Tag Archives: Elections

History Slam Episode 148: Why Political Leaders Matter

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/History-Slam-148.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham As an undergraduate student, I had an idea for a paper in my fourth year seminar on Canadian history to write about the 1930 federal election. It was a campaign that I was intrigued by – you had an economic collapse, a new leader of the Conservative Party, and a Prime… Read more »

The War-Time Elections Act and Women Voters in 1917

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Editor’s Note: As a follow up to our special election series that ran before 21 October, this post is a focused reflection on elections, politics and gender. Lyndsay Campbell  We heard a lot about concerns and even scandals around voting and the manipulation of the electorate in the lead up to, and aftermath of, the 43rd federal election. As Colin Grittner… Read more »

Another Reason to Vote on Election Day

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Editor’s note: This post is the final one in our special series on the history of elections in Canada. Colin Grittner  Canada’s 43rd federal election takes place this Monday, October 21st. By now someone somewhere has probably told you why, as a Canadian voter, you really ought to vote. That person may have told you that you make your voice heard… Read more »

Of Energy and the Need for Electoral Reform: Déjà-vu and the 1979 and 1980 federal elections

  Editor’s Note: This post is the third in our special series on elections. Matthew Hayday Energy taxes. Housing affordability. Deep regional divisions in Canada, exacerbated by the first-past-the-post electoral system. Oh wait, you mean we’re talking about 2019, and not about the pair of federal elections from forty years ago? This election season is offering us a great deal to… Read more »

French Elections 2017: Looking Past the Hype

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Alban Bargain-Villéger On April 23 and May 7, 2017, French voters will be electing the eighth president of the Fifth Republic. In the last three months, much ink has been spilled over how decisive this year’s election will be. However, while this campaign has indeed been marked by several violent confrontations and scandalous revelations, its dynamics and the themes it… Read more »

Can “The Donald” Trump History as a Third Party Candidate?

By Oscar Winberg The U.S. presidential campaign is already in full swing, even though it is roughly five months before the first ballot will be cast in the primaries and caucuses that select the major party nominees, and over a year until the people will actually elect the 45th president. This summer much of the coverage has been reserved for… Read more »

Polls and the Crisis of Confidence

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By Jonathan McQuarrie Why do newspapers support the public-opinion polls?…Not only do the modern polls, based on a small, carefully selected cross section, provide more accurate measurements; they can be applied to give continuous and rapid measurements of public opinion at all times. -George Gallup and Saul Forbes Rae, The Pulse of Democracy, 1940, 119. So called ‘pollsters’ should hang… Read more »

A Glance at Cuba, April 2010

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Just back from Cuba where the sun was shining and temperatures ranged from 25-30 degrees. Very nice, thanks. More than two years following the retirement of Fidel Castro, some change is apparent in Cuba. To begin with, Fidel’s successor, his brother Raoul Castro, has overseen a mild lessening of consumer constraints in the Cuban socialist system. Mobile phones are ubiquitous…. Read more »