Mediaboss Marketing

British Columbia is shaping up as a competitive battleground as the October federal election looms with a close race between the Liberals and Conservatives for the top spot in Canadas most westerly province, a new poll suggests.

The Conservatives head into the campaign with 21 of the provinces 36 seats, but the Abacus Data survey of 1,000 respondents last month suggests the Liberals are neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, with the NDP coming in third.

Its unusual to see a situation thats as competitive and dynamic as this election is likely to be in B.C., Abacus Data chairman Bruce Anderson said in an interview on Thursday.

The polling data shows that the Liberal brand is more competitive than it has been.

Mr. Anderson said the Conservatives have a strong base in rural B.C. but Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau appears to have given his party a renewed opportunity to connect with voters after former leader Michael Ignatieff failed to do so in the 2011 election that ended with the partys worst-ever defeat.

The big story here, in part, is the Conservatives need to fight to win this election, Mr. Anderson said.

Theyre not going to win it by default because the Liberal brand is not competitive or the Liberal Leader is not compelling, he said.

And the Liberals will have to fight hard to win it, but there are more open minds than they have seen in a long time and more interest in their leader than they have seen in a long time.

While the NDP has a base in the province, Mr. Anderson said Thomas Mulcair has not connected with voters as effectively as Mr. Trudeau has, so the NDP Leaders fate hinges on his Liberal counterpart. For him to win, Trudeau needs to fail, Mr. Anderson said.

That poll, obtained by The Globe and Mail and to be released Friday, has the Liberals with 33 per cent, the Conservatives at 32 per cent and the NDP at 25 per cent when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if an election were an held today. The Green Party is at 9 per cent, according to the online survey conducted between March 5 and 9. There is a 26-per-cent undecided factor.

View post:
Tight federal race between Liberals and Conservatives in B.C., survey finds

NDP far behind Liberals in money raised from individuals.

Lobbyist Patrick Kinsella gave $34,000 to the BC Liberal Party, most of it through his companies, Progressive Strategies Ltd. and Progressive Holdings Ltd. Photo: by Chris Grabowski.

The BC Liberal Party has long raised more money than the New Democrats, mostly from corporations. However, for the first time in recent years, the governing Liberals raised more money from individual donors than its opposition rival did.

That's bad news for the NDP, said David Schreck, a pundit and former NDP MLA. "If they are raising less from individuals, they better start worrying," he said. "The NDP, given those numbers, has to worry big time."

Schreck was commenting on the fact that the New Democrats have traditionally raised more money than the Liberals from individual donors. But in 2014, the year following the NDP's defeat in the provincial election, the tables turned.

Annual Financial Reports for 2014 that the two parties filed with Elections BC became public April 8. They show that the Liberals raised nearly $4 million from individuals last year, while the NDP raised about $2.7 million.

That's a reversal from past years. In the 2013 election year, individuals gave the NDP $6.23 million, significantly more than the $4.6 million individuals gave the Liberals.

And in 2012, individuals gave $4.2 million to the NDP and $3.9 million to the Liberals.

The NDP did not respond to a request for a comment by publication time.

See the article here:
New Democrat Donations Collapsed after 2013 Defeat (in News)

The New Democrats want an investigation to be launched into Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's alleged improper use of parliamentary premises for partisan purposes. | CP

OTTAWA - In a case of political tit for tat, the NDP is seeking an investigation into Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's alleged improper use of parliamentary premises for partisan purposes.

The NDP's complaint comes one day after the Liberals sought an investigation into New Democrat MPs' allegedly inappropriate use of their taxpayer-funded constituency offices to campaign for re-election.

Both complaints have been sent to House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer, who chairs the secretive, multi-party board of internal economy, which polices how Commons resources are spent.

In a letter Thursday to Scheer, Windsor NDP MP Brian Masse raises "serious concerns" about a Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill last June, at which Trudeau showcased recently nominated candidates.

Masse says the event violated the rules, which forbid premises provided to an MP by the Commons to be used for partisan purposes.

However, deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale says that prohibition applies to individual MPs' offices; it does not apply to caucus meetings, which are inherently political and to which all parties, including the NDP, have routinely invited partisan operatives.

He noted that the NDP's national campaign director who holds "probably the most intensely partisan position that any political party has" regularly attends NDP caucus meetings.

In his letter Thursday to Scheer, Masse argues that the Liberal caucus meeting last June "does not appear to relate to the 'proceedings and work of the House of Commons' or the member for Papineau's (Trudeau's) constituents.

See the original post:
NDP: Liberals' Use Of Parliamentary Premises Merits Probe, Too

Gays Liberals Mad At Pizza Shop In Indiana But Muslim Countries Kill Gays,
Gays Liberals Mad At Pizza Shop In Indiana But Muslim Countries Kill Gays, sharia law says you can kill gays, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Africa, sharia law says you can kill gays, Yemen, Iran, Iraq,...

By: Promoting Common Sense One Person At A Time

See the rest here:
Gays & Liberals Mad At Pizza Shop In Indiana But Muslim Countries Kill Gays, - Video

Elected or not, Liberal leader David Swann says his party will push for equal pay across the province upon returning to the Alberta Legislature.

Swann made the announcement in Edmonton Wednesday morning.

He tells 660News, Alberta is sorely lacking and needs to play catch up compared to the rest of the country.

Alberta has fallen way behind, compared to the rest of the world in pay equity, its shocking really, he said. Our children, our mothers, our grandmothers have been paid at the rate of 2/3rds of anyone else doing the same job, its not acceptable and we want to see some legislation that will fix that.

Were catching up the rest of the country. Saskatchewan pays 80 cents on the dollar that men get for the same rate and I would hasten to add its not just women that are unfairly treated, farm workers are paid significantly less in many cases and that needs to be addressed as well. We want equality for the same job.

The long-time politician and doctor calls it shameful that the provinces leadership hasnt taken this issue on and adds it should be about fairness.

We want to see the government enact legislation that would require all workplaces to demonstrate they are negotiating fairly and providing equal pay for work of equal value, thats as simple as we can put it, that sometimes can mean a negotiation framework that everyone knows when they go into a job opportunity. They can start to talk from the same language about what equity framework looks like and they can challenge bosses that are not living up to that framework.

He says the Liberals themselves are working very hard to get more women into politics, right now they have 6 which would be about 20 per cent of their compliment, but adds this isnt a favourable climate and theyre working hard to change that.

They plan on introducing it through a motion, a resolution or even a bill to get pay equity.

When I think about my own daughters, my patients, when I was a doctor, struggling with feeling discriminated against and devalued but also not being able to make payments on some of the most basic aspects of their lives.

See the original post here:
Liberals push for equal pay across Alberta