Author: Cam Holmstrom

It takes many things to have success in electoral campaigns but it’s a cold truth that money is an important thing to have to run successful electoral campaigns. When you look at the stats you can easily see a correlation between the amount of money spent by a campaign and

For the past few elections an on going part of the discussion around the campaign itself has been about debates, and for good reason. While not all debates make a mark in our election campaigns, some campaigns have turned on very good or very bad debate performances. That’s one of

Watching the Ford Conservative government in their first 14 months of has been something else. It hasn’t been the smoothest operation and Doug Ford himself has managed to put a lot of various objects into the spokes of his own wheels. It’s all left many people wondering who was really

In every election there always seems to be a handful of ridings where the overall national narrative doesn’t really apply. That is usually the case due to a minor party leaders’ presence, a notable Independent candidate or a big local issue that is playing a particularly big role in the

It was just last week that I wrote an update to the story of British Columbia Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido and the allegations against him and his law firm. This is a story that’s continued to fester and grow bit by bit, leaving me to openly question what exactly would

There are a few sayings that I really follow closely and/or truly believe in the wisdom of. One of those sayings that seems to come back with increasing frequency these days is the following one: those that don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. It’s amazing how often history

It’s early August in political Ottawa before the Fall election and folks let me tell ya; it’s quiet. Having just come back east from a few weeks away at home seeing family and spending time by the water, I’m starting to get back into the swing of things. While doing

As we enter the final week of July all of the parties are fully into their election preparations. A big piece of that preparation is getting candidates in place in all 338 ridings across the country. As has been noted by many outlets, some parties are further ahead on this

Politics, and more specifically how parties run themselves, can be a strange thing. That management can be far from being consistent or even rational, with some people getting tossed over the smallest things while others get kept around despite running up a laundry list of issues that would get just

As I’ve spoken about a few times now on this blog, with the rise of the Green Party so far in this election cycle, they are getting more attention paid to them. That attention includes looking more into their policies, their platforms, their candidates and their ideas. This is new

In the run up to any election, observers are always trying to read the tea leaves about wat that campaign might bring. We look at polling, both public domain and internal, we look at trends and we look at the issues that we expect to dominate the discussion of the

Having volunteered and worked on political campaigns for about 15 years now, one thing I’ve learned is that there are always new things to learn. Whether it be a new campaign technique, changes in the electoral laws or new technologies, things are always evolving in the pursuit of getting people

Here we are on the 22nd of July, with many Canadians taking some downtime away from the fray. Some are spending time at home, others are visiting family and some are even travelling. With less than 100 days before the 43rd General Election in the fall, the political parties and

As the end of July gets closer, it can be said by any objective measure that this has been a relatively good month for the government Liberals. They are rebounding in the polls, with some putting them back in the lead, the Conservatives are on the slide thanks to the

The 43rd general election coming in the Fall is one that has promised to be very different from most elections we’ve seen in Canada for a while now. In the past few campaigns, we’ve seen some big shifts and falls, from the rise of the NDP, to the decimation of

As the Summer of 2019 continues, it’s been interesting to watch the political news. Being a normal quiet period, normally that means having very little of note take place. But it wouldn’t be 2019 if this summer managed to follow that norm. Oh no, not at all. With that in

There are many things that go into successful election campaigns, much more than most people typically see from the outside. Yes there’s the policy, the money to run the campaign, the advertising, the signs and the leaflets. And there are the leaders, the candidates and the thousands of volunteers. It

When getting ready for election campaigns, all parties put together their various platforms. Inside each of those platforms are ideas that are well-known to the public, some that have been long-standing planks. We also see some newer ideas, ones that haven’t been a part of the debate thus far. And

Something you may have noted about me from reading this blog is that I’m a big believer in not just acting right, but actually doing things the right way. For me, that means dealing with issues directly, respectfully, and above all, in a constructive manner. This is doubly true for

Elections have consequences; that is not a controversial statement at all and is really just a statement of fact. Who we elect determines what direction our government goes in, the decisions that are made and therefore, the consequences that come from those decisions. In most average elections though those issues