Innovative in the News

Party insiders are calling for new chief of staff to craft a solid message about what the Grits stand for 
Two months ago, Michael Ignatieff launched an unexplained rush to trigger an election. Last month, he overruled Quebec lieutenant Denis Coderre over a Montreal candidate, prompting him to quit while blaming a cabal of the leader's Toronto aides. On Tuesday, a quick change of staff aimed at righting the ship became a very public mess, as news of chief of staff Ian Davey's departure broke before he was told.

After cruising to successive, historic majorities, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty returns to the legislature today with his back against the ropes, fighting off successive scandals while implementing an unpopular new tax regime.
The situation is a unique one for McGuinty, a 54-year-old Ottawa native, who, since breaking a key election promise by raising taxes in 2004, has cruised through the last five years at Ontario's helm without any major glitches.

Stephen Harper's Conservatives have decided their election strategy will rely in part on reviving the ghosts of last December.
The fleeting, four-day coalition that opposition parties formed in late 2008 to unseat Mr. Harper's Conservatives was deeply unpopular outside Quebec. The Tories plan to resurrect its fading memory to rattle voters, warning that backing opposition parties will bring instability.

Liberal Party pollster Michael Marzolini told the Grits at last week’s national summer retreat in Sudbury, Ont., that a total of 46 per cent of Canadians want either a Liberal minority or majority government, compared to 38 per cent who said they want a Conservative minority or a majority.