Ontario election results show undemocratic system
Of those who voted in the Ontario election, 34 per cent of them voted for the NDP. And despite a huge decline in support, almost half as many people still voted for the Liberal Party as voted for the Progressive Conservative Party, yet the PCs got 10 times the number of seats as the Liberals. […]
Advice for legislators studying Bill C-76: electoral reform should guard system integrity while ensuring voter accessibility
REGINA—On the federal electoral reform front, recent debate has centered on differences between refinements instituted by the former Conservative government through the Fair Elections Act and changes proposed recently in Bill C-76 by the current Liberal administration. The debate has seemingly focused on changes to particular parts of our electoral procedures that have been under […]
Bloc Québécois’ division helping make Quebec most ‘critical’ battleground for 2019: Greg Lyle
Upheaval within the Bloc Québécois, and the emergence of the new Québec debout party from its defectors, are helping make Quebec a “critical” battleground for 2019, says pollster Greg Lyle, and the province presents the “most interesting dynamic in the next election right now.” “In the past, people said, ‘Well, we have to watch the […]
Emboldened by Ontario’s election results, opposition MPs warn Liberals ‘there are no safe seats,’ anymore, but Grits say they’re not taking anything for granted
Emboldened by a sweeping majority win in the most populous province in the country last week, Conservatives and NDP on the Hill say there are no safe seats for federal Liberals in Ontario in 2019, but the Grits say they aren’t take anything for granted after Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne’s spectacular and crushing defeat […]
Are voter identification and expatriate voting problems?
TORONTO—Most of the public attention devoted to the Trudeau government’s proposed Elections Modernization Act has focused on the proposals to limit the length of federal election campaigns, the regulation of third-party political activity, and the restrictions on spending in the period immediately before the official campaign period. Much less attention has been devoted to the […]
Doug Ford win could ultimately be a gift for Justin Trudeau
TORONTO—Justin Trudeau already has his hands full with one political disrupter south of the border. Now he must deal with another leading the country’s second largest government. In the short-term, a Doug Ford Progressive Conservative government at Queen’s Park promises chaos if not outright confrontation with the Liberal government in Ottawa. In the longer term, […]
Trans Mountain buy adds to Liberals’ betrayal of Indigenous voters, say activists, NDP
The backlash to the federal government’s decision to purchase Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline project could cost the Liberals in 2019, as some Indigenous, environmental, and youth activists gear up to respond to what they see as a broken attempt at reconciliation, say activists, opposition MPs, and observers. On May 29, Finance Minister Bill Morneau […]
With Wynne headed for big loss, federal NDP and Conservatives set to target Ontario ridings for 2019, say political players
With Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne headed for big loss in this week’s provincial election, veteran federal political players say Thursday’s results will provide a roadmap for the federal NDP and Conservatives for possible winnable ridings in the 2019 election and they say the federal Liberals won’t have the provincial machine that helped them win […]
Why the youth vote matters
In 2015, just before the last federal election, we produced a movie, led by documentary filmmaker Robert Lang, about young people voting—or more accurately, not voting. In the course of filming of The Drop: Why Young People Don’t Vote, we found that so-called millennials didn’t think their vote mattered and that politicians neither listened to […]
The politics behind the PM’s pipeline gamble
To understand the counterintuitive political calculus behind Justin Trudeau’s controversial decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline, one has to go back to the fundamental equation that has governed this prime minister’s energy and climate change policies since his days in opposition. That Trudeau had no choice but to take over the pipeline if he […]
