So I’ve been obsessively reading about and following this election through various outlets – Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc. – which often lead to news sites like the CBC, Globe & Mail, National Post. But occasionally you stumble across something quite different. For example, Twitter recently led me to what I expected would be a typical […]
Originally coined by Bill Clinton advisor, James Carville, the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” has become a useful shorthand for what many elections are really about no matter how much politicians try to focus voters on other meaningless distractions. This holds true in the current Canadian election where surveys have shown that 60% of people feel […]
I find it fascinating that Justin Trudeau has run on a slogan of “Real Change” when there are a few very clear signs that he’s not either of those things… First off, he leads the Liberal Party which is often called “Canada’s Natural Governing Party” and which held power in Canada for 69 of the […]
There’s a lot of commonly accepted wisdom you hear that reflect the increasing amount of cynicism that people have towards the political process… They’re all the same. There are definitely good and bad people involved in all parties. But saying that all politicians are bad simply because they’re politicians is as simplistic (and wrong!) as […]
Maclean’s has an article about how long weekends (especially ones that fall very close to an election) are vital times in campaigns as that’s when family gather and talk together over meals and social time. In fact, from the outset of this unusually gruelling 11-week race, officials for all three of the main parties have, […]
The NDP released their election platform today. Called “Building The Country of Our Dreams” [PDF], it mostly summarizes the various proposals the NDP has been promoting over this entire campaign – affordable daycare, making post-secondary education more affordable, increasing corporate taxes and so on. (Discussion on Reddit.) Some highlights identified by a Reddit user: 7,000 […]
A couple posts ago, I included an excerpt from Thomas Mulcair’s autobiography. As a librarian who previously spent nearly a decade in the Canadian book industry, that made me think it might be fun to compare and contrast some of the details of each leader’s book (full disclosure – I’ve only read Mulcair’s…so far.) Title […]
A couple years ago in April 2013, soon after the NDP and Liberals had their respective conventions, I blogged about how each party had a strong “cooperation” element within their party – represented in the NDP by Nathan Cullen who took third place in that party’s leadership race and ended up with 25% of the vote. […]
I saw the above graphic on Reddit and it struck home. The short term memory of Canadian voters always astounds me – many ridings across Canada will elect Liberals to defeat Conservatives, having apparently forgotten that only a short decade ago, the Liberals were the party that was seen as tired, out-dated and corrupt, much […]
You know it’s bad for Stephen Harper when even one of Canada’s most popular bands releases a song slamming your government’s record. (and includes citations for all the facts in the video on their web site to head off criticism)… “I recently visited Montreal and I was just awash in nostalgia at what Canada was […]
