In electing Scheer, Conservatives betting on success of touched-up Harper playbook
In choosing who they hope will serve as the next prime minister of Canada, the Conservative Party faithful decided to go back to the past. Andrew Scheer, the former House Speaker, was elected by a narrow margin last weekend in Toronto to lead the federal Conservatives into the next federal election and perhaps beyond. After the results were […]
B.C. had highest percentage of women candidates ever, but it only increased by a modest one point
OTTAWA—May 9 was election day in British Columbia. It was a tense, uncertain, and long night. Candidates, supporters, and British Columbians watched as an incredibly close election race unfolded, so close in fact that the results from absentee ballots and outstanding re-counts won’t be available until May 24. Not surprisingly, Equal Voice was watching too. […]
Iranians vote in the shadow of the nuclear deal and its consequences
The six-week campaign is over, and 55 million Iranians will vote in the first round of the presidential election on Friday. Or rather, most of those 55 million people will vote, but many will not, because there is great disillusionment with President Hassan Rouhani’s promises to improve the economy, and therefore, also with the international […]
B.C. stands in permanent campaign mode
On the morning after Tuesday’s British Columbia election, there was no ready acknowledgement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office of the results of the provincial vote in Canada’s third-largest province and no boilerplate salute to the dawn of a new mandate. It is hard to put into words the sound of one hand clapping. In […]
Political skills of premier secured re-election for B.C. Liberals
OTTAWA—The minority victory of the Liberal Party in British Columbia will shortly become a majority. The nine-vote New Democratic Party margin in Courtenay-Comox will flip when the results of the military and absentee vote are counted. As the Liberal candidate was formerly the base commander in that riding before the election, he will surely lap […]
Federal NDP, Greens buoyed by B.C. election results, Liberals stay diplomatic
Federal New Democrats and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May say the gains their provincial cousins made in Tuesday’s election in British Columbia show that the majority there want change that doesn’t align with either the federal or provincial Liberals’ policies. The close election results mean which party or parties will form government in Canada’s third most populous […]
Behind the scenes of the campaign trail
Just 10 people were in the boardroom when, that afternoon, my bid for the nomination was approved. The 10 applauded as I entered, and immediately, the certainty came over me that had this been a Conservative gathering the room would have been filled with portly men all seeming in their 50s, whether they were that […]
Why we (still) need a new election system
Our current election system, first past the post, is widely recognized as being severely flawed. As the only requirement to be elected is to have more votes than any other candidate in the riding, the system leads to many MPs being elected who are in no way representative of the views of the majority of […]
B.C. NDP didn’t deserve win in ’96, and don’t deserve it now
TORONTO—Twenty-one years ago, we B.C. Liberals were gathered at the Hotel Vancouver, peering up some big TV screens, shocked by what we were seeing. It was election day in British Columbia, and the returns were coming in. And they didn’t make any sense. At all. We were ahead, but we were behind, too. The Gord […]
Christy Clark could make history (again) with a B.C. election win
If Christy Clark wins the British Columbia election on May 9, she will be the first woman premier to win two general provincial elections. Even though Canada has had several female premiers, and one female prime minister, none have been elected twice. The first woman to become premier was Rita Johnston, who won the leadership […]
