inFocus with David Coletto

This week, millions of students across Canada will be going back to school and education and our education system will be top of mind to millions of parents and educators.

There’s no doubt the pandemic has had a profound impact on children. It has put many of their parents out of work, surrounded their homes in grief and anxiety, and kept them out of schools that teach and care for them. It has been a very lonely time for Canadian children.

With two weeks left to go in the federal election campaign, I wonder, why haven’t heard more about education on the campaign trail.

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by Sam Hammond, the President of the Canadian Teachers Federation. Sam just started his two-year term as the Federation's president in July 2021. Prior, Sam was President of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. He has taught all grades from JK to grade eight and was an instructor in the Labour Studies Program at McMaster University. The Canadian Teachers Federation represents over 300,000 elementary and secondary school teachers across Canada.

Sam and I spoke about the role of public education in federal politics, some polling Abacus Data did for the Federation, and what he’s hoping to hear from federal parties and candidates in the final weeks of the campaign.

Abacus Data CEO shares some thoughts and insights on the 2021 Canadian federal election in this short briefing episode of inFocus.

He discusses the latest horse-race polling, what the polls said about the french language debate back in 2019, and what to watch for as the campaign enters it's 4th week after the long weekend.

Week 3 begins and we have a very tight race. Abacus Data CEO shares the key findings from his firm's latest survey in this briefing on polling during the 2021 Canadian election.

For details on this poll visit: https://abacusdata.ca/election-2021-liberals-conservatives-neck-and-neck/

Foreign affairs and international development issues often take a back seat in federal election campaigns.

But this election began as the Taliban took control over Afghanistan and the world is still grappling with a global pandemic.

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by Julia Anderson, the CEO at the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health or CanWaCH for short. CanWaCH has over 100 members ranging from NGOs, academic institutions, health professional associations and individuals partnering to improve health outcomes for women and children in more than 1,000 communities worldwide. It has also been a client of mine for several years now.

We sat down as week two of the federal election campaign comes to an end to talk about international development, the global pandemic, and a fascinating research project CanWaCH commissioned to understand public attitudes surrounding foreign affairs and international development.

For more information about the deliberative polling we discussed, visit https://canwach.ca/foreign-policy-by-canadians-findings/

In this episode of inFocus, our latest 2021 Canadian election survey that was just released today.

The survey finds the Liberals still ahead by 4 - LPC 33%, CPC 29%, NDP 23% but with big gains in Mr. O'Toole's personal numbers. His favourable jumped 6 points from last week.

For all the details on the poll check out the release on the Abacus Data website.

Thanks for listening. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send them along to [email protected]

Canada’s deficit ballooned to over $350 billion in 2020/2021 and is projected to be north of $150 billion this year. And as political parties roll out their election platforms, they are all planning to continue spending for the foreseeable future.

At the same time, the cost of living has emerged again as THE top issue for voters, as Stats Canada release new inflation numbers showing the fastest increase in the consumer price index in a decade.

The pandemic also increased inequality in our society. Some, including the wealthiest, are much better off as a result of the pandemic. Others, especially those most impacted by the restrictions and closures caused by the pandemic, are much worse off.

These two dynamics – increased public expenditure and rising economic inequality – are surely going to be hot topics during this election campaign.

How do we pay for the pandemic and recovery? And how fair do Canadians think the tax system is? And what impact is the pandemic having on the cost of living?

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by Katrina Miller, Program Director at the Broadbent Institute and Kiavash Najafi, the Director of Policy and Communications at the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, a union representing over 60,000 scientists and professionals employed at the federal and some provincial and territorial levels of government.

The Broadbent Institute and PIPS commissioned my company Abacus Data to conduct public opinion research exploring public perceptions about wealth inequality, tax fairness, and affordability.

In this episode of inFocus, I look at our first election survey and talk about what issues voters say are going to impact their vote.

For all the details on the poll check out the release on the Abacus Data website.

Thanks for listening. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send them along to [email protected]