repolitics
Political News, Discussion Forums and In-depth Features on Political Institutions
by David McGrane on
From ‘Puffingate’ to the flood of e-mails and postings on websites urging that Elizabeth May participate in the leaders debate, the internet has began to effect this federal election campaign in a profound way. The latest internet splash is the creation of a Facebook group dedicated to ‘vote swapping’ in order to stop the Conservatives from forming a majority government.
[Read more…] about Vote Swappers Should Concentrate on Advocating for PR
by Jared Wesley on
I’m not sure whether many people noticed, but Barack Obama’s speech this afternoon marked a major shift in the American presidential campaign: It’s become a little more like Canada’s.
The second line in Obama’s statement — "This is a time of uncertainty" — officially shifts his campaign from one emphasizing "hope" to one focusing on "ambiguity" and "instability" (at least for the time being). It’s the same theme Stephen Harper has been stressing for the past two weeks.
[Read more…] about The Politics of Hope vs. the Politics of Uncertainty
by Melanee Thomas on
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.
by Jared Wesley on
God bless the CBC Digital Archives. The folks over there uncovered a gem in a 1978 Fifth Estate documentary on the Nova Scotia forestry industry. In it, we’re introduced to a 23-year-old Elizabeth May — a young, anti-logging, women’s rights activist.
by Harold Jansen on
I had to take a little hiatus from blogging about the election to finish up a paper for a conference this coming weekend. In this paper, my co-author, Lisa Young of the University of Calgary, and I look at patterns of fundraising and spending since the adoption of the changes to Canada’s electoral laws in 2004. You may remember that the government banned corporations and trade unions from donating to political parties, enriched the election expenses reimbursement given to qualifying parties (those who get at least 2% of the vote nationally or 5% of the vote in the districts in which they run candidates), made individual donations to poltiical parties more advantageous by strengthening the individual political contributions tax credit, and gave every qualifying party (2%/5%) $1.75 per vote per year. As the media have reported, the Conservatives have been raking in money like crazy.
by Melanee Thomas on
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