The editors tell me this is the last posting on the (first?) Ontario election of 2014 that counterweights will publish before the actual vote tomorrow. So I have one or two housekeeping matters to attend to, before getting into my main subject of declining voter turnout in Ontario (and elsewhere in the free and democratic […]
UPDATED JUNE 5. I just drew the short straw here at the office. I have to stay late and do a quick report on the Ontario election 2014 leader’s debate on TV : Tuesday, June 3, 6:30—8:00 PM ET. There is, as best I can tell, something of an early consensus somewhere that Liberal leader […]
I remember an eminent authority on such matters saying, just before the Mike Harris Tories in Ontario won their second majority government, almost exactly 15 years ago now : “The pollsters usually get it right.” And in that case they did. They may still get things more or less right in 2014, just before the […]
In what increasingly does seem like the wild and crazy “northern uprising” of the 2014 Ontario election, the counterweights editors aptly enough opined only yesterday : “anyone who is hoping that Kathleen’s Liberals will win at least another minority government on June 12 probably ought to be a bit worried. If the May 9 Ipsos […]
GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014. 3:00 PM ET. So (as the premier often begins her remarks on any subject) … a lot has happened in Ontario politics today – and sooner, it seems fair to say, than the smart money thought. This morning NDP leader Andrea Horwath announced that her party would not be […]
The April 25, 2014 Supreme Court of Canada response to the Harper government’s queries on Senate reform includes some poignant passages. This is one of them: “The Constitution Act, 1867 contemplates a specific structure for the federal Parliament, ‘similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom’ … The Act creates both a lower elected […]
One of Canada’s leading go-to guys on political opinion polls, Éric Grenier, posted some intriguing Ontario politics notes last Saturday – under the headline “Tim Hudak And Ontario PCs’ Polling May Be On The Rise (Maybe).” Grenier pointed out that : “A survey conducted by EKOS Research for iPolitics between March 27 and April 3 […]
At least some people are talking about how interesting the Quebec provincial election campaign has suddenly become. See, eg : “Marois says rest of Canada would be welcome to visit independent Quebec” ; “Independent Quebec would keep Canadian dollar, Marois says” ; “Marois tells Canada not to be afraid of Quebec election outcome” ; “Naked […]
It was warmer here yesterday, but now the cold and even some snow have returned. This past week, when records for low temperatures were broken in some places nearby, IÂ took a certain solace from “Man found ‘frozen solid’ on Highway 401 transported to hospital.” It reminded me of a sentence composed 45 years ago […]
Back on January 21, I was reporting that “A new poll suggests the Progressive Conservatives are off to a strong lead in two Ontario byelections being held next month … The poll, conducted Jan. 15, took a random sample of voters in both Thornhill and Niagara Falls … In Thornhill, 44 per cent of voters […]
