The Globe and Mail - Andrew Steele

Neck and neck - and all of them red

asteele — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:03 EDT

Two months ago, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party looked set to hold a quickie leadership convention, anoint Tim Hudak as a new leader that was unburdened by divisive or controversial pledges, and quickly unite to fight the 2011 election while keeping the spotlight firmly on Dalton McGuinty - Follow link to read full post

Timing is everything

asteele — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:24 EDT

Tim Hudak is probably the best choice to lead the PC Party. He's young enough to grow on the job. His centre-right positioning is the right one for unifying his party quickly. The other candidates are saddled with reactionary policies or confusing biography. Until two weeks ago, Mr. Hudak appeared - Follow link to read full post

Privacy breach in Ontario PC race

asteele — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:46 EDT

There could be a minor scandal brewing in the Ontario PC leadership race. The Conservative Party of Canada has been forced to send a cease-and-desist letter to their provincial cousins in order to defend themselves against contraventions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents - Follow link to read full post

Michael Ignatieff: Arrogant Bastard

asteele — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:26 EDT

The Conservatives were presented with a complex and challenging opponent in Michael Ignatieff. He's clearly more articulate and polished than his predecessor, so attempts to attack his ability would prove problematic. His past positions were closer to the government's own core than the Liberal core - Follow link to read full post

Lessons from B.C.

asteele — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:38 EDT

Gordon Campbell's was the first Canadian government to face the electorate since the recession became real last fall. What lessons can be taken from the election? The first and foremost lesson is that voters will re-elect governments that do big things. Campbell undertook two major reforms in his - Follow link to read full post

David Miller's war on children

asteele — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:44 EDT

Many years ago, the leaders of one of the Gulf Islands near Vancouver had an idea.[amp]nbsp;They would ban cars from the only town on the island. People could take bikes to the beach or the stores or the restaurant or the community centre. It would be idyllic, placid, healthy and quiet - utterly in keeping - Follow link to read full post

Je ne comprend pas

asteele — Wed, 6 May 2009 16:23 EDT

Pablo Rodriguez and Jean-Claude D'Amours appear to have gotten things a bit backwards when they questioned Treasury Board President Vic Toews on Tuesday. [amp]nbsp;The political motivation behind the question, which was about the ability of a unilingual Minister to manage bilingualism in the civil service - Follow link to read full post

May's day?

asteele — Sun, 3 May 2009 12:35 EDT

Elizabeth May would be nuts to pass up the golden opportunity Bill Casey's resignation presents.As Bill Curry reports, May is contemplating a run in the riding that abuts Central Nova, where she lives and recently ran.The reasons against running are scant: Even a loss would provide added profile and - Follow link to read full post

Governments defeat themselves

asteele — Fri, 1 May 2009 10:30 EDT

One of the misconceptions of political survey analysis is that the answers are related to the questions.[amp]nbsp;What I mean by this is the idea that asking “which party would you vote for” is related to a closed-loop discrete decision between the options then listed, based on an informed - Follow link to read full post

The looming Conservative-separatist-socialist coalition

asteele — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:49 EDT

A few days ago, I wrote about the potential for the NDP to support the Conservatives in the face of potential losses to a resurgent Liberal Party. That shift made it exceedingly difficult to see how the Grits would engineer a fall election, as Jack Layton's campaign director was testing the waters for - Follow link to read full post