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Politicians in Cowboy Hats 2015: Lassoing Votes, Stampeding to the Polls, and Other Puns
For a brief history of Stampede fashion, you can read the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 round-ups – or “100 Years of Bad Photo-Ops“ All eyes were on Calgary this weekend, as Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau, and Thomas Mulcair kicked off the pre-election BBQ circuit. Despite the extra media attention, this […]
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Almost Blue
These days, it must feel good to be Thomas Mulcair. The polls show he has a chance to become Canada’s first NDP Prime Minister, and the entire country has been engulfed in an orange afterglow since the Alberta election. But as Uncle Ben once said, with great polling comes great scrutiny. Indeed, one of the […]
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Politicians in Cowboy Hats
For a brief history of Stampede fashion, you can read the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013 round-ups – or “100 Years of Bad Photo-Ops“ This week’s pilgrimage of politicians to the Stampede was met with less fanfare than some years gone by. This wasn’t the first rodeo for any of the party […]
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Hanging up the shoes
It’s not a huge surprise, but it’s still big news. After 8 years, the only Finance Minister Stephen Harper has ever known and loved is calling it quits: Jim Flaherty steps down as finance minister OTTAWA – Jim Flaherty is leaving the federal cabinet after more than eight years as finance minister to prepare for […]
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Caucus Splitting
By design, Tuesday’s budget was a non-event. The public’s eyes are on Sochi, and the pundits’ eyes are on next year’s budget. So, it should not be surprising that it was the post-budget fallout that grabbed the most headlines, when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty mused that the Tories central 2011 campaign promise of income splitting […]
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Liberals Lose Half Their Caucus Under Justin Trudeau’s Leadership
It’s rare that something happens in Ottawa that truly surprises everyone. Despite having spent the last year talking about the senate over and over again, it’s safe to say very few saw this coming: Trudeau leads on Senate Reform: Liberal Leader takes concrete action to remove partisanship and patronage from the Senate OTTAWA – The […]
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Canada’s New Government Turns 8
Today marks the 8th anniversary of Stephen Harper’s election as Prime Minister. At the time, a lot of Liberals figured they could turn him into Joe Clark after a quick leadership change. Yet, by this time next year, Harper will have passed Louis St. Laurent, Robert Borden, and Brian Mulroney, to become the 6th longest […]
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Bart’s Books: Stephen Harper, Episode II
“On any day, [Harper] has a choice, he can do the big conservative thing that would be the end of his career, or he can do some of the small conservative things that won’t.” I’ll save you the trouble of reading the rest of this book review – if you like Paul Wells’ writing style, […]
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2013: Year in Review
January: SunTV applies for corporate welfare, arguing that they cannot survive unless the government forces people to watch them. Later this year, they would give Rob and Doug Ford their own show…before cancelling it faster than Lucky 7. February: Patrick Brazeau is knocked out of the Tory caucus. While the Senate has yet to change […]