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I watched the French debate tonight (in translation; I’m an Albertan!) and thought it wasn’t bad. I really liked the table: I thought it was a lot better than the stuffy podiums and made it feel more intimate and interactive. I usually hate the questions from "average" Canadians, but my favorite moment was actually where the leaders had to say something nice about the leader to their left. It was different and caught my attention.

[Read more…] about French debate: Duceppe looked strong, Harper pretty passive, May surprising

In an hour and a half, the French language debate will be starting and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. This really is the contest between Dion, Duceppe and Harper. Although the NDP is making some gains in Quebec, I don’t see Mr. Layton as particularly relevant and Ms. May’s struggles in French mean she’ll be marginal for much of it.

[Read more…] about French debate preview: pressure on Harper

At least that’s what every decent undergraduate student knows.

Thanks to the sands of time, I find this kind of bald-faced policy mistake hilarious. It’s illuminating as I’ve suspected Harper has been coordinated with a variety of interests for quite some time. Much of the anti-Bloc campaign in Quebec seemed too slick to be coincidental. Harper strikes me as the kind of leader who micro-manages every detail of any action plan to the "T", ensuring each operative knows their role in executing the plan. I just assumed he was too savvy to be so blatant, or smart enough to realise a number of people would think, "hmm. That sounds awfully similar. Let’s compare the text." 

[Read more…] about Plagarism is Always Wrong, Mr. Harper.

As I’ve watched the Liberals sputter through this and the previous two elections, I’ve reached a conclusion: it would be good for the Liberals to lose this election. And I mean really lose it, as in a Conservative majority government. This is not a judgment about whether the Liberals would do a good job in government. That might or might not be the case. But for the Liberal party as a party, it would be healthy to have a break where they aren’t in government and have no prospect of getting there for four years.

[Read more…] about Why the Liberals need to lose this election

Now that all the party platforms have been released, we can expect a plethora of report cards on the details of the platforms to be released by a number of advocacy groups. I received my first today from the Canadian Federation of Students. The CFS, representing over half a million post-secondary students from coast to coast, evaluated the party platforms on tuition fees, student aid, Aboriginal education, Graduate Students & Research, Copyright reform, and funding for universities and colleges in both English and French.

[Read more…] about Platform Report Cards: Grading the Parties on Education

In my last post, I noted that Wilfird Laurier’s Barry Kay had the Conservatives just a couple of seats away from a majority. His latest projections put the Conservatives right at the magic number of 155. This has led Gilles Duceppe to call for support for the Bloc in order to deny the Conservatives a majority. It will be interesting to see whether those calls have any resonance with the electorate. Stephen Harper has worked hard to put a moderate face on the Conservatives (often to the dismay of the more ideologically inclined members of his party).
[Read more…] about The Conservatives are at the majority mark, according to LISPOP