inFocus with David Coletto

How do we create a business, legal, and policy environment that allows every aspiring entrepreneur to succeed? What barriers do Black entrepreneurs in Canada face?

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by three guests to talk about a new study my firm Abacus Data helped to conduct on Black Entrepreneurship in Canada.

Commissioned by the African Canadian Senate Caucus and Nova Scotia Independent Senator Colin Deacon, and in partnership with a dozen Black-led business organizations, the survey found that most Black Entrepreneurs face real challenges accessing capital, building supportive networks, and developing the skills needed to succeed in business.

On the podcast today, I’m delighted to welcome Nadine Spencer, the President of the Black Business and Professional Association, Alfred Burgesson, the founder & CEO of Tribe Network, an entrepreneurship & innovation hub for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, and Nova Scotia Independent Senator Colin Deacon.

I had the pleasure of working with all three on the study and we’ve come together on inFocus to talk about the results and what needs to happen next to make entrepreneurship more inclusive in Canada.

You can access the full study here: https://abacusdata.ca/black-entrepreneurs-canada-inclusive-entrepreneurship/

What is it like running a national election campaign? How does polling impact the decisions made on a campaign? I’m excited to explore these questions with Hamish Marshall, the national campaign manager for the Conservative Party of Canada’s 2019 election campaign.

Hamish is currently a partner at ONE Persuades. Prior to that, he ran the 2019 Conservative Party campaign, was campaign manager for Andrew Scheer’s successful bid to become Conservative Leader and previously worked in Stephen Harper’s PMO.

Hamish and I unpack the experience running the campaign and talk about the roll that polling plays in election campaigning. He’s been at the centre of Canadian politics and shares his perspective on the future of the Conservative movement in Canada and his experience running a campaign that almost defeated Justin Trudeau and the Liberals.

Joe Biden wouldn't be President without the surge in turnout of young voters in the US.

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by John Della Volpe the founder and CEO of SocialSphere and for 21 years, he has been the Director of Polling at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics where he has led the research program exploring the attitudes and opinions of America’s Millennials and Generation Z.

John also recently served as a pollster for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris’s 2020 campaign where he focused on youth research.

John and I have gotten to know each other over the past few years after he met while he visited Ottawa in 2019.

I had a lot of fun speaking with John. Hope you enjoy it.

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by Dr. Marc Hetherington and Dr. Jonathan Weiler, authors of Prius or Pickup? How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America’s Great Divide. The book was published in 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

I read the book a few years ago and it had a big impact on how think about public opinion, political behaviour, and what impacts both. In their book, Hetherington and Weiler show that the key to understanding polarization in the United States requires understanding how personality and worldviews impact opinions and behaviour.

They also show that these factors also impact what we drive, where we live, where we vacation, and not surprising how we vote.

May 11 is Census Day in Canada. For pollsters, the census is an irreplaceable tool used every day in our work. We use it to make sure our survey samples are representative of the population. We use it to help model data, and it helps us tell the story of changing demographics and behaviours in Canada.

Last week, I lucked out and was invited to complete the long-form census. It was 20 minutes of pure enjoyment. I know, I know – I need to get a life.

My guest on this episode of inFocus is Canada’s Chief Statistician – Anil Arora. Mr. Arora was appointed the head of Statistics Canada in September 2016.

On the deadline to complete the 2021 census, we talked about the importance of the census, how decisions about what is asked are made, and how the way data is collected is changing. We also dig into what Statistics Canada has done over the pandemic and its plan to improve how it captures data on race, gender, and sexual orientation.

In the 2019 UK General Election, a political earthquake occurred. The Conservative Party led by Boris Johnson gain 48 seats in England, many of them coming in the North and Midlands regions of England, two regions that had voted solidly for Labour for almost 100 years.

Now imagine if the Liberal Party of Canada won half or more seats in Alberta during a federal election – that’s the equivalent of what happened in the UK in 2019.

Now, this shocker didn’t come from nowhere. For years, Labour support in the region was deteriorating and in 2016, most who live in these consistencies voted to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum.

What happened in England that caused these safe Labour seats to switch to the Conservatives? How did the party of Margaret Thatcher convince these working-class constituencies to vote for a party that most would say didn’t represent their interests?

My guest on this episode of inFocus is UK pollster Deborah Mattinson, the founder of polling firm BritainThinks. Deborah was a pollster to former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In 2010, she published Talking to a Brick Wall – the story of the New Labour years from the eyes of voters. Her latest book “Beyond the Red Wall” explores how British “left behind” communities created the electoral earthquake in 2019.

I just finished reading the book and am thrilled that Deborah agreed to talk with me. It’s a fascinating read and I believe her findings need to be read and understood for anyone interested in politics, public affairs, and the future of democracy in the UK, the US, and Canada.

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by author and activist Seth Klein. Last year, Seth’s book A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency was published ECW Press. In it, he argues that in order to meet the climate crisis head-on, Canada will need to mobilize as it did during World War II.

Sharing strategies used during the war, he shows that the change and effort needed to tackle the climate crisis can also create jobs and reduce inequality.

I had the pleasure of working with Seth on an important aspect of the book – an exclusive, custom public opinion survey exploring public attitudes and opinions about climate change and what Canadians are willing to do to confront it.  

On the podcast, we spoke about his book, public opinion and climate change in Canada, and what the pandemic has taught us about our ability to mobilize and work together to address a crisis collectively.You can purchase his book here, I highly recommend it: https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9781770415454/seth-klein/a-good-war

On this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by Federico Hoyos (Hoy-Yosh), the former Colombian Ambassador to Canada. Mr. Hoyos served as Colombia’s ambassador to Canada from November 2018 to March 2020. Prior, he was a member of the House of Representatives serving a four-year term. Most recently, he was a counsellor to Colombia’s President, Ivan Duque serving the President until last month.

I got to know Federico while he was in Ottawa and learned we share many of the same interests. Not only is his home country a powerhouse when it comes to producing world-class road cyclists, which we talked a lot about, but his outlook on politics, government, and society are a lot like mine. We discussed his time in Canada, what’s like being a younger diplomat and his perspective on Canada.

In this episode of inFocus, I share some thoughts and the findings of Abacus Data's latest poll on Canadian politics completed after the release of the Federal Budget.

For all the details on the poll check out the release on the Abacus Data website.Have rest of the week!

The COVID-19 pandemic, like all crises, put a bright spotlight on political leadership.

Political leaders, at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, were tested in ways few ever imagined when they first ran for office. The past 13 months have forced leaders to communicate and engage the public more frequently and in a different manner than normal.

In this episode of inFocus, I’m joined by two people who know a lot about communications, leadership, and political branding. I wanted to get their takes on how our political leaders have done, how leading through a crisis is different, and what it all means for the future of Canadian politics.

Jeni Armstrong is an instructor at the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management at Carleton University. For 20 years she has been a leading communication professional most recently serving as Director of Communications for former Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Before that, she served as the lead speechwriter for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Dr. Alex Marland is a professor of Political Science at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Marland is an expert on Canadian politics, communications, and political branding. His book, Brand Command: Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of Message Control published by UBC press in 2016 won the Donner Prize for best public policy book by a Canadian.