Google's Trend feature lets users track and compare the frequency of searches for particular words or phrases in any country, or worldwide. This chart compares searches within Canada for the full names (first and last) of the five leaders contesting the May 2 Federal Election. I used Gilles Duceppe as the standard, so you could say Stephen Harper scored 12.6 duceppes; Jack Layton 7.8 duceppes; Michael Ignatieff 7.2 duceppes; and Elizabeth May 4.0 duseppes. (Sorry about the confusing colour assignments. Google picked 'em.)...

21 April, 2011

After listening to wrongness guru Kathryn Schultz's TED talk on the counterintuitive blessings of making mistakes, it seems an opportune moment to get this out of the way. A quiet but astute observer of provincial and national politics writes: I meant to ask you where you get your drugs from. They are obviously very powerful. I mean, how else can you explain your federal election campaign outcome prediction? That would be this prediction: I look forward to their stories a month from now acknowledging April 12 as the turning point when a majority slipped from Harper’s grasp, and a minority Liberal Government became...

20 April, 2011

Writing in Democracy, Jonathan Chait plumbs American right's aversion to taxes: The conservative movement’s embrace of taxophobia is probably the most important development in American political life over the last three decades. It is the one quality that most distinguishes American conservative elites from conservative elites in other countries. They’re more likely to question climate science, more sanguine about people dying for lack of health insurance, and less xenophobic (which is rather nice). But above all—far above all—they hate taxes. Understanding the American Right is critical for Canadians, because if voters make the mistake of giving Stephen Harper a majority on May...

16 April, 2011

Families wishing to board commercial aircraft in the US or Canada can choose between irradiating their children with x-rays, or submitting them to a full-body pat-down. Check out the latest viral example: The official TSA response? A video taken of one of our officers patting down a six year-old has attracted quite a bit of attention. Some folks are asking if the proper procedures were followed. Yes. TSA has reviewed the incident and the security officer in the video followed the current standard operating procedures. H/T: Daily Dish...

15 April, 2011

The guru of Sunnyvale speaks out: Over a million students? In Canada? Man, you guys could have a lot of political weight if you put your little check mark on the day on the ballot box. You woulnd’t have to worry about lowering tuition fees. You could say, “LOWER THE DAMN TUITION FEES!” and they’d do it. ‘Cause they’d listen to you. Ah I’m wasting my time, you guys aren’t going to go and vote anyway. You guys are all heading down into Shit Valley, you shitweasels. You’re just a bunch of dickweeds. And for anyone who missed it, the ShitHarperDid video: During the...

14 April, 2011

Buried deep in yesterday’s reaction to my Contrarian post about the debate (I say MI won and SH lost) was this perspicacious comment from reader Heather Holm Ignatieff’s body language and tone of voice matched what he was saying, unlike Harper’s. He showed an internal congruency and authenticity that you just don’t see in Harper. This is what bothers many people about Harper: you can’t read the man. His soothing voice and his passive face mask whatever it is that he is really feeling. Sure Harper “did well,” but it was acting – and from a script. It...

14 April, 2011

Ritchie Simpson writes: I just bet you were the guy behind the Robert Stanfield Banana pic, which was my first taste of negative campaigning. I know, I know it was the media and not the LPC that had its foot on the gas on that one, but then,  as now, it’s almost impossible to distinguish between the CBC and the LPC.  Still I fail to see what ignites your passions for this minor intellectual arriviste. The tragedy here is that the best among this bunch of midgets is nominally a separatist. Another reader is "baffled by Contrarian's ...

13 April, 2011

Contrarian is baffled by the reaction of Ottawa-based press pundits to tonight's debate. Most said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff failed to score against Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, who, they averred, held his own. I think this is a major misreading, and the polls will quickly show it to be off base. Try the old silent test: watch any portion of the debate with the sound turned down. Harper looked miserable, especially when forced to listen to anyone direct criticism at him. I am not comfortable commenting on politicians' physical traits, but Harper's expression did not serve him well, and likely reinforced...

12 April, 2011

In the 1979 Canadian federal election, the Liberals thought they had a shot at defeating MP Fr. Andy Hogan. They nominated the popular mayor a Glace Bay and sent a young hotshot cabinet minister, one Jean Chretien, into the riding to campaign. While shaking hands on Commercial Street, Chretien found himself in front of NDP headquarters. Without skipping a beat, he plunged inside and began working the room, greeting the mostly elderly women working the campaign office. In seconds he had them cooing and giggling and shaking his hand. He was utterly charming, and they were utterly charmed. That's what a real...

08 April, 2011

Elizabeth May and I have a long history. In the late 1970s, we worked together in a successful campaign to prevent spruce budworm spraying in Cape Breton. Thirty years later, we fought bitterly over her destructive campaign to delay cleanup of the Sydney Tar Ponds. May was the most prominent and media savvy member of a group that demanded a cleanup, but condemned every actual cleanup method. Her reckless exaggeration of environmental and health issues in Sydney did wonders for her profile and career, even as it devastated the working-class Cape Bretoners she purported to champion. It really is an...

01 April, 2011
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