While no election campaign would be complete without a good amount of badmouthing and near-defamation of one’s opponents, it’s looking like this election is going to include nothing but, at least on the orangier side of things. New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton has seemingly abandoned the age-old campaign tradition of promising (ahem, “promising”) change […] More »
One week into the election and it’s all been about personalities. Dion in snowshoes; Harper at the piano; Layton the charismatic potential PM; May the scrappy women’s lib champion. And it’s all been good for Stephen Harper: his popularity has surged, largely due to the perception within the Canadian electorate that he’s a ‘strong’ leader. […] More »
(Okay, so that’s my messy bookshelf, not Stephen Harper’s.) Yann Martel is a determined guy. You’d think that after sending 37 books to the Prime Minister with only one very pithy reply, he would have given up. But in a recent interview Martel said he is continuing his “guerrilla book club” with Mr. Harper, even […] More »
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 »
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 »