Next election remains Trudeau’s to lose
TORONTO—Justin Trudeau and Andrew Scheer are agreed on one thing, at least: the next election is going to be nasty. The 2019 election will be decided less than a year from now. So, the two main party leaders say it’s going to be down and dirty. Should we believe them? Not really. If you think […]
Ethics commissioner opens probe into Grit MP Vandenbeld’s decision to robocall for husband’s municipal council candidacy
Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld is now facing an ethics probe over the decision to use her position to campaign for her husband, according to the federal ethics commissioner’s office. A spokesperson at Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion’s office confirmed to The Hill Times that an “inquiry” has been launched on whether Ms. Vandenbeld (Ottawa West-Nepean, Ont.) […]
More than half of Liberal MPs nominated for 2019; Wayne Easter unsure he’ll run
More than 100 Liberal MPs have been nominated for the 2019 election after meeting thresholds the party set for incumbents to go forward uncontested, edging the party closer to the Conservative lead for official candidates. Of the 182 Grit MPs, “well over a hundred” have received a letter from the party confirming their nomination, said […]
Successful rollout of leaders’ debates commission still up for debate
It seems there’s light at the end of the tunnel for the leaders of so-called fringe parties to get a spot on stage at next year’s leaders’ debates. On Oct. 30, Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould announced details about the creation of an independent Leaders’ Debates Commission, a task that’s been on her to-do list […]
Why the Conservatives are whining about the media
OTTAWA—It is that time in the pre-election season when the framing for the next vote kicks into high gear. None of it is original but that doesn’t matter because, like the first snowfall, it seems to be all new, as if it never happened before. For a couple of weeks now, both the prime minister […]
Trudeau plays waiting game with Singh
By sitting on a byelection call for the B.C. riding of Burnaby South, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is deliberately stalling NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s bid to enter the House of Commons. In so doing, the prime minister is merely using his prerogative to wait up to six months after a vacancy occurs to set a […]
Trudeau, Scheer say next election campaign likely to be nastiest in Canada’s history, setting each other up to run nastiest campaign ever
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer are both publicly saying the next election campaign will be the nastiest one ever because they’re strategically setting each other up to run the nastiest ever and signalling to their party bases to be prepared for campaign war, say Conservative and Liberal MPs and pollsters. But […]
MPs have much groundwork to cover to grab Canadians’ attention on social media
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has more Twitter followers than all other MPs combined. This is one of the many interesting facts uncovered from a look into the Twitter accounts of Canada’s MPs. There are currently 334 MPs, and 330, or 98.8 per cent, have a presence on the social media platform. But about a dozen, […]
Running for office: an important, but sometimes thankless, task
OTTAWA—This week’s municipal elections in Ontario yielded few surprises, as incumbents won in most cities, including in Ottawa and Toronto. That meant there were many candidates who went home disappointed after hearing the results on Oct. 22. Four friends of mine ran for office in Kingston and Ottawa; all great candidates, they all lost. Vicki […]
The next election will tell us a lot about Canada
OTTAWA—With a year to go before the next federal election, all the customary calculations indicate the Liberals appear in fairly good shape to repeat their 2015 election victory. Except the usual indicators may no longer apply. Voters are clearly in a volatile what-about-me frame of mind, driven by a desire for change and impatience with […]
