Attack campaign on federal Grits spews ‘beer and popcorn’
It’s kind of like hockey. You want the puck to be in the other team’s zone because a good offence is the best defence, explained communications specialist Andre Lafrance. “The choice of the [Liberal] communications team, is to be that of a young party in an attack mode,”said Mr. Lafrance, a professor at Universite de […]
Canada could learn from Iraq elections: author O’Leary [The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq]
Canada stands to learn from the elections in Iraq to apply to its own democracy, explained author and political science professor Brandan O’Leary last week. Speaking at a reception launching his new book, The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq, he explained that Iraq’s mixed proportional representation system might even be more efficient than Canada’s since […]
Holiday greeting cards an expense in the current election campaign
Holiday greeting cards sent by incumbents and new candidates during the current campaign are considered an election expense, according to Elections Canada. In every campaign, each riding has a different spending limit for electoral expenses which is determined by Elections Canada based mainly on the number of electors and the size of the riding. Before […]
A critical look at war room strategists on TV political panels
CBC Newsworld Early Edition with Don Newman M-F 10:30 Susan Murray Liberal strategist As a former CBC journalist, Ms. Murray is clearly revelling in her new role on the other side of the news, and she gnaws away at the issues using the Liberal message du jour with the tenacity of a terrier. Opposing panellists […]
Bloquing blogs on the trail
A couple of new websites have popped up in the past week. In Quebec, a few federalist students at Universite de Montreal have set up their own anti-Bloc website – http://www.bloquequebecois.org – the parody site looks almost exactly like the real party website: http://www.bloc.org except it’s filled with tongue and cheek criticism that the party […]
Swing ridings across Canada
Swing ridings: winning candidate won with a slim margin of victory. The ridings are heavily targeted by the runner-up. Winning party is shown in the parentheses. Up to 30 are shown, with a maximum margin of victory of 15%. * Indicates incumbent not running again Liberal Targeted Swing Ridings: 1. Simcoe-Grey, Ont. (Cons.) 0.2% 2. […]
Liberal stronghold up for grabs: Tories banking on former Harris Cabinet minister to win in Ottawa West-Nepean
Ottawa West-Nepean has been a Liberal stronghold since 1988 and candidate Lee Farnworth wants to keep it that way. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan lent Ms. Farnworth some help last week when she was in town visiting the Pinecrest Queensway Health and Community Services Centre. Liberal incumbent Marlene Catterall, who announced her retirement earlier this […]
PARLIAMENTARY CALENDAR: Ottawa West Nepean candidates will be at National Press Club on Jan. 11 to debate and to discuss policies
MONDAY, DEC. 26 Deck the Halls- From Dec. 26-30 between 4:30 and 8:30 p.m., in addition to the House of Commons’ daily guided tours, visitors are invited to see Parliament Buildings in the evening and stroll at their own pace through the halls of the Centre Block, decorated in their festive splendor.Visitors can also take […]
Political reporters schlepping it across the country on campaign
Long days, early days, lots of cold sandwiches. That’s part of the life of a reporter whose news organizations pay $9,000 per week per person to follow the leaders of the federal political parties during this election campaign. In one day, the entourage of reporters, camera crew, political staffers and candidates can go from one […]
Liberals can lead in the ethnic vote if they choose
So how do the Liberals hold on to this core? The answer most likely lies in three things: vision, people and policies. Diverse countries are not easy to run. The only poll on the ethnic vote so far in this election revealed that the Liberals were losing their allure among minorities, although they still remained […]
