Author: Jon Siemko

I know social media is not top of mind for everyone however it is becoming an increasingly integral part of any modern political campaign.  Now there is a website devoted to the intersection of social media and politics I encourage you to check it out.

From The Canadian Election + Social Media

The Conservative Party of Canada launched the Tory Nation volunteer tool which takes a page from Obama’s online campaign playbook to offer volunteers the ability to get active on their own time.

Anyone can sign up to have access to a number of functions, including organizing an event, raising money and spreading the word to their friends.  The dashboard features a leaderboard, where activists can earn points for various activities.  No word on what happens with the points, though.

The dashboard is clean and intuitive and does provide the basic tools for riding-level activists to quickly deepen their involvement.

In the latest Nanos daily tracking poll the Tories  lead by nearly 10 points over their nearest rivals the Liberals. More importantly the Conservatives are commandingly out in front in the key battleground of Ontario’s Rust Belt. If this trend keeps up through the campaign we might even see university towns like Guelph turn Tory blue.

From Nanos

Canada (n=939 committed voters)
Conservative 38.4% (-0.2)
Liberal 28.7% (+1.1 )
NDP 19.6% (-0.3)
Bloc Quebecois 9.1% (-1.0 )
Green 4.1% (+0.3)
Undecided 21.7% (-0.3)

From CTV

Ontario taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars for shutting down the eco fee program introduced last July and then quickly cancelled, Environment Minister John Wilkinson confirmed Monday.

The province expected it would cost $8 million a year to keep six key items targeted by the eco fees — fire extinguishers, syringes, medications, rechargeable batteries, products with mercury and compact fluorescent light bulbs — out of landfills.

However, Stewardship Ontario, the agency that runs the blue box program and was responsible for the eco fees, is also looking to recover stranded costs from eco fees that it estimates at $10 million.

This is just another bad liberal tax that has become a poisoned chalice for the government.