It should be illegal to spread misinformation about voting
Democracy is a fragile thing these days. Just last week, many Canadians undoubtedly watched the first U.S. House hearing into the siege on Capitol Hill that took place on Jan. 6, 2021. At that hearing, the chair and vice-chair, a Democrat and Republican, respectively, both said Jan. 6 was an intentional attempted coup and a […]
Federal Conservatives should look to Ford’s Ontario campaign for a more pragmatic, open-minded approach, say strategists
Ontario voters responded to Doug Ford’s more collaborative, open-minded approach to politics by sending the Progressive Conservatives to a second straight majority, say both a Liberal and Conservative strategist, but it’s not clear if any of the leading contenders for the federal Conservative leadership are interested in following that model. Shakir Chambers, who worked under former […]
What, if anything, does Ford’s victory in Ontario actually tell us?
OTTAWA—The outpouring of analysis on the re-election of Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative majority in Ontario makes interesting reading, but it may not amount to much. Ford benefited from the advantage of incumbency and having two main opposition leaders—the NDP’s Andrea Horwath and the Liberals’ Steven Del Duca—who couldn’t find a way to […]
‘The rift is getting bigger and bigger’: some Conservatives worried about party unity once ‘pretty nasty’ leadership campaign ends
The ongoing, divisive Conservative leadership campaign is causing serious concerns about party unity for some current and former senior Conservatives who say one of the key tests of the new leader will be to keep the party united. “The rift is getting bigger and bigger,” said Bert Chen, a former Ontario national councillor, in an […]
In Ontario, economic anxiety prevails
Last Thursday night, it took only 18 minutes for the major networks to declare Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives the winners of the 2022 Ontario election. Later, we would learn that his team won a record 83 seats in the legislature. In 1995, Mike Harris similarly swept the Ontario election, winning 82 of the […]
Federal parties spent $82.9-million in last federal election, Conservatives spent $28.9-million, Libs spent $27-million
Collectively, the five main political parties spent nearly $83-million in the last federal election, according to data from Elections Canada, with the Conservative Party leading the way in election spending with $28.3-million. Parties were required to file their expense returns for last year’s 44th General Election on May 20, to Elections Canada, and the data […]
Lost in the COVID haze: Ford’s record in Ontario seems largely forgotten by voters
OTTAWA—Whatever is in those mandate letters, it must be really politically embarrassing or damaging. In the summer of 2018, shortly after Premier Doug Ford took office, CBC Toronto asked that the mandate letters to his 23 cabinet colleagues be made public under freedom of information. The Progressive Conservative government refused, claiming they were exempt as […]
Heading backwards in Ontario
OTTAWA—Call him the Highwayman. Ontario Premier Doug Ford appears to have staked his party’s re-election on the perception that the province’s commuters want more, ever-bigger roads, regardless of the environmental consequences. It might have been a miscalculation, seeing that just overnight driving went from being a somewhat costly necessity to an outright luxury. But so […]
Federal parties have evolved their democratic processes—why won’t they do the same for the Canadian public?
If party leaders were selected by party caucuses, Pierre Poilievre would be the next Conservative leader. But that system of selecting leaders was discarded a century ago, when the parties opted for leadership conventions, dominated by ex-officio delegates or party insiders such as constituency presidents and executives, and defeated party candidates as well as MPs. […]
Conservatives say to win over millennials and Gen Z voters, they need to communicate better
Conservatives say the federal Liberals have failed to support the aspirations of millennials and Gen Z voters, but say their party is well-positioned to expand its base to Canada’s young voters in the next election, however, they say they have to do a better job of communicating their party’s policies to win them over. Conservative […]
