The lesson the Tories should heed: Take all of your rivals seriously, and don’t play favourites
After an election campaign has ended, it is interesting to see how reporters, columnists, strategists and others interpret what has unfolded. Unique insights, however, comes from a political insider who is, for whatever reason, willing to talk. Which brings us to Jenni Byrne. The former senior Tory strategist caught some people off-guard with her version…
In terms of popular vote share and per cent of seats won, the Liberal win was identical to the Conservative victory in 2011
Now that the dust has settled on last month’s federal election, let’s take a sober look at what actually happened. Starting with the winner, there’s no disputing that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals ran a highly successful campaign. After descending from clear frontrunner to third place, it would’ve been easy to conjure up the prospect of another…
Fear and loathing of Harper trumped fear of leaving the country hostage to profound inexperience
Last week, several colleagues at the University undertook a post mortem of the federal election. Two of our recent PhD graduates, David Coletto (2010), now CEO of Abacus Data, and Paul Fairie (2013), a principal with Centrality Data Science, provided a fine-grained analysis of what had been a two-part campaign. Part one, Canadians decided that…
The West faces a new political reality, one that fundamentally shifts the way in which western provinces relate to Ottawa
To paraphrase a prime minister on the night of his unexpected election victory in 1980, welcome to the 20-teens. The West woke up yesterday morning to find that change-hungry voters have handed a solid majority to the Liberals. It includes almost every region of the country, except the four western provinces. A look at the…
Harper joins the long list of Canadian politicians who stayed too long and pushed their luck too far
When we left the country to go travelling at the end of September, I expected the Conservatives to win a slim minority and defer parliament’s reconvening to early January, at which point the opposition would combine forces to bring the government down. Then, unable to command the confidence of the House, Stephen Harper would ask…
Harper is only the 4th statesman to appear in Canadian history in the last century and a half
“The first study of a statesman,” Edmund Burke observed, “must be the temper of the people,” what Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls “the fundamental values and understanding of Canadians.” On the surface, Burke continued, public opinion simply involves complaints over the loss of an allegedly glorious past and extravagant hope for the future. But complaints…
A threat to the Canadian health system
By Ryan Meili Family physician and Danielle Martin Women’s College Hospital With a federal campaign in full force grabbing the majority of the headlines, a significant threat to Canada’s most treasured national program is going largely unnoticed. For many years, certain physicians and clinics have quietly been charging extra fees for health services. In some…
Conservatives effectively closed the door on any meaningful revisions to supply management
In the recent Munk Debate on foreign policy, all three leaders of the major federal parties rushed to support the status quo on supply management, even though the system penalizes consumers. And in an election with so much sloganeering about household economics and the middle class, surely the manufactured price inflation of universal food staples would…
Politicians, sadly, are only accustomed to the smell of their own party faithful
Politicians would love to have the approval ratings of Pope Francis. His popularity crosses party lines and spills over the borders of the tiny state he heads. The spiritual leader of the Catholic Church may be the most influential and galvanizing leader on the world stage. But leadership traits alone cannot fully explain the Francis…
Otherwise it could lead to a debt-financed spending spree of epic proportions
With the collapse in energy prices and the decline of manufacturing, the new panacea for economic salvation is “infrastructure”. Governments need to curb their enthusiasm, however, to avoid building up massive debt for future generations. All three federal parties are campaigning on promises of new funds for public infrastructure spending. This is on top of…