They’re back! The smart, non-confrontational panelists. The bashful host. The political gossip you crave in modest doses. Welcome back to The Panel, whom I hadn’t convened since April, and I was overdue to change that.
Specifically, this is the OG panel, with the return of Garry Keller, who took the campaign off to run as the Conservative candidate in Nipissing—Timiskaming. Garry was the party’s last nominated candidate before the writ drop (sorry, the drawing up of the writs), after a previous candidate withdrew, and in the end he came close to putting a longtime Liberal riding in the Conservative column. But it was not to be. So we get him back. Garry dishes a bit here about what he heard from voters at the door. Thanks to Jason Lietaer for his excellent work as interim campaign-period panellist while Garry was running.
Returning as always are the NDP-adjacent Allison Gifford and Liberal Marci Surkes. It was great to have everyone back, in fulfilment of my promise to keep producing occasional video and audio product. We convened at the end of the third week since Parliament returned in September. Mark Carney has kept up a steady tempo of announcements, trips and appointments. Pierre Poilievre has resumed his steady tempo of reminders that trips and appointments butter no parsnips. And there’s an NDP leadership race shaping up, too.
Thanks for watching and listening.
