Campaign Research’s third weekly tracking poll shows that the Alberta election gap between Wildrose and the PC Party has tightened to 8 points.
Some key findings of the poll:
– Wildrose: 42.8%, PC: 34.4%
– PC party gain comes at expense of Liberals and NDP. Wildrose drop within margin of error.
– PCs lead Wildrose by 22 points in Edmonton
– Wildrose leads PCs by 18 points in rural Alberta and Calgary (49% of popular vote)
– Best Premier – Smith: 32.1%, Redford 27.1%
Here is the new leader of the NDP, Thomas Mulcair in his first Question Period as leader of the opposition,
Questions about middle-class jobs. That was only a few days ago.
This morning, Statscan had welcome news for Canadians,
OTTAWA – After months of stagnant or even falling employment, Canada’s economy began churning out jobs again last month — and in a big way — adding 82,300 workers to the labour force.
The eye-popping gain, almost all in full-time work, was about eight times economists’ expectations and dropped the unemployment rate two notches to 7.2 per cent.
Of those numbers, 70,000 of those jobs are full-time.
Of course, if the NDP had their way their would sap the Canadian economy of its ability to attract investment and capital.
Anyhow, Thomas Mulcair’s NDP released a new ad this morning as well. Mulcair promises to build a more green and prosperous economy. Unfortunately for him, today was not the best of days to release an ad contrasting his economic vision with that of the real economy.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Pokes, Retweets, and Google Pagerank. The lexicon is getting jumbled as everyone’s ability to communicate becomes more available and diverse but it can be complicated. It’s odd to say, but gone are the days when good ‘ol email could bridge the digital communications divide. Now, we’re checking Facebook for event invites and twitter for continuous-breaking information on any imaginable topic. How does one sort everything out, or do new digital adherents just do?
Furthermore, how does the National Citizens Coalition, a group fighting for more freedom through less government since 1967 make sure it keeps making its footprint in this every-changing social media landscape? The challenges are many. How to get the attention of policy makers when attention spans are ‘tweet fleeting’? How to get Canadians talking about our issues when social media can cater to a multitude of niche topics? How do we make an impact on a political scene that doesn’t react in a 15-minute cable news cycle, but in an instantaneous stream of information from every corner of Canada and segment of its population?
The National Citizens Coalition has always been famous for its billboards. Though Bob Rae is back in the Canadian political mindset, Canadians will remember the NCC’s billboards mocking Rae’s record as Ontario’s most disastrous Premier (though McGuinty is challenging this today). Today, we’re creating the same pull-no-punches messaging that made us famous but we’re doing it in the most modern of media: YouTube. In January we released a hard-hitting YouTube video against the same Bob Rae record warning Canadians that Rae has plans on taking over today’s Liberal Party of Canada. But we don’t just hold socialists to account. The NCC recently released a YouTube ad criticizing the high-spending of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government. That’s right, even our old boss gets to hear from us when government gets too big! YouTube is the modern billboard, and the NCC is taking over this space and it holds no punches.
Tens of thousands of Canadians follow the NCC via twitter and Facebook every day as well. When Ottawa’s politics turns upside-down (again, and again), the NCC will be there to help stand up for everyday hard-working Canadians as we try to mold the political outcome as it churns in Ottawa and in the provincial capitals. We’re ready for this modern age of social media and we’ll be ready to occupy the next channel whenever our lexicon adds it as the newest form of communication.
