Politics

Election 2015: The day that was, Sept. 16

Nenshi’s a busy guy, another candidate dropped, and the Greens find the funny in our daily #elxn42 roundup

    The Important

    One day before Tom Mulcair, Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper meet in Calgary for the second federal leaders’ debate—this one hosted in Calgary by the Globe and Mail—Conservative MP Jason Kenney made an appearance in Alberta to announce that the government will soon release details on its plans to speed up the process to accept 20,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

    Kenney was also scheduled to talk about the economy and campaign spending, which some found perplexing given that he is minister of defence.

    The minister of finance, Joe Oliver, who has been noticeably missing for much of the campaign, turned up in Toronto on Wednesday to meet with constituents.

    Trudeau started his day early in Calgary with a promise to improve flood infrastructure as well as $1.5 million to put towards the city’s public transit. Right after the announcement, he met mayor Naheed Nenshi for a brief chat.

    Of course, Calgary’s mayor isn’t playing favourites. He met with Mulcair right after his sit-down with Trudeau.

    The Interesting

    Another day, another candidate dropped. On Wednesday, it was the Liberals’ turn to drop one of their hopefuls in the Alberta riding of Sturgeon River–Parkland. In the aftermath of the October shooting on Parliament Hill, Chris Austin wrote such comments on Facebook as: “Harper has turned our Nation’s Capital into a War Zone as his thirst for War,” and also linked to a news article about Communications Security Establishment Canada, writing, “The Gestapo Of Canada lol :)”

     

    Related: Robert Jago: The most dangerous blogger in Canada

    And there was more.

    If the daily news of a candidate being dropped isn’t enough to get the country talking about politics, maybe the extremely popular Quebec TV show Tout le monde en parle can get the world talking about the federal election. Next month, the show—often credited as the reason for Jack Layton’s surge in popularity within Quebec last election—will bring on Mulcair, Trudeau and Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe for a glass of wine and a chat. Harper, however, declined the invitation.

    The Fun

    Politicians aren’t known for their wit on Twitter, but the Green Party surely got a few chuckles with their message about Elizabeth May live-tweeting her way into tomorrow’s debate.

    If you don’t get the pun, you may need to brush up on your boy bands.

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