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Election Post-Mortem: The Greens
The Greens got 360,000 more votes in 2008 than on Monday – in fact, they lost a larger proportion of their vote than either the Liberals or the Bloc. And yet, the 2011 election will go down as a historic night for the Green Party of Canada, having elected its first MP. Making sense of […]
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A Beginner’s Guide to Alberta Politics, or, "What the @$#! is going on in Alberta?"
Like an oil reserve, Alberta politics tends to lie dormant for thousands of years, only to gush to the surface without warning. And when it does, it’s usually messy. Like the last two weeks. For those of you lucky enough to not follow Alberta politics, it must have all seemed rather perplexing. A caucus coup […]
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Swann Song
There used to be a time when you could tune out Alberta politics for a decade and not miss much. Now, every day brings a new bombshell. The latest comes from the Alberta Liberals, with David Swann resigning before even fighting his first election as leader. Although the news is surprising, it likely shouldn’t be […]
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2010 Person of the Year
As 2010 winds down, it’s time to pick a Calgary Grit Person of the Year for the 7th consecutive year. The criteria is simple – a person who made an impact on the Canadian political scene in 2010 (ruling out obvious choices like the PM, or lame picks like “you“). But this was a tough […]
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Everything You Always Wanted To Know About The Census (But Were Afraid To Ask)
The Great Census Crisis of 2010 has its first music video. It’s only a matter of time before angry mobs of statisticians take to the streets holding “I’m with Fellegi signs” and chanting “What do we want? Mandatory long form Census! When do we want? Every 5 years!”. Don’t worry, if you can’t make the […]
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Fifth Annual Politicians in Cowboy Hats
For a brief history of Stampede fashion, you can read the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 round-ups. You never quite now what you’ll get at the Stampede. The boy from Calgary became a national laughing stock when he mistook the Stampede for a Village People convention in 2005. And the geeky Liberal pushing the carbon […]
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2009 Man of the Year
I’ve picked a “Person of the Year” for five years running now – it’s not always someone I like (see: Klein, Ralph), and it’s not always someone who had a very good year (see: Dion, Stephane). Rather, I like to pick someone who left their mark on Canadian politics over the past 12 months. And […]
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Christmas Letters: Elizabeth May
An exclusive look at Elizabeth May’s Christmas letter, after posting ones for Harper, Ignatieff, and Layton earlier this week. Friends, Hi, it’s me – Elizabeth May. From the Green Party. I was the lady in the debates last year. I know you’ve probably been wondering what I’ve been up to. It’s not that I’ve been […]
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Christmas Letters: Jack Layton
After a look at Harper and Ignatieff’s Christmas letters, we move on today to Jack Layton’s. Dear working families, It’s been a great year for progressives across North America, with Barack Obama entering the White House, and the NDP winning the New Westminster-Coquitlam by election. All together now – Yes We Can! Yes We Can! […]