A new face for the NDP
The NDP has just selected its candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, Anna Gollen.
She was acclaimed – as is the practice these days for so many candidates (regardless of Party) who are running for Parliament.
The idea of having local Party members choose between competing candidates - for the honour of being given the opportunity to represent the riding in the Ottawa Parliament - now seems a quaint relic of a bygone age. 
Apparently, very few people are interested in a job with a base salary of around $210,000 a year. (Not that they are in it for the money. I say that seriously.)
Paper candidate
So far as I can tell Anna Gollen has no on-line presence and seems, on the face of it, to be a paper candidate. I don't recall our paths crossing. Anyway... I look forward to finding out more about her.
In the meantime, Newmarket-Aurora’s Conservatives are reminding their supporters to make a plan to vote. (See email below)
"Team Pierre"
Team Pierre’s email to local Conservatives rehashes all the old clichés (three words maximum): axe the tax, fix the budget, stop the crime and so on.
Talk about dumbing down. (Photo right: Sandra Cobena and Pierre Poilievre)
CBC Poll tracker
Elsewhere… the CBC’s poll tracker still puts the Liberals out in front but there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip and much can change in the course of an election campaign. But, for the moment, the Liberals are riding the crest of an amazing wave.
This morning, the CBC's Eric Grenier says the NDP
"appears to have hit their floor around 9% and the Conservatives have been holding steady with ticks up and down around the 37% to 38% mark over the last week. But it remains an open question what the ceiling is for the Liberals."
Cross-dressing
Of course, there is a lot of cross-dressing going on. And this can confuse the voters.
Political parties pretend to be something they are not in order to attract votes at the margin. It has always been this way. But technology takes it to a new level with Parties micro targeting voters, telling them what they want to hear.
It's the job of the media to dig deep and flag up the inconsistencies and contradictions.
The Trump tariffs this week will test all the parties. And the Liberals have their own problems with their candidate in Markham-Unionville. (Click "read more" below to read the piece in the Globe and Mail.)
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PS: I think it is still Pierre's policy to defund the CBC (three words).
But he seems to have gone quiet on that one recently.
Update on 1 April 2025: From the CBC: Liberal candidate withdraws from race
From the Globe and Mail 31 March 2025:
The Conservative candidate for a Toronto-area riding says he is fearing for his personal safety after a Liberal candidate said people should bring him to the local Chinese consulate to collect a bounty on him for criticizing Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong.
Joe Tay, the candidate for Don Valley North, says the apology issued by Paul Chiang, the Liberal candidate for Markham-Unionville, for those comments is not enough and Liberal Leader Mark Carney must drop Mr. Chiang as a candidate.
In a statement posted to social media Monday, Mr. Tay said Mr. Chiang also attempted to reach him personally late Sunday night.
“I want to be clear: no apology is sufficient,” Mr. Tay said.
Mr. Tay was born in Hong Kong but immigrated to Canada. In December, Hong Kong police announced a bounty of HK$1-million – about $184,000 – for information leading to his arrest for allegedly violating a national-security law imposed on the former British colony by China. Mr. Tay runs a YouTube channel, HongKongerStation, that draws attention to continuing civil-rights violations in Hong Kong.
In January, Mr. Chiang reportedly told a Chinese-language media conference that people should take Mr. Tay to the People’s Republic of China consulate in Toronto and collect the reward.
“If anyone here can take him to the Chinese Consulate General in Toronto, you can get the million-dollar reward,” Mr. Chiang said, according to Ming Pao, a Chinese-language newspaper.
At the time, Mr. Tay was running for the Conservative nomination in Markham-Unionville. He has since been appointed Conservative candidate for Don Valley North.
Mr. Chiang is the incumbent in the riding of Markham-Unionville. He was elected as a Liberal MP in 2021.
The Globe and Mail contacted Mr. Chiang Thursday about his comments. On Friday, he posted a reply on social media apologizing for what he said.tter. I sincerely apologize and deeply regret my comments.”
Mr. Chiang added: “I will always continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong in their fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms.”
Mr. Tay’s statement follows numerous calls from his party, his fellow candidates and human rights advocates for the Liberals to drop Mr. Chiang as a candidate.
When asked for their response, the Liberal Party did not indicate he would be fired and instead justified keeping him.
“Paul Chiang recognized that he made a significant lapse in judgment. He apologized and has been clear that he will stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong as they fight to safeguard their human rights and freedoms,” campaign spokesperson Isabella Orozco-Madison said in a statement.
An estimated 300,000 Canadian citizens live in Hong Kong, which was handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 by Britain. A crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong has steadily eroded the territory’s political and social freedoms, which were unique in China – a legacy of Hong Kong’s years under British control. Critics say the 2020 national-security law effectively criminalizes dissent and opposition.
Mr. Tay said Mr. Chiang’s comments were designed not to just intimidate him personally but create a broader impact.
“Threats like these are the tradecraft of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in Canada. And they are not just aimed at me. They are intended to send a chilling signal to the entire community in order to force compliance to Beijing’s political goals,” Mr. Tay said.
“This situation has left me fearing for my safety.”
- with reports from Steve Chase and Robert Fife.
