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Author Topic:   Marc Garneau in politics
music_space
Member

Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 11-30-2005 11:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for music_space   Click Here to Email music_space     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, first Canadian to go in space and actual president of the Canadian Space Agency, is now a
candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada.

While his personnal motivations have not yet been made public, his ties to the Liberal Party are well known. The Liberal Party, in power for most of the last forty years, have been governing under a minority government since the last election, and has been defeated at the House of Commons by a coalition of opposition parties, forcing the upcoming election in January.

The previous Liberal government has been at the heart of a political scandal involving illicit financial contributions and kickback, from which this present administration is trying to recover.

At the present, the riding of Vaudreuil-Soulange, west of Montreal, is held by a pro-sovereingty-of-Québec member of the Bloc Quebecois Party. A majority of Quebec ridings have been represented by the Bloc for the last ten years, in line with the contemporary political tradition of Quebec which routinely sends sovereinist representatives to parliements of both Canada and Québec, while defeating referendums in favor of political separation from Canada.

This might be of interest for collectors, for there will soon be 4 by 4 posters of mr. Garneau all over his riding!

------------------
François Guay
Collector of litterature, notebooks, equipment and memories!

[This message has been edited by music_space (edited December 07, 2005).]

DavidH
Member

Posts: 1217
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 12-01-2005 09:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for DavidH   Click Here to Email DavidH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'd be curious to hear from Canadian space buffs what, if any, impact they think this will have on the space program there.

I would guess this would mean he would have to leave his post with the Canadian Space Agency. My impression is that he is well-respected, to the point of being somewhat of a hero, which it seems would bring clout to the agency.

How would it affect CSA for him to take on this new role?

------------------
http://allthese worlds.hatbag.net/space.php
"America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972

music_space
Member

Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 12-05-2005 12:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for music_space   Click Here to Email music_space     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
As the last space agency president nominated by the Liberals, Mr. Garneau already had a lot of say in terms of the space efforts in this country.

According to CSA rules, Mr. Garneau has resigned from the CSA presidency, and Mr. Virendra Jha, who had been VP of Science and Technologies, has been nominated for a three-month interim.

As a new Member of Parliament in an eventual Liberal government, he would most likely be offered a ministry (Science and Technology, probably), from which he would have new budgetary powers. He would get to name his successor at the agency as well.

If he is elected as a MP but not the Liberals as the government, he would still represent his constituents in the opposition, and would probably take on a position as an opposition critic on science and technology at the Parliament. He would also be delegated by his party to sit on multi-party Parliamentary committees on science and non-science issues. And he would probably have media time on science and tech issues (presumably more so than he presently enjoys as CSA president anyway).

If the Liberals are elected and not Mr. Garneau, he could be reinstated as president of the CSA, as if nothing had happened, if the rules of the Agency permits it.

If, at the contrary, another party wins the government while Mr. Garneau is defeated in the riding for the Liberals, the winning party may or may not offer his old President's seat to Garneau, rules permitting. Reinstating a political opponent as the head of a governmental agency might sound foolish, but unless they come up with a replacement as broadly respected by most Canadians as Mr. Garneau, they could go for status quo at the CSA and save controversial decisions for political issues seen by Canadian as more significant than space.

[This message has been edited by music_space (edited December 05, 2005).]

Astro Bill
Member

Posts: 1329
From: New York, NY
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 12-06-2005 04:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Astro Bill   Click Here to Email Astro Bill     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
More on Marc Garneau can be found in this article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_rajagopalan/20041014.html

DavidH
Member

Posts: 1217
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted 12-06-2005 10:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for DavidH   Click Here to Email DavidH     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for that great analysis!

------------------
http://allthese worlds.hatbag.net/space.php
"America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow." - Commander Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 Mission, 11 December 1972

music_space
Member

Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 12-07-2005 10:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for music_space   Click Here to Email music_space     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, thanks! It's the first time in my life that I write such a political essay!

music_space
Member

Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 12-07-2005 10:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for music_space   Click Here to Email music_space     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In a letter in Montreal's daily paper La Presse, Marc Garneau explains his motivations for politics.

He mentions his service in the Canadian Navy, under the encouragments of his grandfather and father, veterans of the two world wars.

Then he refers to his "second career" as an astronaut. At first he did it for adventure, he says, but soon he realized that he was still serving his country. He adds: "When one has seen the Earth from space, one wants to unified it rather than fragment it", a reference to the Liberal's main opponent in Quebec, the sovereignist party Bloc Quebecois, and a sentence which I suspect will be his campaign's catch phrase. Garneau then says how he has learned to communicate with young Canadians, aiming to inspire them to fulfill their dreams.

He closes in stating the two reasons for which he is a candidate for the Liberals: the competence in managing Canada's economy, and the party's measures for the underpriviledged.

[This message has been edited by music_space (edited December 17, 2005).]

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