The staff of NDP MP Dawn Black are among the most creative and skilled when it comes to using federal access to information (ATI) laws to learn important details about the Conservative government's plans, policies, and initiatives. The latest ATI nugget from Black, who is her party's national defence critic, ...   more »

As the Canadian dollar hit parity with the U.S. dollar, some suggested this was hardly cause for celebration as the rapid rise of the dollar has meant massive job losses in Canada's manufacturing sector and in Canada's forestry and paper manufacturing sector.


A look at the data, however, suggests the ...   more »

A federal government that gets tough with industry when it comes to cracking down on chemical pollutants would find broad approval from the electorate, according to new public opinion research published by Environment Canada.
Canadians are also broadly in favour of the principle of slapping new taxes on consumer and ...   more »

Newfoundlanders go to the polls October 9 to pass judgment on the premiership of Danny Williams. By all accounts, this will be as close a coronation as you are likely to see. King Danny and the Progressive Conservatives of Newfoundland and Labrador may, in fact, sweep every single seat ...   more »

The federal Conservative Party is suing Elections Canada after Elections Canada ruled that the spending by some Conservative candidates in the last general federal election did not qualify as spending on local advertising but, in fact, was spending on national advertising.
The Elections Canada ruling had two chief implications. First, ...   more »

[In the final days of the 2006 election campaign] The door ... had been opened for a final wave of attacks. Liberal outrider organizations -- feminists, gay-rights activists, law professors, aboriginal leaders, environmentalists -- came at us in human waves, claiming that Harper would roll back abortion rights, use the ...   more »

"People expect conservatives to be tough. They believe in the values of self-help, individual responsibility, criminal justice, economic realism, and national interest. They look ridiculous, if they go around snivelling and complaining about fairness every time an opponent takes a shot at them. Political campaigning is a civilized form of ...   more »

It seems pretty obvious from the content of their posts but Tom Flanagan confirms that Stephen Taylor and perhaps Steve Janke are the handmaidens of the PMO in the blogosphere. Flanagan, one of the key leaders on three of the four campaigns Stephen Harper has been engaged in over the ...   more »

Tom Flanagan's "Ten Commandments of Conservative Campaigning"

1. Unity The Conservative Party contains libertarians, social conservatives, populists, Red Tories, Quebec nationalists, and Canadian nationalists, plus many people who don't care much about any of these 'isms'. They all need each other. They can never win unless they try to understand each ...   more »

"Stephen Harper is now engaged in trying to do what no Conservative leader has been able to do for over a hundred years -- build a viable, long-term coalition that can win victories and survive defeats without immolating itself on a a bonfire of mutual recriminations."
   more »