Parliament not well-served in the last session say experts
The government rushed 13 bills through in one day before last week’s dramatic defeat of the Liberal minority government. Critics say the move was undemocratic. Parliament, as an institution, was not well-served in the last session and it highlighted the perception that it is no longer at the centre of Canadian democracy, say experts on […]
Swing Ridings
Swing ridings: where the winning candidate won with a very slim margin of victory.The ridings are heavily targeted by the runners-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.) […]
‘We constantly talked politics as a family growing up’ [Interview with Peter Van Dusen]
Born into the famous Van Dusen media clan, Peter Van Dusen couldn’t help but to go into the world of politics and media. CPAC’s Prime Time Politics anchor Peter Van Dusen, who comes from a massive Ottawa media and political family, says as far as he’s concerned, the secret to success as a reporter on […]
Lights out on 38th House
It may have sounded absurd, but just before the three opposition parties brought down the government last Monday night in an historic straight non-confidence vote, House Speaker Peter Milliken invited every MP to a reception – mind you following the defeat of the government – in the Speaker’s Room 216- N Centre Block “to permit […]
They’re off and running… but are women stalled? [Federal election candidates]
At the launch of the election, women make up just shy of 22% of the candidates nominated. The NDP leads the parties in nominating women with 35%.The Liberals and Bloc stand at 27% and 25% respectively, while only 11% of Conservative candidates are women. While there are still many candidates to be identified, current numbers […]
Many Liberal incumbents unhappy about 56-day election campaign
Two weeks ago, Liberal incumbents and party strategists clashed over the length of the campaign. Incumbents didn’t want a long campaign. Strategists did. Most incumbent Liberals running for re-election, some in the fights of their political lives, are not happy about the Prime Minister’s decision to opt for a 56-day campaign, but they say they […]
Harper bets voters will look past talking heads to embrace a popular GST reduction
Stephen Harper obviously feels that chipping away at the most hated piece of the Mulroney legacy will do more for the Conservative Party in this election than tearing the Liberal record to shreds. The two-point cut to the GST he promised last week is the biggest item in the Conservative election platform. It was rushed […]
Prime Minister Paul Martin has failed federal leadership test at Natural Resources Canada: federal Conservatives
The PM recently appointed John McCallum, who is also the Revenue Minister, as the acting NRCan Minister ‘in order not to disappoint ambitious Liberal backbenchers.’ In other words, Liberal caucus politics takes priority over the leadership needs of NRCan. Abundant natural resources are a rich source of economic activity in Canada which generate over 12.5 […]
38th minority Parliament: not memorable
Ned Franks, a top expert on Parliament democracy, says the 38th Parliament had no ‘knock-down, dragged out fight on public policy’ issues. The 38th minority Parliament had few highlights, won’t go down in the history books as a memorable one and was not marked by a high degree of cooperation among all political parties with […]
Pollsters say they’re scientists, but most are primarily salesmen who sell polls
There will be a general federal election and millions will vote, despite the public opinion polls. Do you want to go to work tomorrow? Do you want to keep up the car payments? Do you want a winter election? No, me neither. We could complain but it wouldn’t do any good.Yet one of these pointless […]
