Sunday, August 17, 2025

Canada’s Politics and Government News Source Since 1989

The road to Toronto: pathway to power

Once the Conservative Party picks a new leader in Toronto on June 27, it will need a plan to leverage that individual’s strengths to make inroads in the Greater Toronto Area if it aims to seriously contest the next election. As longtime Conservative strategist Yaroslav Baran writes, Toronto likes to vote for nationally viable contenders who have a plausible Quebec strategy. This column has been reprinted with permission from Policy magazine's March-April issue.

Some federal Conservative tacticians try to write Toronto off, seeing it as a political dead zone for the party, arguing campaign resources are better spent squeezing out the remaining isolated swing ridings that still went Red last year in more fertile regions of the country. How do you do that? Concentrate on a combination of demographic micro targeting (to boost Conservative votes) and 'opposition research' (to suppress Liberal votes). That means more small-fry boutique policy and more negative campaigning. Yet we want our politics to be more than this, writes Yaroslav Baran. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion
BY YAROSLAV BARAN
March 16, 2020

Opinion | BY YAROSLAV BARAN | March 16, 2020

FOLLOW THE HILL TIMES:

Want to make sure your whole office has the full Hill Times experience?

We have team plans available for companies, organizations, classes, Parliament Hill offices and more. Fill out this form and find out if your team is eligible for a discount.

More Opinion

Reality check: Canada’s nation-building must ditch fossil fantasies

OpinionBY ALY HYDER ALI

We can’t afford to waste public money on a declining industry. Instead of locking in more risky oil and gas projects, Canada must redirect investment towards clean energy infrastructure.

Reality check: Canada’s nation-building must ditch fossil fantasies

OpinionBY ALY HYDER ALI

We can’t afford to waste public money on a declining industry. Instead of locking in more risky oil and gas projects, Canada must redirect investment towards clean energy infrastructure.

The road to Toronto: pathway to power

The AI crash

An impact blueprint for Canada’s global agenda

A defence industrial policy is a good offence

Billions spent, little delivered: we need results-based budgeting

Battle River—Crowfoot byelection parallels a defeated prime minister’s attempt to return to House nearly 100 years ago

Carney’s 15-per-cent challenge: cutting and rewiring Canada’s federal public service

‘We don’t have a choice here’: SecState for defence procurement Fuhr pledges to move ‘quicker,’ take more risks

Poilievre speaks in Saskatchewan

What happens to the people of the occupied territories of Ukraine? It could be up to Canada

How rapid diagnostics can help curb antimicrobial resistance

Reality check: Canada’s nation-building must ditch fossil fantasies

Reality check: Canada’s nation-building must ditch fossil fantasies

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Follow us

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Get free news updates

Submit a guest opinion article

The road to Toronto: pathway to power

Get Weekend Point of View Newsletter