Saturday October 10, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Saturday October 10, 2015 Thanksgiving gatherings fuel election discussion It's the burning question for Canada's federal party partisans this Thanksgiving weekend: Which turkeys will get cooked? Advance polls open Friday for voters wishing to get an early jump on the Oct. 19 election, but the real action may take place around dinner tables, TV sets and camp or cottage closings. Since long before this 78-day election campaign began, the October holiday weekend has been circled on calendars as a crucible where the fortunes of Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau could be forged: Far-flung families gathering together to talk turkey, just as voters begin focusing on who should form the next government. This year's 11-week campaign actually encompassed three statutory holidays. It began Sunday Aug. 2 on the Civic Holiday weekend, ambled through Labour Day and now will reach a crescendo on Thanksgiving. All the political parties have also been blasting their supporters with Thanksgiving-themed messages, ramping up the urgency of closing the deal. And Facebook partisans have been having a field day. One typical jibe making the rounds shows a classic roast turkey with the caption: "Thanksgiving: An opportunity to talk your family out of voting Conservative. You'll probably ruin dinner but you may just save Canada." Mike Marzolini of Pollara Strategic Insights, a former Liberal party pollster, says the Conservative platform was winning over engaged voters in late 2005. Marzolini predicts what he calls "some interesting opinion changes" this weekend, but strongly warns against reading much into any holiday polls. He's been doing daily tracking of federal and provincial campaigns since 1985 and says he's thrown out an entire holiday weekend of polling more than eight times. "What I know from experience to be absolutely true is that all polls conducted over a family holiday weekend are wonky

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday October 10, 2015

Thanksgiving gatherings fuel election discussion

It’s the burning question for Canada’s federal party partisans this Thanksgiving weekend: Which turkeys will get cooked?

Advance polls open Friday for voters wishing to get an early jump on the Oct. 19 election, but the real action may take place around dinner tables, TV sets and camp or cottage closings.

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday October 2, 2015 O Canada: Nationalism soars as Jays head into postseason glory For most Canadian baseball fans in the last 22 years, the red maple leaf as a fall classic has been the preserve of trees in their autumnal splendour. But not this October. We as a nation are about to be reminded of that little red symbol on the Toronto Blue Jays logo, during what is hopefully a full month of October baseball in the Great White North. The maple leaf is once more going to be the totem of a Canadian nationalism not seen since the days of Kim Campbell, Pearl Jam and season five of Seinfeld. Whether the players are Canadian Ð it matters not. The Jays are CanadaÕs only Major League Baseball team Ð and their incredible success over the last two months gets the nationalist blood flowing. ItÕs a tribal instinct that makes us all feel like we belong to something bigger than ourselves. When Josh Donaldson won the teamÕs last home game in September with a walk-off home run, the SkyDome Ð ahem, Rogers Centre Ð physically shook. It was a tremor felt across the country, united once more by the possibility of whatÕs to come. Part of the reason for the current passion is the excruciating time that has elapsed between anything meaningful (read: winning) in Canadian professional sport. The last World Series and Stanley Cup wins by Canadian clubs both last occurred in 1993. The nationalists have been gnashing their teeth ever since. WeÕve seen this phenomenon before: I remember the overwhelming patriotism fuelled by the Blue Jays in 1985, when the team first won the American League East. Elspeth Cameron wrote in this paper that the club had done Òmore for Canadian nationalism than Terry Fox or Anne Murray.Ó A few years later, in 1992, when the team won its first of back-to-back World Series championships, the country hit peak patriotism. The only comparison journalists could draw upon for the key moment was Pau

Friday October 2, 2015

Since long before this 78-day election campaign began, the October holiday weekend has been circled on calendars as a crucible where the fortunes of Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau could be forged: Far-flung families gathering together to talk turkey, just as voters begin focusing on who should form the next government.

This year’s 11-week campaign actually encompassed three statutory holidays. It began Sunday Aug. 2 on the Civic Holiday weekend, ambled through Labour Day and now will reach a crescendo on Thanksgiving.

All the political parties have also been blasting their supporters with Thanksgiving-themed messages, ramping up the urgency of closing the deal.

And Facebook partisans have been having a field day.

One typical jibe making the rounds shows a classic roast turkey with the caption: “Thanksgiving: An opportunity to talk your family out of voting Conservative. You’ll probably ruin dinner but you may just save Canada.”

Mike Marzolini of Pollara Strategic Insights, a former Liberal party pollster, says the Conservative platform was winning over engaged voters in late 2005.

Marzolini predicts what he calls “some interesting opinion changes” this weekend, but strongly warns against reading much into any holiday polls.

He’s been doing daily tracking of federal and provincial campaigns since 1985 and says he’s thrown out an entire holiday weekend of polling more than eight times.

“What I know from experience to be absolutely true is that all polls conducted over a family holiday weekend are wonky — without exception.” (Source: CTV News)