The sudden appearance of a Facebook group called “Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada” has me torn. Frankly, I’m opposed to strategic voting: it distorts an already distorted-enough electoral process and mostly it doesn’t work. Vote swapping is meant to allow people to vote strategically while still voting their consciences. You agree to hold your nose and […] More »

Our subscribers received their September-October issue in the mail this week, and the new issue is now on newsstands. As usual it will be available soon on our website, but you might want to run out and get it now. Here are some of the things you’ll find inside: Doug Saunders, Judy Rebick, and six […] More »

Students! Unite! Elect Elizabeth May and she will keep the loan collectors at bay! At least she says she will. During a pitstop at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. yesterday, the Green party leader announced that if elected she will forgive 50 percent of student debt upon completion of a degree or certificate […] More »

A big orange bus rolled into the tony hamlet of Westmount this afternoon. It was a brief pit stop on a day that saw three, count ’em three, party leaders descend on Montreal. Jack Layton was here to put in an appearance with star NDP candidate Anne Lagace Dowson, a former CBC radio host and […] More »

In a statement published on international peer-to-peer news site p2pnet.net, the NDP’s Charlie Angus has brought the net neutrality issue into the federal election campaign. He begins by outlining what he calls the ruling Conservatives’ ignorance toward digital innovation and the recent axing of the New Media Fund. The Harper government falls into line with […] More »

While criticizing Taliban plans to influence the Canadian federal election, Jack Layton threw in this unintentionally hilarious and arrogant soundbite: “…we’ll decide our own policies right here in Canada with regard to the war in Afghanistan.” Umm, shouldn’t it be up to Afghans to decide policies related to the war in their own country? More »

The decision not to allow Green Party leader Elizabeth May into the upcoming leaders’ debates is a shame. As I wrote last week, while there are legitimate reasons for progressives of all stripes to be wary of the Greens’ boat-rocking on the centre-left, including them is the right thing to do. The Green Party has […] More »

We’re still getting up and running with our blog-based election coverage (check back soon!) but there are plenty of other places online to get your daily fix of electoral indignation. Our good friends at Rabble are running a great election blog with a stellar lineup of writers, at election.rabble.ca. We’re also fans of Maisonneuve magazine’s […] More »

Film still from Food, Inc., premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival revs up today, the annual ten-day celluloid extravaganza/endurance test. Much of the press coverage will be fast-breaking nonsense about Hollywood celebu-bots and in-depth analysis of their restaurant choices. But there are actually some movies about the real world […] More »

This yet-to-be-called election that everyone’s atwitter about is a chance to correct the longstanding gender imbalance in the House of Commons. As the Ottawa Citizen’s Glen McGregor writes today, the parties’ prospective candidate lineups include more women than ever before, something that will hopefully lead to a slightly more representative gender balance in the House […] More »

This email just landed in my inbox: Hi, This Magazine. Stephen Harper (pmharper) is now following your updates on Twitter. Check out Stephen Harper’s profile here: http://twitter.com/pmharper Best, Twitter I’m not sure, but I have my doubts about whether the PM and This Magazine are going to be BFF’s. Still, this is a good way […] More »