Conservatives Heading Further Right

Unsurprisingly, Poilievre won the Conservative Party leadership, crushing all opposition with 68 percent of the vote. His nearest rival, the more traditional conservative Charest, only gained 16 percent of the vote. The populist right clearly dominates the Conservative Party’s membership.  The big business backers of the Conservatives, such as reflected in The Globe and Mail, […]

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Ontario: Kick Ford Out

Ontario goes to the polls on June 2. Doug Ford must go. Yet, this seems unlikely with the polls giving him a clear lead. How, after four years of U-turns, cutting services, gaffes and COVID shambles, is this possible? Somehow, Ford has led a charmed life over these years. He started off with policies to […]

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O’Toole Ousted

Since the resignation of Stephen Harper in 2015, Canada’s Conservative Party has had four leaders. Again, it is looking for a new leader. Erin O’Toole, elected to head the party by its membership just 17 months before, was voted out of that position by 73 of the Conservative Party’s 119 MPs in an online caucus […]

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Canada’s COVID Election

After months, the worst-kept secret in Canadian politics can at last officially reveal itself: it’s federal election time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have determined that their best shot at regaining a majority government is right now, with a five-week campaign leading to election day on September 20. The Liberals only have to net 15 […]

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Canada: Instability Ahead

Canadians woke up on Tuesday to a parliament vastly different than what we’ve had for the past four years. The new parliament reflects the profound regional differences, an urban/rural divide and diverging visions of Canada’s economy as either primarily resource-based or diversified and “green.” However, the results did not reveal a sharp class divide, although […]

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Ford Wins in Ontario

The hopes of the NDP pulling off a surprise victory didn’t materialize and Ontario workers are now faced with the prospect of the most right-wing government since the days of Mike Harris in the 1990s. Does this victory of a right-wing  populist signify that Ontario (and, by implication, Canada as a whole – given Ontario’s […]

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Ontario Crossroads Election

Ontario’s June 7 election has heated up, not only because of the participation of Doug Ford, the so-called Canadian Donald Trump and apparent front runner, but because the outcome of the election itself is by no means certain. Since the New Year, Ontario politics have been anything but dull. At the start of 2018, it […]

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