CJPAC’s Election Blog

This campaign has been very exciting and it has given us an opportunity for real change. I can recall that going in, pundits were saying that the campaign would be dull and that it would deliver the same results we had before dissolution.

Read More →

This election campaign, which many had deemed to be “unnecessary” may well change the face of Canadian politics. By that, I mean that the Liberal Party of Canada will have to change if it wants to be the face of Canadian politics in the future, something I know it can accomplish.

Read More →

Tomorrow you have a decision to make.  You have a choice to support a stable government that has proven itself on the economy over the last five years.  You have a choice to support a government that stands with Israel.  You have the choice to decide the future of our country and what you want the next four years to look like.

Read More →

So, as our 41st federal election nears its inevitable conclusion, it seems appropriate to reflect on the highs and lows of the campaign. It has certainly been a long five weeks.

I’ll start with the positives. I have not yet heard a single constituent deny the existence of climate change, or dismiss the environment as an issue not worthy of our attention. While rarely discussed in the media, these are nevertheless serious concerns on the minds of most Canadians. At the door, I’ve met intelligent, upstanding citizens with an appreciation of democracy and well-informed political opinions.

Read More →

Last week, I will privileged enough to be able to attend the campaign kickoff for Marc Garneau, the MP for Westmount–Ville-Marie and the Liberal Party’s Quebec Lieutenant.

Mr. Garneau’s campaign office was packed. He gave an extremely eloquent speech on why Canadians should vote Liberal: Our party can deliver on the economy and will invest in Canadian families instead of spending money on uneccessary projects such as the American-style mega-prisons.

In light of the recent G8 misspending allegations against the Tories, there is even more evidence that a Liberal government, not a Conservative one, will be able to deliver accountability on government expenditures.

Read More →

This week, most unfortunately, my political involvement has taken a backseat to the trials of academia. It’s exam time, and I’m stressed beyond belief. Yet the knowledge that in just four days I’ll be free to immerse myself in politics once again is somehow getting me through it.

Read More →

I’m really into politics and I have been since a very young age. People are often surprised by this because people don’t know how much fun I have. What I like about politics is hanging out with people and eating a lot of food. Campaigning is about eating pizza with the candidate and finishing off the box of timbits at midnight with the campaign manager. And at the same time, I’m also changing the country.

Read More →

This week’s topic is about our very first political campaign and what we wished we had known at that age.

My first political campaign was when I was 13 years old, and funnily enough it was working for John Tory in his race to become leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in 2004. (I have only been a partisan since 2008, when I decided to join the Liberal Party.)

Read More →

Sometimes, it’s the unpleasant experiences in life that teach us the best lessons.

This was certainly true of my early encounters with political organizations. As a high school student, concerned about environmental issues and eager to get involved, I naively decided to volunteer with a certain left-wing environmental advocacy group which shall henceforth remain unnamed.

Having little understanding of the established political process, I felt that getting involved with this group was the best way to make my voice heard. Initially, I was excited to contribute and engage with the issues, but my interactions with other volunteers began to make me feel profoundly uncomfortable.

Read More →

The first time I volunteered in a large-scale political campaign was to elect Ed Broadbent in 2004. Mr Broadbent was a former leader of the NDP. He had delivered the party’s most successful electoral results and he was returning to federal politics to support of our promising new leader – Jack Layton. We had thousands of volunteers throughout the campaign and we managed to win the seat from the Liberals.

Read More →