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Liberal Leadership Round-Up
The “will he or won’t he” dance of Justin Trudeau continues, with reports that Gerald Butts will be heading up his leadership team – should Justin run, of course. Trudeau’s trip to the Stampede did little to dampen speculation, though the annual parade of politicians in cowboy hats was more notable by who didn’t appear […]
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100 Years of Bad Photo Ops
As you have probably heard a hundred times over the past month, the Calgary Stampede turns 100 this year. Calgary has changed a lot over this time. A seat at the 1912 rodeo cost 50 cents. Calgary’s population was 70,000. And, oh yeah, back then Alberta was a Liberal bastion, with the Grits holding 6 […]
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Riding Talk
The new riding maps are out! The new riding maps are out! It’s Christmas in July for political geeks! As you may be aware, new riding boundaries will be in place for the 2015 election, and the commissions tasked with drawing said ridings have begun releasing them. Yesterday, the proposed Alberta maps were published, following […]
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Oda Out
While most will toast Bev Oda’s departure with a $16 glass of orange juice, to me, she’ll always be the Cabinet Minister who doctored government files and got away with it. In some respects Harper oews his majority government to Oda, as her “not” problem last winter emboldened the opposition to bring down his government. […]
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Liberal Leadership Wednesdays: Coyne4Leader
It’s worth noting that at this stage in the Liberal Leadership Race, the line between a “declared” and “undeclared” candidate is a thin one. Until the rules and entry fees are set, there’s no way of knowing how many of the lesser known contenders will actually follow through and run. I remember there were 16 […]
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Who had June 25th in the pool?
The much-anticipated Thomas Mulcair attack ads have arrived: Other than changing the off-grey colours from red to orange, this doesn’t look to be much more than a recycled anti-Liberal TV spot – torqued policy positions, lots of talk about “risks”, and a cameo by the scary carbon tax. But while the style is reminiscent of […]
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The Name Game
In today’s Globe & Mail, Lysianne Gagnon takes aim at Justin Trudeau: Is Justin Trudeau really the Liberals’ best option? If the Toronto Liberal intelligentsia believe that Justin Trudeau, being a Trudeau and a Quebecker, can revive their party’s fortunes in Quebec, they are mightily wrong. (One might also wonder if anybody can save the […]
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Issue Management
In her Star column today, Chantal Hebert supposes that the Quebec Nation resolution might resurface as a divisive issue during the Liberal Leadership race, as it did in 2006. While I don’t think there’s any appetite to revisit that specific debate, with a Quebec election on the horizon and a guy by the name of […]
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“Complete and Utter Asshole”
I really want trash Jason Kenney or make this out to be a sign of a worsening relationship between the federal Conservatives and the Alberta PCs. But Jason Kenney is far from the first politician to call another politician a nasty word, so all I can really complain about is that a Cabinet Minister hasn’t […]
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Trudeau’s Poll Position
It’s no secret that Liberals love power above all else, so it’s hard for any Liberal to stay immune to Trudeaumania when you see headlines like “Justin Trudeau could lead Liberals to first place, new poll shows” or “Trudeau could be Grits’ only hope, says pollster Graves“. I’ll admit that seeing a Trudeau-led Liberal Party […]