 By Ray Rivers
April 22nd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
“The Conservative leader says that only one per cent of single-use plastics find their way into the environment every year, with the rest being recycled.” (CBC News Posted: Apr 18, 2025)
That has to be a misquote. Nobody running for prime minister on behalf of a major political party could be that ignorant. The real numbers from both US and Canadian environmental agencies is that something like 90% or more plastic packaging ends up in landfills or the environment rather than being recycled.
 Half of single-use plastic waste produced by just 20 companies And over 80% of Canadians, according to recent polling, support the single use plastics ban, including something like 70% of Conservatives. But Poilievre must be appealing to that other 30% who make up the extreme right wing of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). And it appears he is following the lead of the US president who, only days ago, eliminated the US ban on plastic straws claiming…“I don’t think plastic is going to affect a shark very much, as they’re munching their way through the ocean”.
Poilievre had been hoping to be the one to ‘axe-the-carbon-tax’. But then Mr. Carney beat him to it. So Mr. Poilievre has dreamt up some numbers and is calling the plastic bag ban just another tax – a ‘food-tax’ – that he needs to axe. And here again he may not get the chance. While the ban is still in force, it is currently under court review over a technicality.
Mr. Poilievre shuns the label MAGA, though he had been endorsed by Elon Musk. Perhaps it’s his Canadian version of ‘drill-baby-drill’ that Musk, the EV maker, ironically admires. Or it might be the Tory leader’s threat to defund Canada’s national broadcaster, in line with Donald Trump’s promises to defund NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service. But seriously, the primary purpose of the CBC is to inform and enlighten Canadians, and to engender a shared national consciousness and identity. What could be more important for Canadians in this time of national crisis?
 Over 70% of Canadians want to see handguns banned. And then there is the Tory leader’s stand on public safety. He has promised to keep repeat murders behind bars until it’s time to leave prison in a wooden box. And since that might be unconstitutional he would be the first PM to invoke the ‘notwithstanding clause’ to keep them there. But this tough love on crime is a peculiar position for someone who has opposed every single gun control measure in Parliament, and who is refusing to say if he’d relax handgun laws. Being soft on gun ownership may be politically astute south of border in MAGA country but over 70% of Canadians want to see handguns banned.
This is being touted as the most important election in recent memory, and voter turnout at the advance polls has broken all records. There has been a coalescence of the voting public towards the two traditional parties and that is prompting speculation that this might become permanent. Two centrist parties alternating turns at governing is what works best in our first-past-the-post electoral system. But will that be sustainable with one centrist party and the other a kind of MAGA Canadian?
 Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links
Plastic Ban – Plastics Poll – Handguns – Guns Poll – Electoral Coalescence – Record Turnout – MAGA –
 By Pepper Parr
April 19th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Is this a good time to look at what the political leadership in the country might look like once all the ballots have been cast and everyone sworn in and settled in the House of Commons seats?
 Jagmeet Singh Should Jagmeet Singh lose his seat in Burnaby South– who replaces him as leader of the New Democrats?
 Pierre Poilievre If Pierre Poilievre loses the election by a number larger than the pollsters are suggesting – what do the Conservatives do? Hold a Leadership review? And what if the Conservatives decide Poilievre has to go – who do they choose to replace him?
It looks like Carney is going to win the election, but what if he has a plurality of just one seat – who does he look to for support?
 Mark Carney And what does a week Liberal majority do to the strength that Carney said he needs to confront Donald Trump?
 By Tom Parkin
April 19th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Conservatives took about 220,000 more votes in both 2019 and 2021, but 36 and 41 fewer seats.
With now less than 10 days until the ballots are counted, a mood of defeat is settling over the Conservatives.
 Pierre Poilievre Their last hope was for Pierre Poilievre to score a big win in the debates to turn things around. He didn’t.
Fearing Trump comparisons, and therefore unable to unleash his inner attack dog, Poilievre was average. And he needed to be a lot better than average to move the needle.
The Conservatives are six points back in popular support, according to an average of recent polls. And they have historic weak vote efficiency. In both 2019 and 2021, Conservatives received about 220,000 more votes. But in 2019 they elected 36 fewer MPs than the Liberals; 41 fewer in 2021.
The Conservatives get big vote pile-ups in southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. But they can only win the same riding once.
Also: use Progressive Vote Guide at ProgressiveVote.ca to review ridings where the NDP is a strategic or safe vote.
Because of their lagging popular support and vote efficiency handicap, Conservatives would need to grow by almost one point every day until April 28. A surge of that scale has never happened in a federal election and there’s no hint of one happening for Pierre Poilievre now.
Question shifts to look of PM Carney’s opposition
 Mark Carney responding ti Pierre Poilievre during the debate. As the question of who will become prime minister resolves, the emerging question is about the composition of the opposition Prime Minister Mark Carney will face.
The debate showed clear patterns about who and what each opposition party will fight for in the next parliament.
Poilievre pushed to pump oil and cut taxes. He pressed on a plan to use the notwithstanding clause to lengthen the jail terms of multiple-murderers.
Singh pressed Carney over threatened cuts to health transfers, support for workers affected by Trump tariffs, closing tax haven access, and his history of profiting from rent-busting.
 Yves-François Blanchet MP is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Bloc Québécois and member of Parliament for Beloeil—Chambly since 2019. BQ leader Blanchet asked why Carney refuses to disclose his investments, as done by other leaders, and perceived intrusions into provincial jurisdiction.
Where progressive opposition can win is key question
Carney jousted with Poilievre over who would pump more oil or cut more taxes, but pivoted away from direct questions about health transfers, rent-busting, tax dodging and no disclosure. He gave no clarity about where he will cut billions to both balance the budget and pay for his capital gains tax cut.
In the last 10 days, Carney may yet avoid transparency on these questions. Being not Trump, Poilievre or Trudeau looks like it will be enough.
That makes it even more important Canadians elect as many progressive MPs as possible who will pressure Mark Carney in the Commons after this election. Helping progressive voters see where they can make that happen is the singular challenge in the final 10 days.
 By Staff
April 19th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
A pile of stolen signs found on the Duncaster Trail.
The people who did this could have instead been distributing literature and helping to get out the vote.
 By Ray Rivers
April 18th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
The political debates in Canada’s federal election this year are over. As is often the case, there were no winners in either of the two debates held in each of the country’s official languages. If anything, Mark Carney as the front runner deserves credit for largely surviving the assault in both debates by the other three political leaders.
 Prime Minister Mark Carney Carney is not your typical politician. He is an academic and an intellectual with an impressive resume of achievements. And, he’s clearly not very comfortable in the political bun fight. He was barraged by attacks from all sides and seemed overwhelmed at times. But he did maintain his cool, added some occasional humour and brought forward methodical rebuttal arguments.
Carney appeared to become defensive about his decision to eliminate the consumer carbon tax and as he discussed his time as Brookfield CEO. Even his gotcha question about Poilievre’s security clearance didn’t really work for him. And Carney, the economist, failed to admonish Poilievre for his erroneous assumptions on the cause of our post pandemic inflation.
Unlike the other leaders, particularly Poilievre, he was courteous and polite with his responses, rarely, if ever, interrupting someone speaking. Clearly he is more used to the etiquette of the board room than to cut-throat political theatre. Still, he survived the onslaught and methodically made some good points, though he delivered no serious blows and failed to decimate his opponents. In this high stakes poker game we call politics he left a lot of money on the table.
Pierre Poilievre used almost all of his time to effectively regurgitate his well rehearsed stump speech. There was really nothing new in anything he said but he repeated it well. Perhaps he is waiting for his actual platform to be released. However, he reached beyond logic to defend his decision to become the first federal leader to want to invoke the notwithstanding clause.
It all became very annoying, the robotic repetition of his familiar attack dog routine – the lost Liberal decade and how he’d bury the Impact Assessment Act, Bill 69, which actually hasn’t stopped any pipelines yet. There were times when I wanted to turn off the volume or fast forward the tape just to escape the monotony.
Also, at times it seems he’d forgotten that he wasn’t running against Justin Trudeau. Perhaps having demolished Trudeau’s character he was now hoping to tar Carney with the same brush. And there was this certain air of desperation – as if this was all he had in his quiver. It seems that in this crisis all he is offering are tax cuts, building more pipelines and exporting more oil.
 Jagmeet Singh was passionate and seemed sincere for the most part. Jagmeet Singh was passionate and seemed sincere for the most part. He jumped in several times to defend Carney on matters of fact, something admirable for a political leader hoping to actually win voters back from the Liberals. But he levelled his own attacks as well. His messages hadn’t really changed since the last election – save health care and do something about affordability. It was as if this were just another election in normal times for him.
Singh’s party can lay legitimate claim to publicly supported health care, and more recently dental, child and pharmaceutical care. Though he was always a junior partner to the Liberals in implementing these social programs. If he had an industrial policy he was hiding it. This may well be his last federal debate as he is fighting for his political life, and that of his party in this election.
 Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet Bloc leader Blanchet was delightful at times in both debates and he made his points well. But he is a parochial regional leader whose ultimate goal is removing Quebec from Canada. He has admitted he’ll never be prime minister and doesn’t even like to speak English in Montreal. The debate commission has come under a lot of criticism for excluding the Greens and Peoples parties. That they continue to give air time to a regional separatist party is almost absurd, though some would say it is just the Canadian way.
The biggest criticism goes to the moderator of the English debate, Steve Paikin. This was supposed to be a debate, not a shouting match. Yet he let Singh and Poilievre cross talk, over Carney’s and over each others’ answers. Excuse me but I wanted to hear what each of the candidates had to say.
The moderator of the French language debate was much better at keeping the debate under control and much fairer to all the debaters. He actually cut off Singh’s mic at one point after Singh went off topic and started ranting about health care funding. Paikin noted that he’d watched the debate in French, but he clearly hadn’t learned anything from it.
Also, Paikin’s time clock for each leader didn’t add up. Some leaders seemed to have far more speaking time than others. Poilievre got the best camera shots, often avoiding the obtrusive podium in the picture. It’s almost like the CBC had forgotten that he’s promising to shut down the network and fire them all if he wins.
 Pierre Poilievre responding to Mark Carney In the end, this election is a contest between the two traditional political parties. Conservative leader Poilievre came across as a smooth talking career politician with little or no business or management experience and with a plan for Canada’s future built on tax cuts and exporting more oil and gas.
Mark Carney on the other hand came across as a rather lacklustre debater who nevertheless comes with a proven record in international negotiation, impressive top level business and public service experience, and a visionary perspective for rebuilding all of Canada. That’s how I saw it anyway.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background:
French Language Debate –
 By Pepper Parr
April 18th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Maybe the debates made it happen.
Whatever it is – people are out trying to cast their ballots.
One reader waited an hour at Nelson High School – gave up said they will try again on Saturday.
We are waiting to see what the pollsters have to say late Saturday.
 Nelson High School parking lot at 5:00 pm this afternoon
By Pepper Parr
April 17th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
Would it be correct to say that politics and sports are a large part of what defines us a country?
How then do we explain to people who are not Canadians, do not live here, that there was an occasion when the country was in the middle of a leadership debate and getting ready to decide who was going to be the next Prime Minister and that the debate scheduled was moved back an hour so the voters could watch a hockey game.
The Montreal Canadiens were scheduled to play against the Carolina Hurricanes in Montreal.
 Prime Minister Mark Carney  The Stanley Cup The Canadiens have their own form of sainthood in the eyes of the French-Canadian population.
So the debate was moved back an hour, the Canadiens went on to win the game which meant they would be one of the teams vying for the Stanley Cup.
With five Canadian teams in the playoffs – there is a decent chance that the Stanley Cup will return to Canada – where it belongs, IMHO.
And again, IMHO, the country will get the Prime Minister it needs and we can watch how he manages an American President who has decided he will annex Canada and make it their 51 state.
This is a country worth fighting for.
 By Staff
April 17th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Election systems need to be protected against cyber attacks so that voters can choose their leaders. Cyber attacks can steal data from election systems, change results, and affect the whole process and public trust. So, the government must take the right steps to protect these systems.
In this article, we will discuss some effective ways for government officials to protect election systems from cyber attacks. Let’s have a look!
Prevent Suspicious Activity
 Identity theft is the first step for hackers. You can prevent it by being very very careful if you see something suspicious. One of the best ways to protect election systems is to prevent any suspicious activity. You should carefully monitor the systems for strange activity and take action fast if you notice anything suspicious.
For example, if you see a sudden increase in traffic, this can also be a sign of a cyber attack. So, you must stay alert and stop threats before they cause damage.
Implement Network Segmentation
Network segmentation is another good way to protect election systems. For this, divide the network into smaller and separate parts and ensure good security for each part.
By dividing the network into smaller segments, you can ensure effective protection. Moreover, the attacker cannot easily access other parts if one part is attacked.
Moreover, checking your IP address is also important for keeping networks safe. Knowing what is my IP address will help you find any unauthorized access and possible cyber security threats to your network. You can protect your network from hackers by regularly checking your IP address.
Credential Management
Proper credential management is also important for securing election systems. So, make sure to use strong, unique passwords for all accounts and change them often.
Also, use multi-factor authentication (MFA) as it adds extra security by requiring an additional verification code. This makes it much harder for attackers to access the system.
Software Updates and Patch Management
 Install the updates when they become available. Software update and patch management fix any problems in the system and make it harder for attackers to get into your system.
So, regularly update the software and apply patches to increase the security and reliability of election systems. This not only reduces the cyber attack risks but also improves the system’s functioning.
Log Management
Last but not least, log management provides information about network activity and can help find any security threats.
By managing logs, you can find out about any suspicious activities and respond quickly to fix the issues.
By Pepper Parr
April 16th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
There are a number of political polls being published – they don’t all agreee.
The Signal, published by the Toronto Star offers the following:
How does that impact the two Burlington seats?
Here is the Star’s take on Burlington, where Karina Gould is being challenged by Emily Brown and where Allan van Koeverden in Burlington North – Milton West is up against Conservative Nadeen Akbar and People’s Party Charles Zach.
The English language debate takes place on Thursday – at this point it looks like this election is Mark Carney’s to lose.
It is described by most people who think about politics as the important in decades.
By Rivers
April 16, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
 Ross Perot Ross Perot, who ran for president in 1992 had it right when he called NAFTA a ‘giant sucking sound’. NAFTA has not been a great deal for America, or Canada, especially when it comes to the automobile. Between 1994 and 2004 Canada’s share of North American auto production tumbled from almost 15% to just over 8%. The US lost significant market share as well. And Mexico became the big winner – rocketing from barely 7% to over a quarter of all the cars built in this continent.
Donald Trump had ranted but done little in his first term to correct that trade imbalance, ultimately endorsing the USMCA which replaced NAFTA. But once re-elected he armed himself with ‘yes men’ and set out to change the way America operates. And in the on-and-off world of Trump’s import tariffs he has now whacked the auto sector with 25%.
Canada has a long history of auto production. Ford Motors started operations here in 1904, and by 1923 Canada became the second largest auto producer in the world and a major exporter of autos and auto parts. Today we’re not even in the top ten.
So, those autoworkers who are being laid off in Windsor and Ingersoll have more than Mr. Trump’s 25% tariffs to blame. But the tariff threat has put a chill in everyone working upstream and downstream in the auto industry. The mere suggestion of plant closures at Honda put all of Ontario on edge, for example.
 Brian Mulroney It was Mr. Mulroney who killed the Canada-US auto trade pact in favour of his multi-sectoral trade deal with the Americans (NTA). He wrote off the auto pact which had ensured that the big three auto companies would build at least one car for every one they sold here. And then Mr. Chretien brought Mexico into our trade deal and the three amigos created NAFTA…and that giant sucking sound.
Not everyone is crying doom and gloom about Trump’s automobile tariffs. A recent article in ‘Driving’ magazine (see links) in fact, is rather upbeat about the prospects for the Canadian auto industry. To a large extent that is because of the way the Carney government has responded with our own counter tariffs and the provision of support for the Canadian auto makers to minimize the impacts.
 Mark Carney Mark Carney has spoken about re-imaging Canada’s manufacturing sector, and re-engineering our economy. He has referenced the need for public involvement, public-private partnerships and greater foreign investment in rebuilding our manufacturing sector, and especially the auto and defence industries. And he (if he’s still PM) and Trump have agreed to start negotiations next month on sectoral trade arrangements, which will form the backbone of our future trading relationship with the US.
In the meantime Canadians need to focus on our own future. That means doing more of what we have started doing even in the brief moment since Trump’s tariffs were announced – building Canadian, growing Canadian and buying Canadian.
 Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Giant Sucking Sound – More Perot –
Trump on Trade – Global Car Production – Auto Decline – Upbeat –
 By Staff
April 15th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
This was the convoy?
This stopped the debate?
Two Regional Police cars were parked nearby.
While those from the People’s Party of Canada got their 15 minutes of fame.
And the people of Burlington missed the opportunity to hear what the next Member of Parliament had to say about what the next government plans to do when elected.
The people who organized the event gave in so easily.
Isn’t that what the people in the United States did when they elected Donald Trump re-elected Donald Trump?
By Pepper Parr
April 14th. 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
OPINION
The goons have won again.
A group of citizens who have served the city very well for decades organized an event that is a critical part of a federal election – they organized an event that would have the candidates debating issues in a public forum.
But then the goons decided they would interrupt the event by convoying from Hamilton to the Port Nelson United Church.
 They weren’t invited. The organizing group had sound reasons for not inviting the PPC, along with several other fringe parties.
They were following guidelines used by those who organize the televised debates.
In their media release the organizers said: ”
It is our opinion that in providing this platform for the parties not part of the formal proceedings, we have given them an excellent opportunity to engage with voters. We would be interested in knowing whether any other citizens group has afforded them the same opportunity.
It is also worth noting that we are a private group of citizens and not aligned with or receiving funding from any outside group. We have conducted candidates’ meetings at the municipal, provincial and federal level and have done our very best to be fair in doing so.
As far as we know, we are the only group conducting these meetings open to the public, which we think is a shame.
Whether as part of the question-and-answer proceedings or not, we have given all seven parties running candidates in our riding the opportunity to engage with voters which we believe is a great service to the voters of this riding.
It is ironic that although we were being accused of a ‘denial of free speech’ (their words) by PPC, it is in fact they who by their actions are denying voters of the opportunity to be fully informed. It is also ironic that, by their actions, they are denying themselves a platform to reach voters which is likely better than any other available to them in this riding.
As a society we need to be able to conduct our affairs in a manner that suits us. People who attend election events want to hear what the leading candidates have to say.This debate should have been held.
 Regional Police Chief Stephen Tanner: Let the goons know that you will not permit disruption of an important public event. Would it not have been possible for the Regional police to follow the convoy to the church location and block traffic a few blocks away?
Let a representative with literature attend and hand out their message to those who are interested.
Could the public not hear from the Chief of police who would publicly advise that any attempt to disrupt would not be tolerated?
This bullying and pushing people around is unfair to people who care enough about what the candidates have to say.
We are letting the civility that makes us what we are as a society get away from us.
There is another option.
A report from one of the polling organizations has the NDP winning just 8 seats, which means they will not have party status.
 Liberal candidate: Karina Gould  Conservative candidate: Emily Brown So – could Karina Gould call Emily Brown (or vice versa) and ask her if she would agree to a virtual debate – just the two candidates – let’s be real here – we are at an existential point in the direction this country goes – it is going to be Mark Carney or Pierre Poilievre; those are the candidates the public wants to hear from.
Every seat is going to count. The public has a right to hear what they have to say. Karina, Emily – one of you has to call the other.
Show real leadership – please!
By Ray Rivers
April 13th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Each time I ran for office I’d start the campaign by hoping to avoid using lawn signs – but I was always overruled by my campaign team. Research on the effectiveness of election signs demonstrates that they work, not only for the candidate on the sign, but more generally for electoral turnout.
 Research says signs work – they help the candidate and they result in an increased voter turnout. And yes for those sharp eyed Gazette readers we are aware tat this is an old Trudeau election campaign. My concerns were primarily about the waste of resources to produce and dispose of so many single use signs. And then there is the matter of the sight pollution, both during and, often, well after an election. Lawn signs can also be a divisive issue among neighbours with differing political perspectives. But by the same token they might help facilitate interest and discussion in the political campaigns begging for our vote.
So it is sad that we keep hearing reports of signs being destroyed, defaced or disappeared. It is illegal to mess with candidate election signs in a political campaign – considered theft since the sign belongs to the candidate whose smiling face or name graces it. But it does happen, not that we’ve seen much reported yet in the main steam media. But then, we’re barely half way through the election period.
 Signs on Carlisle Road in Hamilton were damaged. There were signs for both the Liberal and the Conservative candidates. None of the Conservative signs were damaged. The Chuck Phillips sign was torn out of the ground on the front lawn of the house. It was removed to the side of the driveway. Reports of sign theft and damage are starting to roll in, however, including one in the PM’s riding in Ottawa. Locally there are complaints by Liberal campaigns in Milton, Burlington and Hamilton. Hamilton’s Flamborough-Glanbrook North Brant Liberal candidate, Chuck Phillips, has issued a press release and placed a post on his web site, claiming that he is losing a significant number of signs to somebody.
His Tory opponent claims to have also lost a few signs but didn’t seem too concerned about it. But then, as a well known incumbent whose team has virtually wallpapered the riding it might be hard to notice should a few signs go missing.
This electoral district has an exceptional turnout rate, averaging around 70%. So it will be interesting to see if all those red and blue signs still standing can move the needle – and get more folks out to exercise their franchise. After all, with so much at stake for the country’s future, this is not just another election.
Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington. He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject. Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa. Tweet @rayzrivers
Background links:
Phillips Signs – Election Signs – Signs Impact –
By Staff
April 12th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
 Liberal Karina Gould.  Conservative Emily Brown. Here is the final Elections Canada list of candidates for the two Burlington seats.
Burlington
- BATOR, Michael (People’s Party – PPC)
- BEAUCHEMIN, Michael (NDP-New Democratic Party)
- BROWN, Emily (Conservative)
- GOULD, Karina (Liberal)
- HARPER, Paul (Parti Rhinocéros Party)
- HUTTON, Kyle (Green Party)
- MARSHALL, Ocean (Libertarian)
Some observations:
Hutton and Beauchemin both ran as candidates for seats in the provincial legislature; they appear to be people looking for a full-time job with a great pension.
Nice to see that the Parti Rhinocéros Party still has some life left in it.
The battle in Burlington is between Liberal Gould and Conservative Brown
Here is the final Elections Canada list of candidates for Burlington North – Milton West Burlington North—Milton West
Burlington North – Milton West
- AHMED, Naveed (NDP-New Democratic Party)
- AKBAR, Nadeem (Conservative)
- VAN KOEVERDEN, Adam (Liberal)
- ZACH, Charles (People’s Party – PPC)
Some observations: You can bet the farm on VAN KOEVERDEN. When you get Mayor Krantz, a Conservative when he was still in hos Mothers’ womb, doing a photot op with Van Koeverden you know the seat with go Liberal.
When can you vote:
 Vote on advance polling days
Vote at your assigned polling station from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on:
- Friday, April 18
- Saturday, April 19
- Sunday, April 20, or
- Monday, April 21
Vote early at any Elections Canada office
 The April 28th federal election is the most important since Brian Mulroney and John Turner were the candidates. Think hard about the direction you want your country to go in. It is THAT important. There are around 500 Elections Canada offices open across the country. Vote at any one of them by April 22, 6 p.m.
You will vote using the special ballot process.
Our offices are open seven days a week:
- Monday to Friday: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Saturday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Sunday: noon to 4 p.m.
Find the Elections Canada office nearest you.
By Tom Parkin
April 11th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Voters were told to expect a significantly bigger PC majority and half of NDP MPPs defeated. Actually, each party shifted by just one seat.
 The difference between the actual election results that returned Doug Ford to office and what the pollsters predicted raised more than a few eyebrows. One has to wonder if the same thing is happening with the polling being done in the current federal election.
Doctors bury their mistakes. Architects cover them with ivy. But it seems those running poll projection sites just move on to the next.
Philippe Fournier’s 338 Canada, Eric Grenier’s The Writ and Quito Maggi’s Mainstreet all got it badly wrong in the 2025 Ontario election, influencing voter behaviours and prejudicing electoral outcomes with seat projections showing the Ontario NDP would lose about half its seats and the PCs would significantly increase their majority.
In fact, the Ontario PCs came into the election with 79 MPPs and came out with 80. The NDP had 28 going in and elected 27.
It’s impossible to know how many voters switched their vote based on inaccurate projections. Or decided not to bother voting because the PCs had it in bag, anyway.
But it’s reasonable to believe that had seat projection sites given voters accurate information, Ontario turnout would have been higher, the PC win would have been tighter and the NDP would have done better.
Seat projections are modelled on past geographic vote distribution patterns. But in the Ontario election, NDP votes shifted to become more effectively concentrated in NDP incumbent seats. And that’s very likely exactly what’s happening to federal NDP votes right now. In fact, distribution shifts happens every election.
If a pollster reported a party was at 13 per cent the day before 27 per cent of voters supported them, there’d be a lot of explaining to do. And some amazing Twitter fights. Media platforms would stop contracting them and reporting their results.
But not seat projection sites. On the Ontario NDP, Mainstreet’s margin of error was 80.0 per cent, The Writ was off 107.6 per cent, and 338 Canada was off 68.8 per cent. And they’re all back again.
And this time the Toronto Star has even added a new company to the mix, Vox Populi, the people who did that bizarre on-line consultation for the federal Liberal government in the wake of Justin Trudeau breaking his electoral reform promise.
Until people start calling out bad data for hurting elections, don’t expect change, but do expect some election night surprises.
By Staff
April 8th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Liberal voters saying they’re “very committed” has risen from 46 to 62 per cent over past five weeks
It was a chaotic week across the globe and in Canada as U.S. President Donald Trump announced universal tariffs on nearly every nation in the world. And while “uncertainty” seems to be the defining word of the year, certainty does appear to be growing among Liberal voters who have yet to definitively commit to their preferred choice in the ongoing federal election.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds that while the Conservative Party continues to trail the Liberals in overall vote intent, it also continues to hold the advantage among committed voters. Approximately seven-in-10 CPC voters say they will not change their mind before they cast a ballot.
Herein, however, lies the importance of paying attention to both the surface story and the dynamic undercurrents of vote intention, as the Liberals are also making headway in closing the commitment gap. Three-in-five (62%) Liberal now voters say they are very committed, up from 46 per cent in early March.
Overall, 46 per cent of eligible Canadian voters say they will support their Liberal candidate, while 36 per cent say this of the CPC. The New Democratic Party and Bloc Québécois are both supported by seven per cent currently.
Liberal leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s personal favourability rating continues to be a boon to the Liberals. More than half of Canadians (55%) view him positively, compared to 34 per cent for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The CPC leader is viewed unfavourably by 60 per cent of Canadians, while 38 per cent say the same of Carney.
 More Key Findings:
The Liberal Party leads by 11 points over the CPC in British Columbia and 16 points in Ontario. In Quebec, the Liberals lead the Bloc Québécois 39 per cent to 30 per cent, while the CPC are chosen by 22 per cent.
Choosing between Carney and Poilievre, 50 per cent say Carney would be the better prime minister, while 28 per cent say this of the Conservative leader. 13 per cent say neither would be a good prime minister.
By Staff
April 2nd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
The question that goes with this picture is: Do you still believe the polls?
The lineup was of people attending a Pierre Poileivre event in Kingston, Ontario on a day when the polls had the Liberals ahead by more than 9 points.
 That is a very very long line – people in Kingston waiting to get into a Pierre Poilievre speech.
By Staff
April 1st, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Liberals hold massive lead among those Comfortable & Thriving on Anhus Reid Economic Stress Index
Economic turmoil between Canada and the United States has taken the headlines this year, perhaps obscuring several positive domestic trends. Falling rents, a grocery cost reprieve, and stable inflation have some Canadians feeling better about their economic stress, and it appears to the benefit of the federal Liberals.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds a two-point decrease this quarter in the number of Canadians “Struggling” on the Economic Stress Index, which measures self-professed ability to pay for housing, groceries, and debt, as well as optimism about the coming year and an assessment of past 12 months. This decrease adds to a five-point drop between September and December, meaning approximately one-quarter fewer of those who were Struggling at the beginning of fall say the same now at the beginning of spring (33% down to 25%).
 As pundits and observers seek to understand campaign dynamics and the interplay of voters between the Conservative and Liberal Party, consider that the CPC continue to by far the top choice for the Struggling, with more than half of that group (56%) saying they would vote for Pierre Poilievre’s party. This is close to identical to the CPC’s support among the Struggling over the past year. The challenge for Poilievre and co. is that this group has shrunk significantly, and Liberal support has risen from 12 to 26 per cent within it.
The story is equally challenging within other groups across the Economic Stress Index.
 
Among the Uncomfortable, the Liberals and Conservatives are now tied after the CPC led by 29 points in December. The Liberals lead by 15 points among the Comfortable and 30 within the Thriving. The Conservatives led both groups at the end of 2024.
By Pepper Parr
March 31st, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
In a campaign that has been remarkable for its volatility and dynamism, a new element enters the race: relative stability.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds voter intention unchanged over the last week, with the Liberal Party holding an eight-point lead over the Conservatives, while the fortunes of the NDP and Bloc remain similarly unchanged.
Asked how they intend to vote, 46 per cent of Canadian voters say they will support the Liberals, compared to 38 per cent for the Conservative Party. Support for the NDP (7%) and Bloc Québécois (7%) continues to linger in single digits.
Liberal leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to maintain an advantage among most demographic groups. Men aged 35- to 54-years-old are the only age-gender segment to be more likely to vote Conservative. The Liberals otherwise lead between four points (men older than 55) and 27 points (women older than 55).
Further, Carney’s positive net favourability among both men (+18) and women (+26) remains stable. His rivals – Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh – struggle among one gender or the other. For Poilievre, this represents an ongoing inability to build positive impressions among women – three-in-five (61%) who say they view him unfavourably. For Singh, same problem, only among men, who by a two-to-one margin view him more negatively than positively.
The resurgence of the Liberals fueled by Carney’s election to leader is partially driven by women voters returning to the party after abandoning it at the end of 2024, but also by picking up vote intention from men. In March 2021, support for the Liberals among men ranged from 27 per cent among 18- to 34-year-olds, to 30 per cent among men aged 35 to 54. The Carney Liberals currently are receiving support from 45 per cent of 18- to 34-year-old men and 46 per cent of those older than 54.
The battle at this point is between Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney Carney. The focus is on the gender differences in the data Angus Reid has collected.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stands a chance of losing his British Columbia seat.
Hovering over all this is the Trump tariff threat – with a major announcement expected on Wednesday.
Liberal leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney had his first call with U.S. President Donald Trump, who struck a much more positive tone than seen in recent weeks and described the conversation as “very productive”. Trump also appeared to be more respectful of Carney, considering Trump called Carney by his official title and not governor, as he did with predecessor Justin Trudeau. Canada’s response to the U.S., and the tact taken by the leader of its future federal government, remains a key issue for the campaign.
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