Election 2015: Final thoughts

As I was sitting in northern Italy, the domes and spires of ancient cathedrals peaking above the rooftop gardens and terracotta shingles of the buildings across the river, Canadian politics should not have been at the top of my mind. Yet I still found myself checking Canadian news on my phone from time to time…

Election 2015: National Security

True or false: ISIS is a threat to Canadians. ISIS is a brutal entity that has butchered a legitimate faith to justify mass murder and a violent power grab in the Middle East. My gut tells me that we should be fighting them. We have a proud military history and I would like nothing more…

Election 2015: The Environment

If we’re doing these blog posts in order of importance, Prime Minister Harper would expect me to write about national security next. I will not. I will write about the environment next because to me it’s the next biggest issue facing this nation. I do believe that national security is important, but not necessarily for…

Election 2015: The Economy

In an informal survey of voters sitting in my hotel room, all one of the respondents agreed that the economy was the biggest issue of the campaign. This is good news for Prime Minister Stephen Harper (to be called “Harper” henceforth, just as Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair will be called by their last names).…

A new way to campaign

On August 13 Stephen Harper and his entourage flew into town on their spiffy leased airplane for a campaign event. I would love to tell you more, but there is not much more to tell. The whole event was tightly controlled and shrouded in secrecy. Nobody knew where it would be except for those who…

Alberta and the NDP: We couldn’t stop them and maybe that’s okay

Manitobans can tell Albertans a thing or two about living under NDP rule. We have endured a lengthy tenure of government ineptness and broken promises under the NDP. So many broken promises … about getting rid of “hallway medicine”, about balancing the budget, about ending the practice of placing vulnerable children in hotels, about raising…

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…