The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge

This is another master class episode, this time on journalism in the midst of a campaign.  Bruce and I are joined by an old friend, Assistant Professor of Journalism Elly Alboim from the Carleton School of Journalism. If you care about journalism you'll want to hear this.

So what was the point of all that?  The Liberals are back with another minority almost the mirror image of the one that wasn't good enough for them just six weeks ago.  The Conservatives get more votes, the Liberals get more seats. The NDP makes no breakthroughs and still sits in fourth place behind the Bloc. Deja vu all over again.

It's all over except for the voting and today the Insiders with their stories about what E Day can be like -- for the leaders, for the staff and for the voters.

Chantal and Bruce join in on where we are with just hours left in the campaign.  Is it too late for voters to change their minds?  And how does the Jason Kenney news change things if at all?

From across the country and across the continent your thoughts and comments and questions about the final days of the campaign.  With four days to go the comments are like the polls, close and still deciding.  

This is a lively and important discussion with Bruce Anderson on how to prepare for Monday night's election results. And also a good back and forth about whether the coverage the People's Party is getting, or not getting, is fair or unfair.

How do journalists deal with the challenges of the final days of a campaign.  Spin is heavy, polls are abundant, and momentum can distort things.  Althia is on the road this week catching a few days with each of the major candidates for Prime Minister.  Rob is in the comfort of his home in Ottawa watching and analyzing things the way only he can.  Plus, today's fun fact: does incumbency help or hurt individual candidates in an election?

It's gut-check time for all leaders during the final seven days.  What do you say, what do you do, where do you go? These may be critical decisions so how do you make them.  Our Insiders draw on their experience to give their best advice.  And today's fun fact:  just what did the last Parliament accomplish.  The facts and figures tell a story.

This week's episode of Good Talk is a master class in understanding everything from debates, the vulnerabilities of the leaders, the impact of the People's Party, and the fallout from the Quebec leader's latest pronouncements. Things don't get better than Chantal and Bruce and this is another great example.

Another week of emails from you on the state of politics in Canada during this election campaign.  Questions, comments, thoughts from Canadians living at home and abroad.