politics

Justin Trudeau has declared his candidacy for the leadership of a party has been desperately seeking a saviour for years. As one leader after another has failed to connect with Canadian voters, many Liberals have longed for "a new Trudeau."

After 41 years of Progressive Conservative government, Albertans appear to be in the midst of a political shakeup. The polls show a more competitive election than most would have expected even a few months ago.

Public opinion matters – in all countries, but especially in democracies like ours. Public opinion research in the public interest makes an essential contribution to good governance and meeting societal challenges.

In many countries, conservative political parties are seen as hostile to immigrants. Right-of-centre parties in the United States and Europe tend to be more nationalistic than their left-leaning counterparts, and this pride in country can sometimes manifest itself in xenophobia.

Public opinion matters – in all countries, but especially in democracies like ours. Public opinion research in the public interest makes an essential contribution to good governance and meeting societal challenges.

A few pollsters caused a stir recently when they suggested political polls are polluting Canadian democracy. The ensuing debate, which has bizarrely pitted pro-polling pollsters against anti-polling pollster-pundits, has largely been a tempest in a teapot.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his team have expressed the desire to move Canada in an incrementally more conservative direction through successive Conservative governments.

Were you, like me, watching Quebec's election results pouring in last night, remembering Jacques Parizeau's denunciation of "the ethnic vote" in 1995 and anticipating that one of the defeated candidates might blame his ill-deserved fate on veiled Muslim voters - all 67 of them?

The members of the Parti Québécois have spoken, electing as their new leader a young, handsome, gay, and postcocaine André Boisclair, who has assured supporters a vote for him is a vote for a referendum " immédiatement" upon his moving across the aisle in the National Assembly.