If anyone is still looking for last minute Halloween costumes, here are a few politically-themed ideas:At the Party…Senate Page: Black dress, white gloves, and long braided pony tail. Be sure to hold up home made “Stop Harper” stopsign at the most in…
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CalgaryGrit: Backs against the Wall
I don’t intend to write much about the Saskatchewan provincial election because, truth be told, there’s not much to write. When the incumbent is literally more popular than God, you can usually call the campaign before it begins. So all that’s left to …
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Redistribution Update
Just what we need – 30 more MPs!Ontario will get 15 new seats, British Columbia and Alberta six each and Quebec three in the latest and probably final attempt by the Harper government to rejig the House of Commons in favour of the fast-growing province…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: This Week in Alberta – Redford’s Honeymoon
Since becoming Premier, Allison Redford has faced a barrage of attacks, the latest over a “backroom deal” between her Finance Minister and a pair of energy companies:EDMONTON – Two energy companies learned of potentially lucrative changes to a $350-mil…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Majority-ish
Frank Klees, the runner up to Tim Hudak in the 2009 Ontario PC leadership race, has announced he will be running for speaker when the Ontario legislature resumes sitting.If you’re wondering why we should care, the answer is “math” – with Klees as speak…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Revirement
While the latest round of elections suggest Canadians are craving stability, the situation is starkly different in Quebec. Consider the latest poll from Leger:Legault 36%Lib 22%PQ 18%ADQ 9%QS 7%Green 5%Other 3%”Legault” refers to “a new party led by Fr…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Redistribution Winners and Losers
Even though it was the right decision, the Harper government likely didn’t do itself any electoral favours by shutting Quebec out of the new ship building contract and the 15,000 jobs that go with it. However, they did announce two new jobs they will b…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Liberal Renewal
There was a lot of ink spilled about Liberal rebuilding in the wake of the May 2nd shellacking – both among pundits and party members. Although much of that talk has cooled, with January’s biennial convention approaching, it’s likely time to renew the …
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Tous Ensemble
Nathan Cullen shakes up the Mulcair-Topp cage match with an interesting idea:His plan would be to let grassroots members of the three parties [Liberals, NDP, Greens] decide in each riding currently held by the Conservatives whether they wanted to hold …
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: In leadership news…
…Justin Trudeau won’t run, but Thomas Mulcair will.So this sets us up for a Mulcair-Topp battle for Stornoway. All early indications are that Topp and Mulcair will play nice with each other, while their supporters mercilessly smear each other in the …
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Leadership Vote Totals
Three of Alberta’s political parties have now held leadership races this year, with the Wildrose Alliance having picked their leader two years ago.Below are the number of Albertans who voted in each contest:Progressive Conservatives: 59,359 on ballot o…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Rule Britannia
Stephen Harper speaks out in favour of “modernizing” the rules for succession when it comes to selecting Britain’s, and Canada’s, head of state….just so long as this modernization doesn’t including allowing Canada’s head of state to be Catholic, Cana…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Reg Alcock 1948-2011
Sad and unexpected news, as former MP Reg Alcock died this morning at the age of 63.I’m sure most will remember his time in Cabinet, but what will stick in my mind was a mild controversy I helped stir up at the 2005 Liberal Policy Convention. I was pre…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: The Fall and Rise of Dalton McGuinty
If I told you a few months ago there would be a picture of Dalton McGuinty waving on newspaper front pages October 7th, you’d have assumed it would be on the Sun, directly below a “GOODBYE! GOOD RIDDANCE!” headline .After all, when the unofficial campa…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Majority-ish
With nearly all the votes counted, here’s how it looks:Lib 53PC 37NDP 17Which, as you will hear about fifty billion times this weekend, leaves the Liberals one seat shy of a majority government. However not all minorities are created equal, and failing…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Ontario Votes
I won’t be providing many updates tonight, but will offer some thoughts before heading off to bed, with the mandatory post-mortems coming tomorrow.By all means, share your thoughts in the comments section as the results roll in.
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Ontario Votes
Ontarians head to the polls today, with the two parties deadlocked a Liberal majority looming a PC victory likely the outcome still up in the air.I’ll be voting for Dalton McGuinty. No surprise there. But I still want to take a moment to explain why, b…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: What Saturday’s Win by Red Tory Redford Means in Alberta
Alison Redford was Saturday’s surprise winner of the Alberta PC leadership race. As stunned as frontrunner Gary Mar was, the most surprised may have been Alberta’s opposition parties, who had no doubt begun positioning themselves against Mar.So how doe…
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: It’s hard to get re-elected during a recession…
…except in 2011 in Canada.Add the Manitoba NDP to the growing list of parties re-elected with a strong, stable majority government.The Newfoundland PCs and Saskatchewan Saskies will join then shortly. We’ll find out about Ontario on Thursday.
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: “The Tories are not going to win. This campaign is all but finished"
Those are the words of Ipsos’ John Wright.If Tim Hudak is worried about a Liberal-NDP coalition, there’s only one way to prevent it at this point – and it’s not by voting PC.Ipsos (Sep 30 to Oct 3; n = 1200 phone)Lib 41%PC 31%NDP 25%Green 3%Nanos (Oct …
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