Expected rise in mail-in voting to alter GOTV dynamics, federal parties need to adjust strategies for the next election, say political players
If the next federal election is held before the COVID-19 pandemic is over, millions of people are expected to use mail-in ballots, according to Elections Canada, and political players are advising candidates and political parties to make adjustments in their Get Out the Vote strategies. The use of postal ballots has significantly altered GOTV operations, […]
The 1995 Quebec referendum: recalling a ‘near-death’ experience
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—This has been quite a year for anniversaries in Quebec: the 50th since the October Crisis, the 40th of the 1980 Quebec referendum and, this week, the 25th of the “near-death” referendum of 1995. They are an opportunity to feel old, to reminisce, and for some analysts, to offer a different take on history. […]
The N-word is hate speech, not free speech
CALGARY—The aroma of burning crosses dotting the landscape of this “multicultural” nation sure smells like the anti-Black racism most “leaders” are purported to stand against. The proliferation of N-word usage, primarily among educators in publicly funded institutions is becoming a crisis of mental and emotional abuse that manifests itself in structural violence. Coined in the […]
Wolves in Canadian military personnel’s clothing
OTTAWA—Last week, there was a bizarre little story in the Ottawa Citizen that, at first glance, appeared to be so ridiculous that it had to be satire. Reporter David Pugliese revealed that a letter from the Nova Scotia government sent out to residents in Annapolis Valley to warn about a pack of wolves on the […]
Incumbency, ‘cooperation, and a multi-partisan approach’ electoral advantages for conservative-leaning provincial governments during pandemic, say pollsters
With a number of popular, conservative-leaning provincial leaders either heading to the polls in the near future, fresh off a recent election win, or facing pressure to call an early election while riding particularly high approval numbers, pollsters, and political insiders say incumbent provincial governments are at an advantage politically at this point in the […]
Let’s not turn COVID-19 fight into Canadian versus Canadian
OTTAWA—Last week in this space, I wrote about the need to consider gradually opening the Atlantic Bubble. Let me just say, the reaction from my home region was not overwhelmingly positive. Note the sarcasm—if they could have burned me in effigy, they would have. I had not been called some of the names I was […]
Co-managed approach, self-governing fisheries the answer to long-simmering lobster dispute, says Senator
The federal government should pursue a co-managed fishing system that accepts First Nation treaty rights and an Indigenous governance model as a path forward to the long-simmering lobster fishery dispute, says Canada’s first Mi’kmaq Senator. “The status quo isn’t sustainable, it’s actually very dangerous at the moment, so we have to look at other options,” […]
The Atlantic bubble needs to burst
OTTAWA—This year has been brutal for so many people and we still have nearly 4 months to go before 2021 is upon us. While I have never been a big fan of wishing time away, I am close to adopting it as a short-term strategy. Atlantic Canada has had a particularly brutal year. At the […]
Pandering to Quebec is unseemly, and it rarely works
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—This week’s word is “pander,” defined as “to please other people by doing or saying what you think they want you to do or say.” Canadian politicians have a rich history of pandering, notably in Quebec. In the summer of 1967 then-Conservative leader Robert Stanfield embraced an idea from his Quebec lieutenant, Marcel […]
Why the government of Canada will not appoint a temporary minister of education
Adhering to the dictum “never let a good crisis go to waste,” Irvin Studin has proposed in The Globe and Mail that Canada needs a temporary minister of education to address what he calls “Canada’s post quarantine education crisis.” I do not dispute that COVID-19 has produced an unprecedented crisis in education. In fact, I recently published a […]
