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Margin of Error
They were up late counting the votes in Brandon-Souris Monday night. That, despite the fact that the final poll of the campaign showed the Liberals with a commanding 29-point lead. In the end, the Liberal vote was 16 points lower and the Tory vote was 14 points higher. It would have been a shocking result, […]
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Wheat Kings
On the surface, nothing really happened last night. The Liberals held two safe seats and the Conservatives held two safe seats. Yes, they were counting ballots until late night in Brandon, but the seating chart in the House of Commons is unchanged. As is so often the case, most of the attention was on Eastern […]
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Today in meaningless polling
I really hate to post the results of a Forum poll. Especially for a by-election, where the stakes are low and turnout will be lower. But…wow. The fact that the Liberals are even in the game in a riding like Brandon is just stunning. No, they won’t win, but for a party which picked up […]
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Dog Days of August
It’s the third summer of the Stephen Harper majority government. Leadership races have been run, the Cabinet has been shuffled, but we won’t be going to the polls for another two years. Yes, these are the dog days of majority government rule, when our lone bits of excitement comes from Senate Committee meetings. What I […]
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Byelection Results Roll In
With most of the results in, it appears the Liberals have held Scarborough-Guildwood and Ottawa South, with the NDP winning Windsor-Tecumseh and London West, and Doug Holyday squeaking it out in Etobicoke-Lakeshore. On the surface, this is a disastrous result for Kathleen Wynne, losing three seats and seeing her party’s vote fall by an average […]
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By-Election Day In Ontario
Ontarians head to the polls in five ridings today, to replace five outgoing Liberal MPPs. The fate of the government does not hang on these by-elections. If the Liberals hold all five seats, they’d be one floor crossing or resignation away from a majority, but that would take a small miracle. As such, the by-elections […]
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Bob Rae Steps Down
This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, but Bob Rae is resigning as an MP. I wrote my praises of Rae’s career and time as interim leader back in April so I won’t rehash them here. Although he never fullfilled his dream of becoming Liberal Party (permanent) leader, if there was a “Political Hall of […]
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Great Moments in Spin
The Onion Conservative Party reacts to their by-election defeat moral victory: As we know, majority governments do not usually win by-elections. In fact, Liberals have won the riding of Labrador in every election in history except for two, so we are not surprised with these results. What is surprising is the collapse of the Liberal […]
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Liberals Will Try to Retrieve Labrador
Given how obstinant Stephen Harper is about sticking behind Cabinet Ministers embroilled in cotroversy and how disdainful the Tories have been any time Elections Canada suggests they’re in the wrong, it was a bit of a surprise to see Peter Penashue not only step down as Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, but resign his seat so that […]
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Old Habits Die Hard
In all my years blogging about Calgary politics, I never thought “Liberals blow by-election” is a story I’d have to write. “Liberals lose” is a common headline for a party that hasn’t won a seat in Calgary since 1968, during the height of Trudeaumania (the first round of Trudeaumania that is). But while some Liberals […]