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Canada Day Quiz
Test your political skills with this 10-question quiz about the present – and the past – of Canadian politics. 1. You may not be aware of this, but Justin Trudeau’s father was also once Liberal Party leader. For half a point each, name the runner up in the LPC leadership races that elected Pierre and […]
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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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Rae’s Day
Every political commentator loves to say “timing is everything in politics”, and every Canadian political commentator loves to say that Bob Rae never had good timing. He had the misfortune of becoming Premier before he was ready to govern, and had the misfortune of governing during a recession. His “second career” is often portrayed as […]
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Rae’s Play
In perhaps the least surprising news story of the year, Bob Rae appears set to announce his candidacy for Liberal leadership for the third time in the last six years. Say what you will about the man (and I’m about to say plenty), but he has proven the haters who called him a “tourist” in […]
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Liberal Leadership Update: Trudeaumania?
The Liberal Party’s National Executive is set to meet next Wednesday to set the party’s leadership race rules. Shortly thereafter, Bob Rae will announce his intentions and, from there, the dominos will fall. With BBQ season soon upon us, it won’t take long to figure out who’s running, even if the formal declarations take a bit of time. One name […]
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The Third Way
The latest Ipsos poll paints a rather dreary picture of Liberal fortunes, with what was once the natural governing party languishing more than 15 points behind both the NDP and the Conservatives. Of course, the NDP are in their post-leadership honeymoon, the Liberals don’t have a permanent leader, and a horse race poll when politics […]
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An update on all the people MAYBE running for Liberal leadership
The expectation is that rules for the Liberal leadership race will come down in June, setting the stage for a summer of getting to know the men and women wanting to lead Canada’s third party. But while we won’t know the rules of the race for another month or two, that hasn’t limited speculation in […]
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The Race for Third
Back in February I asked readers of this blog who they thought would run for Liberal leader, and who they’d consider voting for. Admittedly, this is as far from a scientific poll as you’ll ever get, and I won’t pretend that the 500+ voters in this straw poll are all Liberals. But we’re not going […]
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Happy Anniversary!
One year ago today, Stephen Harper turned an “unwanted election” into his first majority government, Jack Layton and the NDP soared to never before seen heights, and Liberals spent the evening curled up in a fetal position sobbing in the corner. On political anniversaries, it’s tempting to give each party a thumbs up or thumbs […]
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Not Rae’s Day
After months of media speculation, Bob Rae has finally cleared the air on his leadership ambitions, announcing he will not run for permanent leader: Rae Will Not Run For Permanent Leader Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae says he’s fine with the “interim” label, closing the door on the growing speculation he might run for the […]