How the British Columbia Liberals managed to pull off such a stunning upset victory over the NDP

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Kevin Lees

The incumbent British Columbia Liberal Party, under the leadership of premier Christy Clark in her first provincial-wide election, has held on to power for a fourth consecutive government, despite the fact that the British Columbia New Democratic Party was heavily favored throughout the campaign to win the election. This was definitely a surprise, given that the [...]

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Four world elections in four days: Pakistan, Bulgaria, the Philippines, and British Columbia

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Kevin Lees

It’s an incredibly busy weekend for world elections, with four key elections on three continents coming in the next four days. Pakistan First up, on Saturday, May 11, are national elections in Pakistan, where voters will determine the composition of the 342-member National Assembly, of which 272 seats will be determined by direct election in [...]

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Video of the day: Mulcair knows the money’s in the banana stand

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Kevin Lees

It’s been a tough few weeks for the New Democratic Party in Canada, what with the surge of newly elected Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau pushing his once dominant party back into third place in polls. But NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, who as the head of the second-largest party in the House of Commons, is [...]

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Trudeau overwhelmingly wins Liberal Party leadership

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Justin Trudeau, the son of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, has been elected the new leader of the Liberal Party in Canada. As expected, his victory was essentially a coronation — he won 80.1% of the vote to just 10.2% for British Columbia MP Joyce Murray and 5.7% for former Ontario MP Martha Hall [...]

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Despite Trudeaumania, Joyce Murray personifies the future of Canada’s center-left

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Kevin Lees

It’s a safe prediction that Joyce Murray will not be the next leader of the Liberal Party. When the Liberal Party’s membership finishes voting and the winner is announced this Sunday, the winner is certainly going to be Justin Trudeau — and likely by a landslide margin.  His anticipated election is already pushing the Grits [...]

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BC NDP holds overwhelming lead in advance of British Columbia elections

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Kevin Lees

With a month and a half before voters in Canada’s largest western province go to the polls, the New Democratic Party of British Columbia under opposition leader Adrian Dix seems set to take control of the provincial government after over a decade of rule by the British Columbia Liberal Party, though the official campaign has [...]

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Longtime conservative Albertan premier Ralph Klein has died

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Kevin Lees

No one symbolized the conservatism of western Canada more than Ralph Klein, who died today at age 70. Elected Alberta’s premier in 1992, Klein served until 2006, championing the ‘Alberta Advantage,’ and presiding over what became Canada’s wealthiest province, the heartland of today’s Conservative Party. Tory leader Stephen Harper has represented a Calgary riding in [...]

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Who is Philippe Couillard?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Kevin Lees

As unbelievable as it seems, the Jean Charest era is firmly over in Québécois politics. Philippe Couillard, his former minister of health and social services, is now the leader of Québec’s Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ), which narrowly lost its reelection campaign in September 2012 for what would have been a fourth consecutive term in government under [...]

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Wynne set to become highest-ranking LGBT official in Canadian history

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Ontario MPP Kathleen Wynne last night upended former Ontario MPP Sandra Pupatello to become the next leader of the Ontario Liberal Party — and, accordingly, soon to become the next premier of the most populous Canadian province. Pupatello, who was a slight favorite headed into the party convention, led on the first two ballots before Wynne [...]

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Kennedy falters as Pupatello and Wynne lead race to become Ontario premier

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Kevin Lees

When Dalton McGuinty announced late last year that he would step down simultaneously as both leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and Ontario’s premier, it made this month’s Liberal leadership contest also a contest to become Ontario’s next premier. It’s not the best of times for McGuinty, who lost an opportunity to regain a majority [...]

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What can the internal gun politics of other countries teach the United States?

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Certainly, today’s sad news from Newtown, Connecticut — the site of a gun massacre that left, so far, 18 children and nine adults dead, will once again ignite a debate over the proper role of gun laws in the United States.  The reality is that, despite the efforts of officials such as New York mayor [...]

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Trudeau will seek leadership of Canada’s Liberal Party

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Kevin Lees

For better or worse, Justin Trudeau is expected to announce next Tuesday that he will seek the leadership of the beleaguered Liberal Party in Canada. Trudeau, the son of beloved former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is the last, perhaps best, hope of an endangered party.  As John Ibbitson noted in The Globe and Mail yesterday, [...]

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Ontario by-election loss leaves Liberals with minority government

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Attention on Canadian politics has been mostly on Québec over the past month, but it’s worth noting that Ontario held two by-elections last Thursday that may augur early provincial elections soon. The Liberals needed to win both seats in order to win back a majority government for premier Dalton McGuinty (pictured above).  While they easily [...]

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What next for Liberal leader Jean Charest?

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Jean Charest stepped down yesterday as the leader of Québec’s Parti libéral du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ), following his loss in Tuesday’s election for the 125-seat Assemblée nationale. His party finished less than 0.75% behind the soveriegntist Parti québécois (PQ), and it won just 50 seats to the PQ’s 54.  But those four extra [...]

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An amazing 48 hours in Québec

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Kevin Lees

Well, there’s not much I can add to what the Canadian — and indeed, the Québécois, media — have covered in the past 48 hours. But let’s just recount: In Tuesday’s election, the Parti québécois (PQ) finished first with 31.94% with 54 seats. Premier Jean Charest’s Parti liberal du Québec (Liberal Party, or PLQ) came a very-much closer-than-expected 31.20% with [...]

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