Toronto’s condo land poses unique problems for campaigns, pollsters in Spadina-Fort York battle
SPADINA-FORT YORK, ONT. In Toronto’s condo land, it’s not obvious there’s an election taking place. And for the candidates competing for votes and the pollsters trying to track opinion, it’s not obvious who the voters are. Despite a byelection only 15 months ago in the former Trinity-Spadina riding, candidates and pollsters are struggling to gather […]
Political insiders say leaders’ debates need a post-mortem, pronto
Political parties, journalists, major TV networks and academics should undertake a detailed, forward-looking post-mortem of this election cycle’s “sub-optimal” party leaders’ debates after the Oct. 19 election to examine the whole process and how to improve them for future federal election campaigns, say former senior Hill staffers and pundits who played key roles in past […]
Heard on the Hustings: Cats enter election race, candidates do kooky stuff, and Coyne ponders the meaning of politics
Great fur though: vote Coal for PM Haven’t found the puuurfect candidate to throw your support behind yet in this election? Hair’s not just right? Worry not, in this campaign there’s a handful of felines you could throw your [unofficial] support behind. There’s Halifax’s Earl Grey who’s running for Prime Minister under his “Tuxedo Party,” […]
Party leaders’ tours zero in on key ridings in long campaign’s final stretch
The federal party leaders were busy campaigning last week in the North, the GTA, and the West, strategic visits that boost local morale and put the party on constituents’ minds, and those visits will become increasingly targeted in the campaign’s final weeks, strategists say. The marathon 78-day campaign has given Canadians even more opportunities than […]
NDP, Tories target soft Liberal supporters in latest attacks: Veroni
Clive Veroni, one of the country’s leading advertising experts and author of Spin: How Politics Have the Power to Turn Marketing on its Head, dissects three of the recent ads released by the Conservatives, NDP and Liberals for The Hill Times. NDP ad ‘When it Counted’: Funny clown music undermines seriousness of charges levelled […]
CBC’s debate coverage approach raises questions about value of public broadcaster
OTTAWA—Hubert Lacroix, president of the CBC, recently placed the future of Canada’s national public broadcaster on the electoral map with comments aimed at sparking a renewed debate on future funding models. Lacroix disputed claims that low ratings are to blame for the CBC’s financial struggles, instead pointing to the need to consider alternative fee schemes, […]
NDP gain in New Brunswick at Liberals’ expense, while Tories struggle in rest of Atlantic
The Trudeau Liberals started strong in New Brunswick, but the provincial Liberals’ disastrous first year in power has tainted the Trudeau brand and the party has fallen into third place, according to a recent Corporate Research Associates poll. Ironically, Liberal Premier Brian Gallant, a friend of Mr. Trudeau’s who was introduced by New Brunswick Liberal […]
Citizenship: getting the balance right
OTTAWA—With the federal election and a possible change of government, what are the policy changes an incoming government may wish to consider and which policies may it wish to keep? The government made “citizenship harder to get and easier to lose.” Residency, knowledge, and language were all tightened (with reduced administrative discretion to waive language […]
With fewer workers in the future, how will we generate economic activity?
TORONTO—When Statistics Canada reported that there were now more Canadians aged 65 years and older than Canadians aged 15 and younger, little attention was paid by our vote-seeking politicians to one of the most important implications. With fewer workers in the future to support each Canadian headed for retirement, how will we generate enough economic […]
Dippers are dipping, at precisely the wrong time
TORONTO—The NDP seems to be losing. How come? By the time you read this, their barrage of anti-Trudeau attack ads may have put them back in contention. And perhaps Thomas Mulcair had a good showing in that final French-language debate, and he clobbered Stephen Harper. And maybe the party has figured out a way to […]
