It was just barely a few hours ago that I wrote about Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and his propensity for being evasive and being unwilling to answer straight forward questions during this campaign. I thought that I wouldn’t need to talk about that again for a while, but then the
Continue readingAuthor: Cam Holmstrom
Magpie Brûlé: Recruitment Failure
This federal election campaign has seen some very consistent themes, which is not always the best thing. One such theme from the Conservatives and Andrew Scheer has been a refusal to answer questions regarding his views on same sex marriage and abortion. Every time these topics are brought up, he
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: The Morning After: TVA Debate
Last night we saw the first of two debates in French, with the “Face à Face” Debate on TVA, a format that has proved to be successful and very popular in Quebec. It was a four-way battle between leaders with different goals and it was the first time we saw
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: One Green Vetting Fail Too Many
Now that we are into the second half of this general election campaign, we’ve getting closer and closer to casting our ballots. But that doesn’t mean we’re any closer to the end of examples of bad vetting run amok. In fact so far this week more examples have come up,
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Talking Liberal Platform & #Elxn43 on “The Arlene Bynon Show”
This morning I had the chance again to join Arlene Bynon on “The Arlene Bynon Show” on Sirius XM’s Canada Talks 167, along with Alise Mills. We talked about the release of the Liberal platform and it’s price tag, the news around Andrew Scheer’s past employment history, Jagmeet Singh’s position
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Checking in at the Midway Point
Here we are onto Day 20 of our 40 day 43rd General Election campaign and wow, what a campaign it has been. It’s felt like so much longer than the 20 days that it’s been and it feels like ages since we saw that first leaders’ debate. Given the timing
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: What You Need to Know – Week 3 of #Elxn43
The newest episode of “What You Need to Know” is recorded and now up. Every Friday during the campaign we’ll be releasing a new episode where we’ll talk about the events of the week and give perspectives from across the partisan spectrum In the second episode Neil Brodie , Susan
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: “A Golden Ticket”
It was just over a week ago here that I wrote about the case of the former Green candidate in Peterborough-Kawartha Brock Grills and some news on his part. He stepped down back in the summer for “personal reasons” before then coming out and openly the Conservative candidate in the
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Talking #Elxn43 on “The Arlene Bynon Show
This morning I had the chance to join Arlene Bynon on “The Arlene Bynon Show” on Sirius XM’s Canada Talks 167, along with Mike Van Soelen. We talked about Andrew Scheer’s pledge to hold a public inquiry into the SNC-PMO Scandal, the potential discussions around corruption, the Doug Ford effect
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Transparently Ducking
When it comes to campaigns and activities a candidate might do, there are certain general expectations in this day and age. And when a campaign or candidate decides to buck those expectations, it’s generally frowned upon by voters and the public in general. Two of those expectations are speaking with
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Bumps on the Campaign Trail
We are well into the 43rd General Election now and we are starting to get into a normal pace and patter to then campaign itself. Events and announcements each day, lots of travel and photo ops and doing your best to push out your message. Some days that all rolls
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: A Questionable Appointment
It goes without saying that the last handful of days on the campaign trail have been bad for the Liberals. Ever since Wednesday nights big news story came out, and the subsequent information that came after it, the Red team has been trying to re-find their footing and get back
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: What You Need to Know – Week 2 of #Elxn43
The newest episode of “What You Need to Know” is recorded and now up. Every Friday during the campaign we’ll be releasing a new episode where we’ll talk about the events of the week and give perspectives from across the partisan spectrum In the second episode Neil Brodie , Hussain
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: The Morning After: #Elxn43 “Time” Bomb
The news of last night is barely 12 hours old and this is all still sinking in with people. Needless to say, it’s all been very jarring and something that so many people didn’t see coming. But after sleeping on this overnight, I wanted to come back to this with
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: #Elxn43 “Time” Bomb
We all know the old adage that “Campaigns Matter” in Canadian politics. Time and again this has found a way to be true, and it only seemed like a matter of time before something would happen to prove hat to be true again. Well that night was tonight, and wow,
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Inside Influences
One thing I’ve been watching closely in the run up to and during the current federal election campaign has been the influence of third-party groups. More and more these third party groups have been getting involved in all aspects of campaigning it seems, from speaking out on issues to training
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: The Hits Keep Coming
It’s been a very rough start to the 43rd General Election for Elizabeth May’s Green Party. Between candidate vetting that’s proved to be lacking, a poor platform launch with gaffes galore in the document and now news about data management issues, it’s been a cavalcade of mistakes and difficulties for
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Failures at Launch
We are onto Day 7 of the 43rd General Election and the parties are all spread out around the country trying to win over peoples votes. A big piece of that attempt is a party’s platform, which not only tells people what they are hoping to do if they get
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: Podiums for Six
It was about a month ago that the brand new Federal Election Debates Commission decided on the guest list for the two big Commission debates on October 7th and 10th. There were five leaders who were going to be there; Justin Trudeau, Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, Elizabeth May and Yves-François
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: More #Elxn43 Candidate Vetting Headaches
As we start Day 6 of the 43rd General Election, an early on-going theme has been the problems that some campaigns are having with the vetting of their candidates, and their histories that keep pouring out. And really folks, there’s been a lot of them, more than usual, which is
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