The Canadian Rant

Bernie Sanders has moved from a thorn in the side of Hillary Clinton’s campaign to a legitimate contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Whether Sanders will be a legitimate contender to the Republicans is an entirely different argument. For now, as primary season is officially underway, I will focus on the Democratic campaign. The last two weeks have been jam-packed with the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1 st , a debate in New Hampshire on Feb. 4 th , the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 8 th , and another debate in Wisconsin on Feb. 11 th . And with all of these events Sanders has left his mark on this nomination race. Sanders started off the primary calendar strong with only the slimmest of defeats to Clinton in the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1 st . The results were 49.9% in favour of Clinton to 49.6% in favour of Sanders.   (Gearan, 2016) It doesn’t get much closer than that and for Sanders, who no more than a month ago was perceived by some to be an afterthought to Clinto...

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination has changed drastically over the last two weeks. From the Democratic debate on Jan. 17 th to the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1 st , the first real test of the campaign, the story of the race has changed from “Hillary Clinton vs. the GOP candidate field” to “Clinton vs. Sanders” as Bernie Sanders continues to emerge as an actual threat to Clinton for the Democratic nomination. The change in the race culminated from the Democratic debate in South Carolina on Jan. 17 th and for the past two weeks the nomination campaigns of Clinton and Sanders have begun to look a little bit like the Republican campaign. President Barack Obama, despite statements that he would remain neutral on the Democratic nomination race, indirectly entered the picture causing some damage to Bernie Sanders’ campaign efforts. In an interview with Politico’s Glenn Thrush, Obama implied that Clinton would be the best successor to him and would have the best chance agains...

Is Hillary Clinton’s campaign looking for a repeat performance of 2008? Bernie Sanders supporters sure hope so. Over the past two weeks we have seen the race for the Democratic presidential nomination heat up considerably between frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Clinton has been running comfortable leads in many polls across the board throughout 2015 but as the year came to an end the race tightened significantly heading into the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1 st and New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9 th . Bernie Sanders’ campaign seems to be peaking at the right moment, leading into the early votes that could do to Clinton’s campaign what now President Barack Obama’s campaign did to her back in 2008. Sanders appears to be in good shape in the polls, with key endorsements, campaign funding, and in dealing with Clinton’s attack on his record. The New York Times released results of a poll by the New York Times and CBS News that shows that on a national level, the lead that Clin...

WILL THE ORANGE WAVE STICK AROUND OR WASH BACK OUT TO SEA? We are sitting 3-4 months away from a federal election in Canada and current polls suggest a three way race between the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP during the election campaign. The surge of support for the NDP, especially in Quebec, in the 2011 campaign remains strong and the latest polling numbers show that a Thomas Mulcair-led NDP minority government is a very real possibility. With the late Jack Layton at the helm the NDP in 2011, the Orange Crush all but eliminated the Bloc Quebecois from the political map in Quebec. Four years later, the NDP are still riding high, but... What will the return of former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe mean for the NDP's chances in dominating Quebec? What does the recent election of an NDP government in Alberta mean for this election? Is the NDP surge of support peaking too early ahead of the election? Is Mulcair's recent focus on abolishing the Senate the right ...

7 AND A HALF YEARS LATER... After a seven and a half year hiatus the Canadian Rant is back online with new perspective and a wider range of topics and discussion. The broad fan base is probably now completely disappeared but that is irrelevant to the purpose of this forum and for me. Whether the Rant is read or not is not important, although appreciated, it is more about the ranting than the reading. My initial post on my return is about hockey and the Arizona Coyotes franchise and I decided to post that prior to this post as it was fresh in my mind and I was encouraged, although probably not seriously, to use that to springboard the return of the Rant. More to come soon on many issues. 

NHL RELOCATION OF THE ARIZONA COYOTES; LAS VEGAS SINS? TSN has reported that the city of Glendale in Arizona voted in a special city council meeting last night to cancel the existing arena management contract between the city and the Arizona Coyotes. In total the contract was for $225M and the cancellation will lead to a $200M lawsuit against the city by the Coyotes ownership. This is the context that sets the stage for the interests for potential relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Las Vegas, Quebec City, or other suitable locations. While nothing has yet to be said from the NHL and Gary Bettman on what the cancellation of this deal will mean there is lots of speculation on the future of the Coyotes' franchise. It goes without saying that there is a keen interest being shown by the leadership of Hockey Vision Las Vegas, the potential ownership group for a Las Vegas NHL franchise, as they have previously announced their intentions to approach the NHL Board of Governors with...