Melanee Thomas

In the midst of running what seems to be an endless sequence of statistics demonstrating persistent gender differences in political engagement in Europe (read: what dissertation research will do to you), I must admit to deliberately avoiding local Canadian stats on women’s involvement in the current federal election.

[Read more…] about Electoral Political Remains a Man’s Game. For Shame.

Today, I went to a talk given by Dr. Stuart Soroka entitled, "I know what’s going to happen five days from now." Soroka, one of the founding members of the Media Observatory at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada and his research team investigate how news media affects poll results. He argues that there’s about a four to six day lag between when a story breaks in the news and when it shows up in public opinion polls. Based on data from the current election campaign, Soroka’s willing to bet that both the Liberals’ and Conservatives’ polling numbers go up over the weekend.

[Read more…] about Media Leading Polls by the Nose?

Has anyone else noticed that the Liberals released their full platform yesterday, and hardly anyone has said a word about it? It’s as though the collective response has been *crickets chirping*. 

I did see on CBC Newsworld this morning that the English and French political bureau chiefs indicated that Dion’s performance "wasn’t bad" … specifically, it wasn’t as bad as John Turner’s in 1988. 

I don’t remember the 1988 Liberal platform announcement, but based on what was relayed about it, particularly the child care portion, the fact that the media is comparing Dion’s announcement yesterday to Turner in 1988 is not good. 

[Read more…] about Liberal Party Releases Platform – The Response is Deafening

If I were the other parties, I’d be making announcments about how it’s patriotic to fund the arts and how we’d restore the funding the Conservatives recently cut too.

[Read more…] about The Conservatives’ Amateur Mistake on the Arts

Admittedly, this is a pretty good way to start a Monday at the office.

What I appreciate most about the West Wing in general and Jed Bartlett’s character in particular is the no-nonsense way in which things are called for what they are. I think this assessment of recent events in the US election cycle is spot on. 

After reading this, I thought (not for the first time) that what I really wanted to see south of the border was Barlett for America. 

[Read more…] about If this is what Jed Bartlett would say to Barak Obama, imagine what he’d say to Canadians

If elected, Stephen Harper announced today that protections within the Youth Criminal Justice Act are history.

I’ll make no bones about this one: this proposed policy change isn’t about making anyone more safe. It is very unclear to me how naming a child who’s done something terrible increases public safety or provides deterrence. It seems more likely to me that this feeds society’s darker penchants for voyeurism and vengence. 

[Read more…] about Vengence is not a victim’s right.