Juno News - December 01, 2021
Will Conservatives ever win again in Canada?
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Summary
As we get closer to the Christmas break, we focus a little less on news here at The Candice Malcolm Show, because frankly, there's not much new to talk about. So we like to slow down a bit, reflect on the year behind, and talk a little bit about the year ahead. In this episode, we speak to Hamish Marshall, who was the Conservative Party's National Campaign Manager in the 2019 federal election.
Transcript
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What is the future for Conservatives in Canada? What will it take for them to win federally?
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What will it take for them to maintain power in Ontario and in Alberta?
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We'll speak to a pollster today to discuss. I'm Candice Malcolm and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.
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So as we get into December, as we get closer to the Christmas break,
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we focus a little bit less on news here at The Candice Malcolm Show
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because frankly there's not a lot of new news other than just the latest panic over COVID numbers or whatever.
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So we like to slow down a little bit, reflect on the year behind, and talk a little bit about the year ahead.
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And so to do that today, I am joined by Hamish Marshall.
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Now, you might remember Hamish because he was True North's in-house pollster during the 2021 election.
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It was a great pleasure to have Hamish on our team, on our staff.
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He joined The Candice Malcolm Show once a week for an interview.
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He did a really comprehensive guide to the writings that mattered.
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He joined us for a live broadcast. It was really great to have Hamish with us.
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He was the Conservative Party's national campaign manager in the 2019 federal election,
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and he ran Andrew Scheer's winning leadership campaign.
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Hamish was also Prime Minister Stephen Harper's pollster
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and helped the Conservatives win a majority government back in 2011.
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We've missed you on The Candice Malcolm Show, but it's great to have you back.
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Specifically, let's talk about the election campaign there,
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and the results were almost exactly what we had going out of it.
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So I know that there weren't really a lot of highlights for most Canadians.
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or at least wish that the $600 million bill that came with it didn't happen.
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But for you, Hamish, what was sort of the highlight of that election campaign?
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What was the biggest moment that sort of shaped the election,
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shaped voters' minds in terms of how they voted?
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More than any other election I've ever experienced in my life,
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how everyone was going to do out of that election.
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Trudeau called the election because he thought he could get a majority.
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You know, O'Toole had had very, very bad polling numbers
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The expectations were low for the Conservatives.
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didn't seem to have a plan to explain why we're having an election to anybody.
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And then O'Toole had a good, you know, first week, maybe two.
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and then expectations got way out of whack, right?
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Then it suddenly became O'Toole's going to win,
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and I think one poll had them at 38% at one point.
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And, you know, they thought they were going to win.
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And on the flip side, you know, Trudeau's expectations were lowered for him.
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And so on election day, we end up with, you know,
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It was completely below what the expectations were
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five weeks before when the election was called.
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And then flip side O'Toole thought they were in position to win
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Which I guess in the overall context isn't terrible,
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but it's certainly a step in the wrong direction.
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were certainly very discouraging for the Conservatives.
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Well, it's interesting how Justin Trudeau, you know,
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after winning two elections, managed to somehow kind of shape himself
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And we thought that maybe voters were going to punish him,
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but then it turned out that they were sort of indifferent to it.
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You mentioned that the pollsters had Aaron O'Toole up at 38%.
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I remember at the time you were always a little skeptical
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that your profession has had over the last couple of years,
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how did you think pollsters did in this election?
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Or do you think that they still sort of missed the mark?
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Look, I think like anything, it's a big profession.
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I didn't count, but I think it was probably about a dozen,
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and some of them do not have a record that was as good.
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that have a good record of being quite accurate.
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we see that the pollsters that use demon dial technology
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They were the ones who showed the Tories way up at one point
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and then also showed them way down at another point.
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So the technology, I think, sorts out a little bit.
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I think you can see more and more of that jumping around,
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But I don't really believe there were in this election.
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You know, I don't think what happened in the election
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Conservatives, don't really feel like telling pollsters the truth.
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They don't want to say that they support a Conservative
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because they see Conservatives getting demonized in the media.
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And do you think it applies in practice here in Canada?
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I mean, you know, the Conservatives won the popular vote
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showed them ahead going into either of those elections.
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I don't think, you know, I think it might count
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for 1% of the electorate, maybe 2% in some areas.
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It's not big, but I think it definitely exists.
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begin to lose trust in a lot of those institutions.
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or they're more likely to sort of hedge their bets
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and say they're undecided when they're really not.
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Well, I want to pick up on that concept of the media
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especially in places like Vancouver and Toronto.
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or even picked up a copy of the Globe and Mail,
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it's basically all about either climate change or COVID.
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or these are the words that you shouldn't use anymore.
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Why is it that the media is so different from Canadians?
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So is it me that's out of touch or is it the media?
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I think this has been a problem for a long time.
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especially at the sort of more elite newspapers
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You get into a situation where it doesn't matter
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as long as the federal subsidy checks keep coming
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So it doesn't matter that you're less relevant.
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you know, being bought up by large corporations,
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And I think the future is obviously going to be,
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that can build audiences that connect with people
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we saw, you know, in the lead up in the summer,
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You know, there was a little bit here and there,
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but it just was not an issue during the election
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we'd be in a situation where they would be able to respond.
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but then there's places like the Globe and Mail,
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which is owned by, you know, the Thompson family.
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Amish, I want to switch back to conservatives,
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What do you think conservatives need to focus on
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if and when the next federal election should happen?
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Well, I think right now it has to be all about inflation.