Leaders focus campaign stops on Ontario and Quebec, eschewing Prairies, Maritimes and the North
Party leaders have made themselves feel at home in Ontario and Quebec during the 36-day campaign, while the Maritimes and the Prairies have received scant attention from the prime minister hopefuls. Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who’s running for re-election in Papineau, Que., spent at least part of 20 of the campaign’s first […]
With 3 days left until election, O’Toole fixates on vote-splitters and deflects questions on his fate
With three days left in the 2021 federal election campaign and polling suggesting a Liberal win maybe the most likely outcome, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole was laser-focused on one message Friday: a vote for any party other than his is a vote for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. “There’s a lot at stake in this election. […]
Trudeau Holds Slight Election Edge, With Help From His Opponents
Justin Trudeau and his Conservative rival are nearly tied heading into the final weekend of Canada’s election campaign, leaving the prime minister with decent odds of holding on to power. The incumbent Liberal Party has about 32% support compared to 30% for the Tories under Erin O’Toole, according to the latest daily tracking survey by […]
As a tight federal election race enters its final days, the Conservative party is suddenly faced with the possibility of paying a political price for the actions of one of its highest-profile alumni — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. This week, facing a COVID-19 crisis for which many have blamed his government, Kenney dramatically reversed course, […]
Read MoreVoters are heading into Election Day more angry and apathetic about going to the polls than they were at the start of the campaign, a new poll suggests, making the result more uncertain than ever before. The Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News found more than two-thirds of voters surveyed — 69 per cent […]
Read MoreCanadian Anti-Hate Network says it’s the worst campaign in recent memory for far-right activity. The three main parties say they’ve experienced ugly incidents on the campaign trail, ranging from vandalism to assault. Some party operatives say it’s the nastiest campaign they’ve ever experienced. One high-profile incident happened earlier this month when someone threw gravel at […]
Read MoreIf Canadians elect a minority government next week, Liberal or Conservative, Justin Trudeau loses. The Liberal prime minister gambled on an election he did not have to call. If the Conservatives win, he’ll suffer the worst kind of bad beat. And if the Liberals scrape by, he’ll still take heat for Canadians calling his bluff.
Read MoreThe Canadian government was surprised this week by the announcement of a new security pact between the United States, Britain and Australia, one that excluded Canada and is aimed at confronting China’s growing military and political influence in the Indo-Pacific region, according to senior government officials. Three officials, representing Canada’s foreign affairs, intelligence and defence […]
Read MoreAmerican officials are defending a new deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines after French officials expressed frustration over the agreement’s effect on an existing multibillion-dollar defense deal. The effort to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines — a major step toward countering China as President Joe Biden works to build international backing for his approach […]
Read MoreFeatured Ink
As NDP, Conservatives accuse Trudeau of dishonesty, a question looms — Who can you trust?
For an election that is largely about authentic leadership and trust, the news that a Liberal candidate has been asked to “pause” his campaign, while the party looks into a Toronto Star story that he was charged with sexual assault, is potentially a serious setback for Justin Trudeau.
I have concerns
Throughout this election campaign, I have written weekly round ups on Fridays at The Line. I’m not on the campaign trail, mind, and what I’ve tried to offer here are not daily gaffes or horserace analysis, but rather a sense of the overall themes of the election. This Friday’s blast will be the final summation […]
Erin O’Toole or Justin Trudeau? Monday’s loser won’t survive as party leader
Could Justin Trudeau or Erin O’Toole survive a defeat on Monday? For different reasons, that’s unlikely in either case. Let’s start with the no-brainer involving the Liberal leader. Defeated prime ministers do not as a rule stick around to lead their party in opposition. Even if one wanted to stay put in a humbler role, […]
This was no ordinary election campaign, but perhaps not ‘important’
If the polls are to be believed, we have all just wasted five weeks of our lives. An election that, in law, should never have been called, the reason for which has never been adequately explained, limped through a listless campaign on track to producing a Parliament remarkably like the one it was supposed to […]
How did this strange election become a series of Heritage Minutes?
Never mind all this election talk about “forward” and the future. What this campaign apparently needed in its final week was a blast from the past — several blasts, actually. As if by some unspoken agreement, the Conservative and Liberal campaigns decided to haul a couple of past prime ministers out of retirement and put […]
Down to the Final Days of Uncertainty
In the final days of the federal campaign, all eyes are on the national polls, which show a tight race between the Liberals and the Conservatives (though some polls are tighter than others). On the Friday before the election, Nanos Research indicated that 31.9 percent of voters had the Liberals as their first choice, compared […]
If the moderates can’t hold the CPC, Canada is in deep, deep trouble
If Erin O’Toole has a bad election night on Monday, the country is in deep trouble. The country is already in deep trouble. But it’ll get worse for all of us, even you non-Conservatives, if O’Toole can’t take at least some kind of victory back to his base after Monday. This isn’t personal. I do […]
Here’s what Canadian businesses need to see from the next government
With the Leaders’ Debates behind us and just a short time until Canadians go to the ballot box, it’s more important than ever that all parties address an issue that has thus far been relegated to the sidelines when it should be the star of the show: how to grow the economy. James Carville’s “It’s […]
How women voters could decide the Canadian federal election — again
Heading into the federal election campaign’s final days, the Liberal and Conservative parties are in a dead heat nationally in a race with an uncertain outcome. In the scramble for votes, the parties have all made gender-based appeals, hoping to capitalize on known or assumed differences between men and women to reactivate past supporters or […]
On pandemic management, O’Toole is giving away points to Trudeau
Erin O’Toole may regret lavishing as much praise as he did on Alberta Premier Jason Kenney 11 months ago for his government’s pandemic-management skills. Especially since O’Toole seemed mostly unwilling to explain, modify or contextualize that praise to reporters at a Thursday morning press conference in Saint John, N.B.
He was once cast as our knight in shining armour coming to our political rescue. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. He’s not out of the woods. Not yet. He gambles with COVID-19, we lose and many of his backers wonder how much longer they can hang in hoping for the bossman to get his […]
Read MoreThe thrill is clearly gone in having Justin Trudeau as Canada’s 23rd prime minister. Now, at best, there is passive enthusiasm for Trudeau to remain in power and that is tainted by widespread fury-driven loathing of the Liberal leader on this campaign, which is hard to fathom given his two difficult years in the pandemic […]
Read MoreAnother day, another gross invasion of privacy as a political candidate (and the travelling media circus) expropriated someone’s lawn for a photo op. Jagmeet Singh was in the Davenport riding, just west of Toronto’s downtown, to hammer home his party’s affordable housing plan. “Families can’t afford Justin Trudeau’s housing crisis and billionaire handouts any longer” […]
Read MoreIt was on this date in 1878 that Canada’s Father of Confederation led his party to perhaps the single greatest comeback in the history of our politics. After five years in political exile, imposed by voters due to his and his government’s role in the Pacific Scandal, Canadians were in a forgiving mood and re-elected […]
Read MoreIt’s a refrain heard during every election: polls have too much influence and should be banned as some disinform more than inform. The debate about the impact of scientific polls and their interpretation have on voters won’t soon be resolved. But one thing is clear in this campaign in search of a ballot question: a […]
Read MoreAs a society, the problems we are trying to solve today reflect choices and actions we made in the past. Never in our collective memory has there been an election where this fact has been so true. And rarely are the warning signs of imminent problems so clear as they are when it comes to […]
Read MoreConservative Leader Erin O’Toole must be wishing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney could have held off a few extra days before announcing sweeping public health changes and a mea culpa to the province over his handling of COVID-19. Wednesday evening, Kenney acknowledged the fourth wave of the pandemic is ripping through his province at an alarming […]
Read MoreWe all hoped it would work. I did, certainly. Only a sadist would want Alberta’s Open for Summer plan to fail. In this I will offer some defence of premier Jason Kenney and, by extension, myself — it wasn’t crazy to announce the lifting COVID-19 restrictions back in May, back when all of the comparative […]
Read MoreOnce again Premier Jason Kenney is late to the crisis and blames everyone and everything else for making it happen. There seems to be no situation – not even the impending collapse of the health care system – that will mute this man’s impulse to deflect.
Read MoreYou could tell that Jason Kenney didn’t want to be there. Just five days before a federal election in which he has a clear rooting interest, the Premier of Alberta was forced to announce a raft of new restrictions aimed at preventing his province’s healthcare system from collapsing under the weight of COVID-19 — all […]
Read MoreEntertainment Plus
Piers Morgan to launch new TV show in deal with News Corp
British presenter Piers Morgan will join News Corp and Fox News Media and host a TV show that will air in the U.S., Britain and Australia, the company said Thursday. News Corp executive chair Rupert Murdoch said Morgan, 56, is “the broadcaster every channel wants but is too afraid to hire.” Murdoch added in a […]
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