Stories often get pushed down during the trying times of the COVID-19 corornavirus pandemic. We wanted to get caught up on some Canadian politics stories buried by more impressive headlines.
Andrew Scheer is still in charge of the Conservative Party of Canada. The race to succeed Scheer as well as the original June 27 election date are on hold.
The party has 4 candidates who met the extensive thresholds to be on the ballot: former cabinet minister Peter MacKay, former cabinet minister and current MP Erin O'Toole, current MP Derek Sloan, and Toronto lawyer Leslyn Lewis.
Marilyn Gladu, Rudy Husny, and Rick Peterson complained that they missed the thresholds since trying to raise money during a pandemic was inappropriate. The party set in rules with difficult thresholds designed to have very few candidates.
The original speculation was the party needed a permanent party leader right away because of a minority government. That feels so long ago now.
And then there were none: the lack of female premiers in Canada
Normally the new leader of the third party in a province is not news, not even to us. Ontario and Liberal Party is the collective exception.
Former cabinet minister Steven Del Duca replaces former premier Kathleen Wynne as the leader of the Ontario Liberals. Del Duca has to win a seat in Queen's Park since he was one of many Liberals who lost in 2018.
The next Ontario election isn't coming until 2022. The NDP and Andrea Horwath are the opposition party in Ontario with a weakened Doug Ford government in control.
Except for the stints of October 20, 1919-May 10, 1923 (United Farmers) and September 6, 1990-April 28, 1995 (New Democratic Party), Liberals and Conservatives have run Ontario. As significant as Horwath and her party have been, the Liberal Party leader in Ontario matters.
Del Duca has a long road above and beyond getting a MPP seat. The feeling is the Conservatives aren't coming back at this point. The Liberals had a good long run but the "what have you done for me lately" feeling is well in effect. The NDP with Horwath has been a strong opposition party. 2022 feels like a long time from now.
U.S. may not pick a permanent replacement for Ambassador to Canada until well into 2021
Kirsten Hillman has been appointed as Canada’s Ambassador to the United States. Hillman had been the Acting Ambassador to the United States since August 2019 until her appointment on March 26. Hillman is the first woman in the post. She previously served as Deputy Ambassador.
The United States still doesn't have a permanent ambassador to Canada.
COVID-19 notebook: How Canada is faring in the coronavirus pandemic
2020 Canadian politics preview
CanadianCrossing.com Saskatchewan coverage
The United States has been scrambling to have primary elections in numerous states and the federal and state elections in November. Saskatchewan is the only province that has an election in 2020, set for October 26.
There were significant rumours of a spring election by the Saskatchewan Party, which would have been a mitigated disaster. Scott Moe has been in power for more than 2 years without calling an election. The election should be not that exciting, but the reaction to the COVID-19 corornavirus pandemic could change that dynamic.
Elections are better run in Canada than the United States (low bar). We will be curious what extra steps the province might take in an election during a pandemic.
photos credit: Conservative Party of Canada ad; Government of Canada
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