If I had a time machine and travelled back to April 2019, everyone would have predicted a zero percent chance of another Doug Ford Majority. During that time Doug Ford had a positive impression from only 22% of Ontarians. This was right around the heyday of major cuts to government spending, freezing of government wages, and stagnating minimum wage. Ford showed little regard for positive PR when he cut a large portion of Autism educational services. Somehow Ford was able to turn this dismal reputation of “watered down Trump” and parley it into another likely Majority government. How was he ab ..read more

After the second Conservative leadership debate (and first official one) there seems to be a two-horse race between Poilievre and Charest. In the two previous leadership races, the Conservatives have opted for the “safe” option. Andrew Scheer was the safe and more compromising alternative to Maxime Bernier, and after Scheer failed in 2019, the Conservatives continued their journey towards the center with Erin O'Toole. O’Toole ended up producing a “red-tory” platform that showed considerable compromise in the area of climate change and social spending. Despite winning the popular vote in the l ..read more

The People's Party of Canada (PPC) is one of the few notable storylines coming out of the dejavu that is the 2021 election. By tripling their vote share they have put themselves on a trajectory that is comparable to the Reform Party back in the late 80s. To most, these band of political misfits led by Maxime Bernier are a side show to the main political event between the four major parties. Except now, at 5% of the vote, the PPC is not quite so cute and has the potential to impact ridings across the country. In 2019, it was reported that the Conservatives spent more resources attacking the PP ..read more

Where is the Canadian working class? Rather it be academic, political, or mainstream circles, class consciousness appears to be falling into obscurity. More exciting and politically contentious identities are taking precedent over the old cleavages that defined our society 100 years ago. The Canadian working class shares some similarities with its closest Anglo neighbors, but remains unique not only due to the structural factors of its geography, but also the specifically bureaucratic and regulatory nature of the Canadian state. Despite moments of pride, the Canadian working class has failed ..read more

The 2021 election results are in and we find ourselves in the same place we were after the 2019 election, a Liberal minority. One of the few differences we have is the growth of the PPC from 1.6% to over 5%. This may be an anti-restriction blip, but it could also be the upward trajectory of an emerging third party in Canada. The lion's share of PPC media coverage has been about their leader, Maxime Bernier, and not about the type of people that support him. This article uses 2019 Canadian Election Study Data to break down the demographics of who supported him in 2019 as an insight into the re ..read more

Affordability is an evergreen topic but has grown prominence in this post-covid when we have a second to breathe and assess the economic damage we have suffered over the last two years. Often a major talking point during election season, affordability comes in many forms and definitions. Considering I am talking about a first-world economy, affordability in a Canadian context goes beyond pure survival (even if there are some Canadians unable to afford basic necessities like food and rent) and refers to the ability of Canadians to live comfortable lifestyles. Owning property, being secure thro ..read more

Climate change is among the top issues for many voters across the western world, even more so in urban middle-class communities. The mainstream consensus is that climate change poses a serious existential threat to the survival of humanity. The victims of climate change are most likely to live in countries that are near sea level, with poor infrastructure, and high water/food insecurity. In other words: the poor. Yet, the middle and upper classes have dominated the climate change narrative through non-profits and government policy. Obviously, elites hold a disproportionate amount of power in ..read more

Methodology, the topic that excites activists like nothing else. Even though discussing methodology is incredibly boring, I believe there are some serious shortcomings in how academia measures class and those shortcomings have prevented accuracy and reliability in studying class consciousness. In most academic studies income is often the preferred measurement, through income brackets, which acts as a proxy for class overall. I believe that our fixation on measuring income and having it represent some kind of meaningful insight into respondents is a serious disservice to the historical and cul ..read more

Ahead of the June election, the Ontario Liberal leader, Steven Del Duca, has pledged his leadership on electoral reform. Del Duca says he would resign if he were unable to achieve a ranked ballot system upon reaching office. This whole situation is eerily similar to Justin Trudeau’s pledge to undergo electoral reform as a major campaign promise in 2015. The Liberal party (both provincially and federally) has often dangled electoral reform come election time as a way to catch young and progressive voters, but when push comes to shove they are hesitant to actually pursue it in a meaningful way ..read more

There is a healthy amount of uncertainty surrounding the future of the Green Party of Canada. The 2021 election was nothing short of a disaster, losing a massive amount of vote share and holding onto only two seats (one of which was due to the removal of Liberal candidate Raj Saini). They have been passed by Maxime Bernier and the PPC and are now the 6th largest party in Canada. With a first past the post electoral system the Green Party will always be stuck winning a single-digit vote share and focusing on a few winnable ridings across the country. After dropping down to 2.3% of the vote, wh ..read more