Bloc leader wants long-term commitment
Sleeping with the enemy… Gilles Duceppe has come a long way since that cheese bonnet incident. The Bloc Quebecois leader continued to refine his standup comedy routine, with a campaign stop last week on the popular Radio Canada talk show, Tout le monde en parle. Responding to questions from host Guy A. Lepage, Mr. Duceppe […]
Grating sameness of election media coverage and the pick-a-winner phenomenon starting to get to me
There is a grating sameness to the performances in these recurring elections – no, not by candidates, by media. Not many journalists enjoy covering elections. They bring deadlines that drive reporters to exhaustion. Few volunteer for the assignment. But nobody ever says no, either, and some media persuade themselves that lively, provocative reporting will bring […]
Fisher says Paul Martin at ‘the bottom of the heap’ of Prime Ministers
The House is dwindling in its importance and Cabinet ministers are no longer as important as they used to be because federal politics is dominated by top strategists of the Prime Minister, says Doug Fisher, the dean of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. “Everything builds around the Prime Minister and, of course, the Prime Minister has […]
Issue-driven campaign so far
The early predictions were this election campaign would be negative, nasty, and downright dirty. Instead, it’s been heavy on policies and issue-driven.Thankfully. Some say this election campaign has been as substantive in the first two weeks than the entire five-week campaign in 2004. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper should be given a lot of the credit […]
Who’s winning the election campaign communications war, so say a couple of wiseguys
So far it is not clear what the Liberals’ theme is, maybe ‘give me a chance just because’: Powers Campaign Themes: Whose Message is Getting Out Powers: Creating the right identity is vital if you are going to have any chance of winning a campaign! Define or be defined. Go back to the 2000 election […]
Privy Council Office putting campaign platforms under the microscope
PCO planning for a transition in government is a lot more complex today, since there are many different scenarios to consider under the current context with four political parties, say experts. Every single campaign promise is now going under a microscope in the Privy Council Office as it applies its made-in- Canada remedy for political […]
Political leaders to go negative after Christmas, expect carpet bombing in second leg of campaign
The more the federal Conservatives talk about policy issues instead of the sponsorship scandal, the better it is for the federal Liberals, a top pollster said last week. “The Conservatives changed the channel on what people are focusing on,” said Nik Nanos, president and CEO of the polling firm SES Research. “Anytime Gomery is on […]
Corrections and clarifications
In last week’s photograph on page 6, The Hill Times (Dec. 5) incorrectly identified Jim Judd as the former DM of Public Works in 2003. Mr. Judd, who is currently the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, was the secretary of the Treasury Board in 2003. ******* In NDP incumbent Peter Julian’s column in […]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A Liberal national media? The evening the government fell, Prime Minister Paul Martin gave a speech to his caucus. Usually the caucus room just has Liberal MPs and a few staffers inside. That night, of course, it was a staged media event, and the room was filled with reporters. As he was getting started, he […]
Martin’s entourage should better understand what makes Quebec tick half as well as Duceppe’s palace guard
If there is another Quebec referendum anytime soon, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe will be the man to beat. He may turn out to be as tough a proposition for bewildered federalists as the charismatic Lucien Bouchard. Many Canadians were surprised by Duceppe’s strong performance in the 2004 televised leaders’ debates. The fact that the […]
