With the deadline for eligibility now gone, it’s time for the Conservative leadership contestants to start converting members, both old and new, into voting supporters. But with a pool of more than 600,000 members, this race has suddenly gotten much, much bigger than it has ever been before.Though, with Pierre Poilievre’s campaign claiming half of those members, is there much of a race left to run? Do Patrick Brown and Jean Charest still have a path to victory? And what role could Leslyn Lewis still play?To discuss what the numbers mean and what’s next for the leadership contest, I’m joined this week by Tim Powers of Summa Strategies, Chad Rogers of Crestview Strategy and Stephanie Levitz of the Toronto Star.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Stephanie, Tim and Chad on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

With just a few days to go before voting day in Ontario’s election, friend-of-the-show Philippe J. Fournier of 338Canada.com is back to join me in a provincial tour of the battlegrounds and ridings to watch on Thursday night.Will Steven Del Duca’s Liberals or Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats emerge as the official opposition? Can Mike Schreiner’s Greens win that coveted second seat? And is there anything that could get in the way of Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives winning the majority government that the polls suggest is well within their grasp?The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.As always, in addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Philippe on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

The Conservatives met in Laval, Quebec on Wednesday for the final debate before the June 3rd leadership cut-off. With the debate taking place entirely in French, and three of the candidates doing no more than reading from prepared notes, it was really a contest between Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest and Patrick Brown.Or, to be more accurate, between Poilievre and a tag-team of Charest and Brown.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To discuss what happened in the debate and what it could mean for the leadership contest going forward, I’m joined this week by Stéphanie Chouinard, political science professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario.In addition to listening to the episode in your inbox, at TheWrit.ca or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Stéphanie on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

With less than two weeks to go before election day in Ontario, David Coletto of Abacus Data and Sabrina Nanji of Queen’s Park Observer are back to discuss the latest on the campaign trail, including the impact of Andrea Horwath and Mike Schreiner testing positive for COVID-19, what to make of Steven Del Duca’s chances of winning his own riding and why Doug Ford is running such a low-key campaign.David also gives us a sneak peek at some exclusive polling on who won — or didn’t win — Monday’s leaders debate.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Sabrina and David on YouTube.To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

It wasn’t the nasty affair that we saw last week, but Wednesday’s Conservative leadership debate still had its moments — and sound effects! It was like a game show, and like a game show there will only be one winner.Pierre Poilievre entered the debate as the front runner, chased by the likes of Jean Charest, Patrick Brown and Leslyn Lewis. Unlike the first debate, though, this was not a head-to-head match between Poilievre and Charest. Instead, there were entire stretches of the debate in which Poilievre could do nothing but stand on the sidelines as the audience sat riveted by the epic duel between Roman Baber and Scott Aitchison over their agreed positions on what to do with Canada’s North.Can such a scattershot debate have much of an impact on this Conservative leadership contest? The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To discuss what happened at the debate in Edmonton, as well as chat about some of the broader implications of the ongoing Ontario provincial election campaign, I’m joined this week by the CBC’s Aaron Wherry and Shannon Proudfoot, Ottawa bureau chief for Maclean’s.In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Shannon and Aaron on YouTube:To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

The writs have been dropped (hey, you don’t know, someone might have plopped them on a table) and the Ontario election is off and running, with voters casting their ballots on June 2. Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are looking to be re-elected with a majority government and are ahead in the polls, chased by Steven Del Duca’s Liberals and, in third, Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To help set up the stakes for each of these parties and what they need to do over the next four weeks, I’m joined by David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, and Sabrina Nanji, who writes the Queen’s Park Observer newsletter.In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with David and Sabrina on YouTube:To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

When 5 PM rolls around, we’ll know who is going to be on the ballot in the Conservative leadership race. That’s the deadline for candidates to submit 500 signatures from members spread across the country, a $200,000 entry fee and a $100,000 compliance deposit. It’s not a threshold that weeds out any serious contender, but it can be too much for those who, let’s face it, don’t have a real shot.In the end, this contest is probably going to come down to one of the four main contenders: Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest, Patrick Brown and Leslyn Lewis.Poilievre is the consensus front runner. But is his main rival not Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier, but instead Patrick Brown, the former leader of the Ontario PCs?To discuss all the latest in the Conservative leadership race, I’m joined this week by Tim Powers of Summa Strategies, Chad Rogers of Crestview Strategy and the CBC’s Catherine Cullen.In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Tim, Chad and Catherine on YouTube:To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

A big and important vote is taking place on Sunday, as the second round of the French presidential election will be decided between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.The polls give Macron the edge, but his advantage over the right-wing Le Pen has shrunk since they last faced-off against one another in 2017. What’s behind this closer race, and what could a victory by either Macron or Le Pen mean for France, Europe and the rest of the world?The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To answer these questions on this week’s episode of The Writ Podcast, I’m joined by Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair, Radio-Canada’s correspondent in Paris.In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Raphaël on YouTube:To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

Last week’s federal budget marked the first budget since the 2021 federal election and the first test of the deal struck between the Liberals and New Democrats that could keep Justin Trudeau in office until 2025. What does the budget say about both this deal and the plans for Trudeau’s third term in office?Meanwhile, the Conservative leadership race has been heating up as candidates go on the attack — Charest vs. Poilievre, Poilievre vs. Brown, and everyone avoiding saying anything critical of Leslyn Lewis in hopes of getting the second-choice support of her backers.The Writ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.To discuss all of this, this week I’m joined by the CBC’s Aaron Wherry and Supriya Dwivedi, Director of Policy and Engagement at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, and Senior Counsel for Enterprise Canada.In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Supriya and Aaron on YouTube:To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe

In just a little over three weeks, the Ontario election will be officially launched and in a little less than eight weeks we’ll know who the winner is. At the moment, the polls suggest Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are on track to be re-elected.There have been a lot of new developments as the election gets closer and closer. Candidates are being nominated, political ads are hitting the airwaves and the reverberations out of Ottawa, be it a new child care agreement or the Liberal-NDP governing deal, are being felt in Toronto.To go through all the latest, I’m joined again this week by Sabrina Nanji of Queen’s Park Observer. You can check out her newsletter on everything Ontario-politics here.MONDAY NIGHT LIVESTREAM!Join me and 338Canada.com’s Philippe J. Fournier on Monday night at 8 PM ET for live coverage of the Quebec byelection results in Marie-Victorin. You’ll find the livestream here. Be there and be square!In addition to listening to the episode here or on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, you can also watch my discussion with Sabrina on YouTube:To watch past discussions and to be notified of new videos being posted, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thewrit.ca/subscribe