On The Ledge - your Ontario politics podcast

These final hours of the federal election campaign have made things clear as mud. The polls have consistently suggested the Liberals and Conservatives are in a dead heat among decided voters. The only confident prediction is we will have a minority government when all is said and done.  Who will sit in the PM's chair? Not at all clear. Meantime, the Liberals have dumped Kevin Vuong as their candidate in a downtown Toronto riding after the Toronto Star reported he'd been charged with sexual assault in 2019. It's important to note the Crown withdrew the charges. The case never went to trial. The timing of the story is one thing. But it also calls into question the journalistic ethics at the Star. You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

Is this an all or nothing campaign for Erin O'Toole? Does he have to win the September 20the federal election to keep his job at leader of the Conservative Party of Canada?  Matt Gurney at the National Post joins us for this episode of The WRIT Race. He suggests O'Toole's term as party leader may be short lived unless he can boast "some kind of win", whether that's winning a minority or weakening Trudeau's minority.  "O'Toole is out on a moderate, eastern, centrist Canadian limb for a party whose last 100 seats are a rock solid, often rural, western Canadian base. If the Easterner can't deliver the bacon, I don't think he lasts long."You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

It's not that silly a question when you consider two things. First, most Canadians didn't want this election to begin with. So, to see the Trudeau Liberals barely survive with a slimmer minority, (not the majority the prime minister coveted), will call his "mandate" into question. Second, it leaves it up to a wounded Trudeau to mop up the divisiveness of the campaign while coping with a new year that will be dominated by the fourth (fifth?) wave of the pandemic. Brett James, Senior Counsel at Sussex Strategy Group in Toronto offers his insights.  You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

Yes, the tone has changed on the federal campaign trail. And that may have been predictable. But there was a nasty moment when protestors began making inappropriate comments about Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie. Deb Hutton says that's not new, but it doesn't make it right. Deb advised a couple of premiers in Ontario, worked on leadership and election campaigns and experienced campaigning as a spouse when her husband, Tim Hudak, led the Progressive Conservatives in the 2011 and 2014 Ontario elections.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

This federal campaign has been dominated by wedge issues, personal attacks, and a disaster of a debate. Where is the vision? Where is the deep discussion about the challenges and opportunities facing Canada? Scott White, CEO and Editor in Chief at The Conversation Canada, joins John Wright and Dave Trafford in this edition of The WRIT Race.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

The english federal leaders' debate was, in the words of Dana Bash, "a shit show."  I heard "pundits" complaining that we always complain about the format and never focus on the substance of the debate. That's because the format is the problem. It doesn't allow for substance, let alone debate. The time has come to either overhaul the system, (take it out of the hands of the media consortium), or scrap the debates altogether. You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

Warren Kinsella is our guest on this edition of The Writ Race. He offers his insights on debate prep and whether, whether he wins or loses, Justin Trudeau is likely to lead the Liberals into the next election campaign.  Kinsella doesn't think he wants the job anymore.You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

On today's episode of The WRIT Race, we're joined by Laura Babcock at Power Group. In a normal campaign, we'd be focussing on the french and english consortium debates. But that's been overshadowed by the increased harassment and violence that has target the Liberal campaign. John Wright points out this coincides with slow but steady gains in the polls by the People's Party of Canada.  Has this underlying anger highlighted by anti-vaccine demonstrators and opposition to the vaccine "passport" set a new dynamic for the final two weeks of the federal campaign?You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

The french and english "consortium" federal leaders' debates will be broadcast this week. Bob Pickard, Principal at Signal Leadership Communications assesses the campaign messaging and tactics as the race to election day tightens. And Nik Nanos and his Nanos Research team have been doing daily polling. Nik says we're at a point in the campaign where an issue that may not be a top priority for Canadians can shift voting preferences in some key areas of the country.  You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.

This morning we woke up to news that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has decided to prorogue the provincial legislature. The Ledge won’t sit again until October 4th - two weeks after the federal election. Keith Leslie weighs in on Ford's strategy. And Thomas Mulcair, former leader of the Official Opposition in Ottawa, joined to assess the Labour Day effect on the national campaign. You can watch OR listen to this episode on our YouTube Channel (Be sure to subscribe!)Follow Dave on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and XAnd you can leave us a voice comment here!For more information go to Dave's website.