Mandatory voting would erode Conservatives’ strategic advantage, say experts
PARLIAMENT HILL—A system of mandatory voting now being crowd-tested by the Liberal Party would either erode or eliminate a strategic advantage the Conservative Party held over the past two federal elections through the disproportionate weight of its loyal base, U.S.-style campaign tactics, and negative attack ads, experts say. Electoral strategy and tactics the Conservatives have […]
NDP, House prepare for Federal Court fight over secretive Commons Board of Internal Economy, $1-million free mailings
PARLIAMENT HILL—Lawyers for the NDP and the House of Commons are squaring off for a Federal Court battle over whether the court has the power to order a secretive board that governs the Commons to disclose confidential files for a ruling that the NDP violated House bylaws with more than $1-million worth of free mailings. […]
How to embrace a problem: Conservatives can use bad polls to fundraise
OAKVILLE, ONT.—If a problem can’t be avoided, sometimes it should be embraced. To see what I mean just consider the Conservative Party of Canada and its “poll problem,” which can be defined thusly: “Almost every public domain poll that’s come out over the past year or so, has the Conservatives trailing the Justin Trudeau-led […]
Conservatives could be tempted to campaign against courts in next election
For the federal Conservatives, the temptation to campaign against the courts in next year’s federal election must be overwhelming. This is a government determined to bring its brand of law and order to this country, whether it is cracking down on bogus refugee claimants, giving police more surveillance powers, bringing in mandatory sentencing, ending early […]
Trudeau has ‘good shot’ at being Prime Minister Harper’s main challenger in next election, says Nanos
PARLIAMENT HILL—The surge of Liberal Party support in four federal byelections on Monday includes signs of a dramatic recovery from an unprecedented 2011 plunge in Alberta that—combined with the two byelection sweeps in Toronto—should make Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau “pleased as punch,” leading Conservative pundit Tim Powers says. And, in light of the poor […]
Opposition MPs slam Conservatives’ lack of good governance, say legislative process ‘dysfunctional’
PARLIAMENT HILL—The government used time allocation to limit debate 17 times during the 19-day marathon of Commons sittings to midnight from the last week in May through most of June, as Conservative MPs passed or pushed forward a flood of bills before Parliament’s summer recess nearly two weeks ago. The dust settled on June […]
Political parties can spend up to $336,996 on byelections
PARLIAMENT HILL—The main national political parties will each be able to spend up to $336,996 to help their candidates in the four federal byelections scheduled for next Monday, June 30—either in all four electoral districts where votes are taking place or two of the ridings or even just one. But three of the parties declined […]
How the Ontario election polls were so wrong yet so right
At first glance, it seems like public opinion polls delivered a poor prediction of the Ontario provincial election outcome. On the day of the election, poll aggregator Éric Grenier described the trend as "likely Liberal, possibly PC victory" with “a likely return to a minority legislature." While admittedly there was a lot of scatter […]
NDP accuses government of ‘ugly, secretive, partisan’ in-camera trial ordering party to pay back $1.17-million
PARLIAMENT HILL—The final days of Commons sittings before the House adjourns for the summer erupted Tuesday into heated exchanges between NDP and Conservative MPs, as the New Democrats accused the government of using an “ugly, secretive, partisan” trial behind closed doors to taint the NDP with a ruling that it violated House bylaws with […]
NDP MP says Tories, Libs going after NDP mailings to influence Ontario election, Grit calls claim ‘absolute paranoid fantasy’
PARLIAMENT HILL—An escalating Conservative and Liberal attack against the NDP—over allegations the NDP broke Commons rules with politically-charged mailings to voters and the establishment of an NDP office in Montreal staffed by aides on the Commons payroll in Ottawa—is an attempt to tarnish the party’s wider image as the Ontario provincial election looms, NDP MP […]
