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This article focuses on how the Canadian media portrayed the different political candidates in the 2006 elections for Prime Minister. This year, Maclean's, in partnership with McGill University, put the assumption that facts are filtered through political bias to the test. Throughout the election campaign, McGill's Observatory on Media and Public Policy has monitored coverage in seven of the country's biggest and most influential papers. Most of the major papers dealt with news stories in the same relatively balanced way.

This article presents predictions for upcoming elections. British reporters covering Tony Blair's campaign in 2001 amused themselves by playing" battle-bus bingo": they wrote down Blair's favourite cliché phrases on strips of paper, paid a pound each to get into the contest, then each drew three strips of paper at random. Paul Martin rewarded this apple-cheeked British Columbia Liberal's bootlicking fealty with an appointment as the party's nominee in Burnaby-Douglas. Last week Peter Mansbridge's column announced that political leaders' tours are a waste of time, which is why the CBC will have its own bus travelling the country avoiding politicians. If Peter leads The National with more stories from the CBC bus than he does from Paul Martin's, Stephen Harper's and Jack Layton's, I'll buy him dinner.

This article focuses on the political endorsement of the National Post newspaper in the recent elections in Canada. Given its strong aversion to anything Liberal, it was hard to imagine the National Post newspaper giving its election endorsement to anyone but Stephen Harper. Still, the paper is owned by Winnipeg's Asper family, long-time Liberals, and some high-placed Grits felt they might at least get a bit of a break on the editorial page. And now, with the electoral dust clearing, it looks as if a promised federal gift of $100 million for a Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg--a special Asper project--is very much up in the air. Shurely not, as editors are wont to write.

The article focuses on the 2011 Canadian federal elections and the New Democratic Party's (NDP) political campaign that allowed them to become the new Opposition party. It states that various political scandals that the Conservative Party were undergoing distracted the Liberal Party from its campaign message. It mentions that NDP National Director Brad Lavigne polled potential NDP voters to determine their concerns. It comments on efforts to prepare NDP leader Jack Layton for political debates.

The article discusses the campaign leading up to the 2008 federal elections in Canada. Topics include Opposition leader Stéphane Dion's efforts to woo votes by means of video posted on the Internet and Dion's campaign plans 12 days before the elections. Also discussed is Dion's address to the Board of Trade in Montreal, Quebec.

The article discusses Canada's Action démocratique du Québec political party. In 2007 the party gained 41 seats in the Parliament and 31% of the popular vote, ahead of the Parti Québécois. Analysts say the party is the most important new force in Quebec politics. The party's leader, Mario Dumont, is running for Premier of Quebec.

The article profiles Liberal Member of Parliament Stéphane Dion who is running a campaign to replace Paul Martin as leader of Canada's Liberal Party. Dion's key opponents include Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. The article provides data from polls about who Liberals would prefer as their leader. The article suggests that Dion's lofty goals and inability to express himself clearly in English are hindering his campaign.

This is an article that focuses on the last minute campaign efforts of Canadian politicians prior to elections in 2004. Media polling stops in a campaign's last days. As the campaign entered its final weekend, Stephen Harper picked up the phone and made some calls. Paul Martin's Liberal campaign, almost devoid of any project the average Canadian voter could identify, was based on warning that Conservatives couldn't be trusted. Hours after Martin released his platform in his hometown of Windsor, Ont., near the end of the campaign's second week, he appeared again in front of reporters in Montreal to warn that Harper couldn't be trusted to protect a woman's right to choose on abortion. At mid-campaign, a nasty bit of gossip had begun circling among Chretien people in Ottawa: Martin's fate would depend on the campaign's outcome.

This article focuses on politician Stephen Harper and his efforts to change his image. Roch Carrier's classic hockey sweater story may have the sentimental edge, but Stephen Harper's new version is more politically illuminating. It's the tale of a politician whose staff, always on the lookout for a chance to loosen up their boss's somewhat stiff image, try to get him to wear the Calgary Flames colours into the House of Commons--under his suit jacket, of course. That's just what he did last week, scoring precisely the desired TV clips and news photos. Naturally, the real Harper is neither the folksy guy in the Flames sweater nor the menacing character in a Liberal attack ad. Reynolds says Harper's master stroke on the file came last year, when as Alliance leader he smothered his party's reflex to criticize, and threw its support behind a five-year health accord struck between Jean Chrétien and the premiers.

Reports on the campaigning being done by Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest and Parti Quebecois leader Lucien Bouchard in 1998. Efforts of both to be elected leader of Quebec in November 1998; Concerns that Charest's economic plan will contaminate the `Quebec model' of social democracy; Important issues being addressed during the campaign such as the health-care system; Comments. INSET: Supporting the Cause of Quebec Sovereignty.

Discusses the outcome of the June 1997 elections in Canada. Evidence that the election has left Canada splintered as never before; The hollow victory for the Liberal party and Prime Minister Jean Chretien; How Reform party Leader Preston Manning's role as official Opposition leader highlights tensions between the regions; Quebec sovereignty worries; Outcome of election for Alexa McDonough and her New Democratic Party; The Tories and Jean Charest; Bloc Quebecois and Gilles Duceppe. INSETS: What comes next?, by Mary Janigan.;Victors and vanquished..

Profiles Ontario Premier Bob Rae. His defense of the provincial health-care system, the centerpiece of his re-election campaign; How he is standing in third place in the polls, well behind Liberal Leader Lyn McLeod and the Conservatives' Mike Harris; His curious serenity despite such bleak prospects; What went wrong with the NDP government. INSET: The real battle gets under way, by Paul Kaihla.

Provides the inside story of the campaign of Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Kim Campbell that shook the political establishment. Worrisome traits in Campbell's character that would eventually undo the Tories; Proposals that were rejected by Campbell during the campaign; Federal cabinet and bureaucracy apparently incapable of generating innovative policy; How the Liberals escaped serious damage; Effective television ads for Chretien.

Predicts that Jean Chretien's Liberals sweep to power will radically reshape Canada's political map. Most striking result of the election was how voters broke with the past; All but gone are the Progressive Conservatives and New Democratic Party; Mix in the 35th Parliament; Policy and personnel decisions facing soon-to-be Canadian Prime Minister Chretien; His background in politics; Challenges to other leaders; Expected appointments; Details.

Profiles Reform Leader Preston Manning of Canada and the platform he is running on for the upcoming October 25, 1993 federal elections. Platform of drastic government cuts; Wants provinces to run medicare as they see fit; Cut in Old Age Security; The party is a predominantly white middle-class protest movement; Manning is main defence against charges that the party is intolerant; Background; Career highlights; Party's proposal to reduce immigrants. INSET: A gallery of Reform candidates..

Focuses on Canada's Liberal leader Jean Chretien who is running for prime minister in Canada's federal election and questions whether he would make a good prime minister. Born in Shawinigan, Quebec; Has great intuition about politics; Political philosophy a product of the 1960s; His claim to be able to put Canadians back to work and preserve the social safety while cutting the deficit; His early career; His autobiography `Straight From The Heart.'

Discusses the decision of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to resign and the political scramble to replace him. Decision to return to private life; Garth Turner's interest in running for leadership of the Progressive Conservatives; Defense Minister Kim Campbell and Environment Minister Jean Charest considered certain to enter the race; Hurdles to candidates; Importance of Mulroney's support; More. INSET: Waving goodbye..

In this article two authors with the magazine discuss issues arising from Canadian political life. The central focus of the article is the contention that democracy in Canada has been damaged and is in need of repair. Among other issues they address questions dealing with elections in Canada, the Canadian parliament and the erratic nature of the Canadian coalition government.

The article comments on Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's grand pronouncements, stirring appeals, and commitments. This is what happens when you follow Martin around for even a little while on the campaign trail. In the space of a single week, Martin had skated himself offside the truth on climate studies, phone-in calls, referendum elections, tax policy, daycare, handguns, and gaseous emissions. Instead of spending five billion dollars over five years, Martin announced $10 billion over 10 years. His new commitment does not take effect until 2009, almost certainly after the term of the government.

This is an article that discusses politics in Canada. The first shudder of snap-election fever had barely rippled through Ottawa before tacticians in all parties started whispering it wasn't, couldn't be -- come on now, let's be serious -- the real thing. The fall of a minority, they reasoned, is supposed to be based on a solid calculation. But recent polls haven't been uplifting for either Liberals or Conservatives. And the issue that first set off election speculation -- a Kyoto policy provision in the government's omnibus budget legislation -- doesn't exactly lend itself to stump speeches and campaign ads. Stephen Harper threatens to force an election over the Kyoto measure, which seems highly unlikely since he has left no doubt recently that Conservatives want the next campaign to be fought over the sponsorship affair and Liberal ethics. Yet new developments that could make a spring campaign a real possibility are emerging at Justice John Gomery's sponsorship inquiry. Testimony given last week at the hearings in Montreal was considered explosive enough that some observers predicted the Tories and Bloc Québécois would consider defeating the government, and try to make Liberal corruption the ballot question. Liberals are betting any fresh details on Chrétien-era malfeasance won't stick to Martin. They want to negotiate around the Kyoto fuss, take the summer to regroup, and pray the fizz starts to go out of the sponsorship story. INSET: TWEAKING THE LANGUAGE LAWS.

Considers the upcoming British Columbian election, and notes Social Credit party leader Rita Johnston is lurching from one embarrassment to another, while New Democratic Party leader Michael Harcourt holds a 15 percentage-point lead in a survey published at week's end. Former Socred leader Vander Zalm's resignation over conflicts of interest, along with resignations of 11 cabinet ministers; Party's efforts to replace John Ball (Richmond East riding); Other controversies.

Suggests that Canadian voters have never been more alienated from the political process, more cynical and tired of talk or more despairing of their future. How elected officials are scrambling to adapt to the no-nonsense expectations of a national that is no longer easily impressed; How political mood of the 1990s is best captured by the refrain `They just don't get it'; How Canadian politicians are devouring the lessons of the 1992 US presidential election.

Highlights the five defining moments during the last five weeks of politicking for the referendum. Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's scathing denunciation; Reform Party of Canada leader Preston Manning stakes out a position outside the political mainstream; Telephone discussion between Quebec lawyer Andre Tremblay and deputy minister Diane Wilhelmy; Prime Minister Brian Mulroney abandons his low-day approach; Speech by B.C. minister Moe Sihota.

In this article the author comments on the Liberal Party of Canada. The central focus of the article is that the political difficulties that the party suffers are of their own devising and that such problems are likely to be exploited by the opposition Conservative Party. Reapportionment of some seats in parliament will benefit the Conservative Party at the next election, the author maintains.

The article is an account of the political career of Ed Stelmach, elected in 2006 to the premiership of the Canadian province of Alberta. Stelmach's surprise election to the post is examined as are the problems that he has encountered since his elevation to the post. The article criticises Stelmach's selection of political appointees.

The article focuses on the trend toward lower voter turnout in Canada. To combat increased cynicism about elections, governments and politicians, elected officials are proposing a variety of measures to bring voters to the polls. New Brunswick has launched a commission to investigate replacing their winner-take-all elections with a system of proportional representation. British Columbia has struck a constituent assembly made up of randomly selected citizens to analyze electoral reform, with the promise of a binding referendum on their recommendations in 2005. These initiatives reflect a growing alarm over voters' progressive disengagement, but each one addresses an isolated part of the problem. But if you look below simple patterns of voter turnout to the underlying attitudinal forces driving this behaviour, the picture is even more frightening. It suggests such simple and draconian measures, in isolation, likely would not solve the larger problem of citizen alienation, and could even make matters worse. When electors cease to go to the polls, it weakens the foundations of democracy because they are tacitly saying: the individual has little impact on, or say in, our national affairs; the welfare of the collective has little bearing on individual well-being; and individual well-being can flourish (or flounder) independent of decisions initiated through legislative democracy. Because the erosion of our democratic ethos has been more wholesale than incremental, any effort to reform the system (and re-energize the role of voting and government in civic culture) must begin with two guiding principles. Changes must be designed to (a) bring citizens in closer contact with one another and their elected leaders, and (b) provide tangible evidence that the average Canadian has both a say and a stake in the political process.

Carolyn Buffalo was fuming mad. In late April 2003, she had sat deep into the early morning hours watching the House of Commons standing committee on Aboriginal affairs debating the new First Nations Governance Act. Or merely going through the motions, in her view. Some Liberal MPs were reading newspapers and magazines. One was poring over his tax return, says Buffalo, a Native lawyer for the four nations of the Maskwachiys in central Alberta. Then she got on a plane to Calgary and by happenstance ran into Paul Martin, the front-runner for the Liberal leadership. She lit into him. "I told him the committee was disrespectful to us," she recalls. "I told him they didn't care about our views, that if [Indian Affairs Minister] Robert Nault had come into the room and ordered them to bow like sheep, they would have done it." The 20-minute run-in may not have been pivotal in Martin's declaration, two days later, that as prime minister he would not implement the controversial legislation without further consultations. Because negotiating real self-government and land treaties could take most of the century, why not modernize the 127-year-old Indian Act as an interim measure and put the best practices of democratic government, transparent administration and accountability to work in the hundreds of Native bands spread across the country?

Offers observations concerning the 2000 Canadian federal elections from 'Maclean's' magazine readers. Comments regarding defining moments in the campaign; Ideas in which to engage the Canadian electorate; Changes which readers would make to the campaign process.

Reports on the poor performance of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and its leader Premier Roy Romanow in the 1999 Saskatchewan elections. Success of the Saskatchewan Party to win more of the popular vote than the NDP; Remarks of Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson regarding the results of the elections.

In this article, the author discusses the causes and significance of the 2011 federal elections in Canada. It is suggested that in order for the election to be worthwhile, the mainstream political parties should submit specific proposals for government reform and should seek to earn the public's trust. Topics discussed include tax credits, government ethics and accountability, and the budget proposal which triggered the conflict leading to the election.

In this article the author discusses a tax on carbon emissions and its possible impact on Canadian politics. Owing to Liberal Party support for the idea and Conservative opposition to it, the author suggests that the next Canadian election will be driven by greater concern over policy. Media reaction to the proposed tax is assessed.

The article reports that although polls at the outset of the campaign pointed to another Liberal minority, hindsight brings into focus scattered early harbingers of how the campaign turned out. Ontario voters had grown far less suspicious of the Tories. Pollster Darrell Bricker of Ipsos-Reid emphasized early on that Liberal support was "built on sand," stressing that more than 40 per cent of voters said they would be comfortable with a Tory minority.

This article focuses on Canadian politician Jack Layton and the book he has written in light of upcoming elections. There must be an election in the air. Most Canadians, no fools, pay little attention to political leaders between elections. Over the next few days, the nation's bookshops should be receiving copies of Speaking Out: Ideas that Work for Canadians. Layton, the newish New Democrat leader, is the author. Because government has been serving "corporate interests"--a term Layton uses a lot--instead of ordinary people. Layton says his son's asthma helped Layton learn about failures in environmental protection and health care. Layton's book is full of detail, sometimes numbingly so. Very few people who have never voted NDP will be swayed by Layton's book.

I'm going to take the long way around to saying some nice things about Jack Layton, but let's begin by observing an oddity: nobody ever seemed to get angry when I criticized Paul Martin. For a few hours on a recent Monday night, it was possible to believe Stephen Harper might finally be figuring out how to play this game. He showed up at the biggest Canadian Alliance fundraiser Toronto has seen since the height of Stockmania in 2000. For 20 minutes he delivered the rationale for an Alliance government in terms that would surely have appealed to more than the 12 or 15 per cent of Canadians who say, in recent polls, that they'd vote for Harper's party. Despite hard work and Layton's formidable skills in French, two more by-elections on June 16 showed the New Democratic Party (NDP) to be in a closer fight with the Marijuana party in Quebec than with the Liberals. Alone among the leaders facing Paul Martin, Layton has already turned his mind to serious preparations for next year's election. As a former president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Layton will go head-to-head with Martin on urban issues.

Offers observations on Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Belief of the author that the prime minister has two personalities; Question about why the Liberal party wants to call for an election in the fall, 2000; Speculation regarding reasons for an election.

Editorial. Examines Canadian politician Joe Clark's candidacy for the Tory leadership. Credentials; Assertion that the Liberals will become corrupt and highly vulnerable; Liabilities facing Clark's candidacy; Why Clark should not run for prime minister.

Reports that Canadian Keith Milligan, the premier of Prince Edward Island, called for a general election for November 18, 1996. Why Milligan is calling for the election; The assertion that, should the Liberals win the elections, they will have scored one of the swiftest political reversals in the province's recent memory; The problems of the Liberals in early 1996; The changes in the voting districts which may be an opportunity for the Tories and New Democrats.

Opinion. Discusses the election campaign of Canada's Prime Minister Kim Campbell and her fall from grace. Leading in the polls at the start; Six weeks later, running a poor fourth; What her slide can be blamed on; Her transformation on the campaign trail; Why her downfall was unnecessary; Her greatest single gaffe.

Focuses on Canada's Reform party leader Preston Manning and the surging support that the party is receiving as the October 25, 1993 election nears. Son of Alberta's longtime Social Credit premier Ernest Manning; Volume and velocity of attacks on Manning by his political opponents; Manning's performance in the October 4, 1993, nationally televised political leaders' debate.

Suggests that the October 1993 election will turn Canada into something called Pasta Canada--with at least five parties, nobody with a majority, a confused Parliament where the only certain thing will be the daily special in the Parliamentary Restaurant. Why the Canadian voter won't win; Precedents of Pasta Canada; How Prime Minister Kim Campbell will fare.

Argues that every special-interest group in Canada took on the Charlottetown accord's provisions and found them wanting in the sense that they didn't fulfill their specialized agendas. Voters' rejection of their elected representatives raises the troubling issue of Canadian democracy's future; Aversion to the political process is the referendum's most significant fallout; Danger in allowing special-interest groups unfettered freedom by bypass the political process.

Contends that the No vote on the referendum meant that Canadians had faced down the entire Canadian Establishment, the elites of politics, business, academia, culture and media, and a $138 million campaign. Everyone looked at the result through their own lens. Impossible to escape the conclusion that the people voted No to the deal makers, the entire establishment and their vision; Some Yes voters scared they would lose their jobs; Ending the divisiveness of group politics.