Is Rana Bokhari doing enough for the Liberals?

Manitoba Liberal leader Rana Bokhari has come under fire for not doing enough to capitalize on the governing NDP’s turmoil. An editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press called her performance “underwhelming” (twice, to make it very clear) and another column questions whether she has the “determination and intellect” to turn the party into a viable…

The re-emergence of Manitoba Forward

A year ago, mysterious full-page ads appeared in the local newspaper. The ads, from a group calling themselves Manitoba Forward, criticized the provincial government’s ambitious development plans for Manitoba Hydro. As I documented in an earlier blog post, there was very little information on the internet about this group called “Manitoba Forward”, forcing one to…

Referendums and PST

  I once had a conversation with a person from an obscure political party who’s platform involved holding a referendum on every major economic or policy decision. “What could be more democratic than that?” he asked. Nothing, I suppose, but the point of a democracy isn’t to put every individual decision in the hands of…

Ranking: Winnipeg’s mayoral candidates

I have decided to post my impressions and rankings of each candidate. Warning: some of my impressions may be misguided. I have not been following every debate or reading every news release. However I know the names of all the candidates, and a few things about where they stand. I even live tweeted a debate…

Winnipeg Election: Email performance

Door-knocking is so old fashioned. The internet is where you want to be if you’re a candidate for Mayor, or anything else. It is inexpensive, has a wide reach, and can be an effective tool to engage voters. How effective it is depends on how you use it. I have devised a scorecard based on…

Winnipeg Election Poll: what does it tell us?

Today, the novel Manitoba Forward/United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg 2014 Winnipeg Mayoral Election crowd-funded survey results were released. And even though the results were already plastered all over the internet while I was still at work, I am still proud to have been a sponsor of this poll. As a sponsor I feel I should…

The Lorrie Steeves Affair

Controversy erupted on Twitter Friday when an anonymous account posted a screenshot of racist comments (or what most people would consider racist) that the wife of Gord Steeves, candidate for Mayor, posted on Facebook four years ago. This is troubling in a number of ways: It is troubling that somebody’s interaction with panhandlers downtown produced…