse this time. Many people are very aware that our 8000 party votes in 2011 put National back in power.

It was never "Christchurch turning blue" as was spun: it was people looking for the most stable pair of hands while we were being assaulted by ongoing large earthquakes -- the Labour Party as a whole was not perceived as those hands in 2011. Even though the Labour electorate MPs are well-respected -- I know many Nats who vote for the likes of Megan Woods.

I'm in the Waimakariri electorate, which has for the last few elections been comfortably blue in party vote, but returned Clayton Cosgrove as an electorate MP, until last election, when Kate Wilkinson won. This always puzzled me, because Kate Wilkinson is a charisma-free zone and is not half the electorate MP that Clayton Cosgrove is - sure, he may be polarising, but he does work hard for people in the electorate, and gets himself about and seen.

It will be interesting to see how it unfolds this year - Team Key's smug rich white man against Clayton Cosgrove, who has the labour party logo on his billboards, but no mention of "Party Vote Labour".

I think this may be the first Election where people understand what MMP is . I really hope you guys down there get some politicians who understand what needs to be addressed down there. It aint National that's fer sure. Go <-------