‘They’re really riled up here’: Conservatives circling Goodale’s lone Liberal seat in Saskatchewan
Conservatives from across the Prairies are working to try to unseat longtime Liberal MP Ralph Goodale in Regina-Wascana, Sask., where a local columnist says anger towards Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax has reached a boiling point. “It’s a pretty hostile campaign,” said Murray Mandryk, a columnist for The Regina Leader Post who […]
Tight contest between Liberals, Conservatives, lower voter turnout could benefit third parties, experts say
With the Liberals and the Conservatives deadlocked in the polls, and the country potentially headed for a minority-government situation, some political analysts anticipate more malleable voters may feel less compelled to choose either of the frontrunners. High turnout in the 2015 election was a boon for the Liberals, who ascended to form a majority after […]
‘Bonjour-Hi’ may seem like a fiasco, but it has a serious side
OTTAWA—Bonjour-Hi. These two innocuous words, spoken in combination, have struck fear in the hearts of Quebec politicians of late. “Bonjour” was endorsed by unanimous resolutions in the Quebec National Assembly last June encouraging merchants and their staffs to use the word “Bonjour” alone to welcome people to their establishments. The cause for concern was a […]
Conservative gains in Ontario before campaign due to ‘Ford being quiet,’ but pollster says Trudeau’s attacks may not be working
Many Liberal candidates say Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford’s unpopularity is still a significant issue at the doors more than halfway through the election campaign, with some political strategists saying that voters who backed Mr. Ford in 2018 are upset with the Ontario government’s record one year in, and may now look to back […]
Five decades later, the class of 1969 looks back
MONTREAL—I attended my 50th anniversary high school reunion here over the weekend. I helped organize it, which is a paradox, because I disliked high school. For one thing, I attended the same school for 12 years, from kindergarten to graduation. Familiarity does breed contempt, and consequently, scholastic indifference. Our high school was not untypical of […]
Liberal campaign spinning its wheels: media bus gives the Grits more trouble
As the Liberals were stuck in crisis management mode after the revelation that its leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had previously been photographed wearing brownface and blackface as recently as 2001, the party’s media campaign bus was also stuck—at a campaign stop in Burnaby, B.C., on Sept. 24, to be exact. The campaign bus “bottomed […]
Manitoba Liberal MPs not deterred by recent provincial Tory majority win
Despite a provincial election that coloured Manitoba a Conservative blue last week, some Liberal MPs say they’re hopeful when it comes to their party’s position in the province federally. The federal Conservatives currently hold five of the 14 Manitoba seats in the House of Commons, but are edged out by the Liberals, with seven seats, […]
Trudeau should follow his father’s lead and let others challenge Bill 21
OTTAWA–It was October of 1977. Marc Lalonde, the powerful federal cabinet minister, was glowering at me as he yelled into my microphone. I was a 25-year-old radio reporter in Montreal, and he had just announced that the cabinet, led by then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau, would not challenge the constitutionality of Quebec’s language law, Bill 101. […]
Facing the nation: leaders’ tours hint at parties’ vulnerabilities, seats in play
The party leaders’ sprint across the country in the run-up to the election hints at where campaign strategists think their team can make inroads, or—depending on the state of the electoral map and public opinion polls—where they need to play defence, say political observers. It’s no surprise the four major party leaders have been logging […]
Greens running biggest federal campaign yet, led by Jonathan Dickie
Much is new when it comes to the federal Green Party’s campaign, including a first-ever rapid response team, a bulked up team of provincial organizers, and national campaign manager Jonathan Dickie says the party is currently “fairly confident” it can win between six and 12 seats on Oct. 21. “That number’s constantly shifting as we […]
