#Politics

Mercer Lawrenson

Apr 27, 2017
3 min

Kevin O'Leary is no Donald Trump

Kevin O'Leary has exited the conservative leadership race. He did so quite unexpectedly. O'Leary was still the most likely candidate to win the leadership, even though he was under-performing what many had expected. In many ways Mr. Wonderful was best positioned to win this race. He was seen as having a strong economic message, he's able to connect with people, has high name recognition and was running against a group of “nobody's”. Many of the strengths of Donald Trump, bei

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Mercer Lawrenson

Mar 8, 2017
1 min

I don't like Steven Blaney

I'm not a fan of Steven Blaney. First off, he is running his campaign for Conservative leadership around attacking Maxime Bernier. That does not score any points in my books. And the way the former Public Safety Minster talks about security makes me think he's Canada's John McCain. Which in my books is the worst kind of politician. When he sees a problem he finds a big government hammer to hit it with. Some people like that. I don't. So I let a few of my thoughts fly in a M

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Mercer Lawrenson

Mar 7, 2017
1 min

I'm in the Huffington Post!

Last night twitter had a big fight about a meme that Bernier posted. Some people jumped to the conclusion that this was support for men's rights. The whole thing turned into a big mess. So I decided to put in my two cents. I grabbed a screen shot from a google search, and put it up. It did not go viral, but it's my most popular tweet by far. When I woke up in the morning I ended up on the Huffington Post and fell off my chair when I saw my tweet right I front of Andrew Coyne.

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Mercer Lawrenson

Feb 22, 2017
1 min

Brad Trost and the rise of homeschooling in politics.

About a month back, I got a chance to interview Canada's only homeschooled MP. I asked him about homeschooling and he said he would not mess with education (it's provincial responsibility under the constitution). But he said he would role up a parents' bill of rights, which I think is a good idea. He seemed to have moved on from that, because yesterday he released his education platform, which included a $1000 per child per year tax credits for all homeschoolers. While I opp

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Mercer Lawrenson

Jan 28, 2017
1 min

What is the best kind of trade in 2017?

So you have watched the US election with a mix of amusement and alarm. In general Trump seemed to be an idiot. But he seemed to have a point about trade. Bernie, and even Hillary, agreed. The right wingnuts and union leaders said the same thing. "We need to save jobs. We need to stop these deals that send jobs to the other side of the world." But a whole generation of both sides of the political aisle have been boosting free trade. So what is it? Do we need "Good deals" "No n

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Mercer Lawrenson

Jan 25, 2017
2 min

That Moment When

I have loved being on YouTube. It's a wonderful form of communication. And I have a fondness for communication. But sometime people (always older than me) question what the whole point of investing time, money, and such into a channel as this. I sometimes wonder too. Liberty Film has quite a lost mission at this point. So it leads us to talk about what we want to do, and not always see a clear goal that we are trying to reach. But this week I saw first hand what being a YouTu

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Mercer Lawrenson

Jan 14, 2017
1 min

I'm a card carrying member!

I'm a member of the conservative party of Canada. This gives me mixed feelings. I’m really into the leadership race, which is why I am a member. But because I know that political parties are the enemy's of freedom, (They confuse people) I don’t think boosting any big party is a good thing. I will likely not support the conservative candidate in my riding next election. So I’m not a big C conservative even though I’m a card carrying member. What else is new! This race is going

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Still aren't sure why Trump Won? This chart makes it clear.

Mercer Lawrenson

Jan 10, 2017
1 min

Still aren't sure why Trump Won? This chart makes it clear.

Have you not yet figured out how Romney lost the popular vote by 5 million, and Trump lost the popular by 3 million, but got a hundred more electoral college votes than Romney? You need to look no further than this chart. It shows how DJT lost votes compared with 2012 in the non-important states, but gained a large margin in the 13 states that where swingable. This was partly driven by a fluke of demographics, but Trump also ran in several states that HRC’s team could have wo

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Mercer Lawrenson

Nov 19, 2016
3 min

The Wisdom of Justin Trudeau

The Prime Minister of Canada is one of the most well-liked politicians in the world. Words like charm, charisma, handsome and bold come to mind when he is mentioned. His boldness has served him quite well. Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s son’s success in the last election hinged on moments when he was bolder than other political chieftains; such as when he called for the legalization of marijuana, or broke with the rest of the parties in saying he would run deficits, and also in s

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Mercer Lawrenson

Nov 8, 2016
2 min

I've Called the Election

I did not want to do this, and I'm not as sure about this call as my calls in the past, but I felt that I needed to let people know who would win. So here's my take. With the U.S. election campaign drawing momentarily to a close, humanity eagerly wants to put this whole fiasco behind us. Already we can see the breaking dawn of cheerier Facebook feeds and Trump-free newscasts ahead, but before all is said and done, I want to say a few words about the next president. Hillary C

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Mercer Lawrenson

Nov 5, 2016
1 min

How Does a Comeback Happen?

The Chicago Cubs came back from a deficit in the World Series to win in one of the most wild game sevens in history. Statisticians pointed out that that outcome had far less probability than a Donald Trump win. This thought, and the polls showing the presidential race as tight as it has been all year, worries a lot of people. Uncertainty is what fuels sports. It's also what has fuelled Donald Trumps run atop the media. He has remained the centre of attention for months. Th

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Mercer Lawrenson

Nov 1, 2016
1 min

Bashing the P.M.

Canada's first minister has took a turn for the worse recently, and the Mercer and Mogilevsky show has taken note. Here are the punches we threw at the Premier recently: Why you Need to Care about the Carbon Tax! Poverty is Sexist! Also, thanks for the support on this blog. I made eight posts on the month of October, and they were well received! So thanks for following the Mercer Report. #Videos #Politics

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Interview with Morris MLA Shannon Martin

Mercer Lawrenson

Jun 25, 2016
1 min

Interview with Morris MLA Shannon Martin

I was at the legislature on Friday and had a engaging talk with Shannon Martin. Here is the full unedited interview. #Manitoba2016 #Politics #Government #Videos

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Mercer Lawrenson

Jun 12, 2016
1 min

Some thoughts on the Brexit from the Federalist Papers

I just wanted the share some of my ideas on the Brexit with you. Let me know what you think about this style (and if you would like more videos of a less boring nature on The Mercer Report). Thanks to Caleb Mogilevsky for editing this video. #Politics #Videos #Government

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Mercer Lawrenson

May 19, 2016
1 min

Winnipeg March for Life

Here are some of the shots I got at the march for life on May 12. It was great to see so many out. I hope you enjoy seeing what it looked like at Winnipeg's 2016 March for Life. It's my first stab at video journalism, and I've got a long way to go. #Videos #Politics

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Mercer Lawrenson

Apr 19, 2016
1 min

Election Results Are In!

A MERCER REPORT EXCLUSIVE! Conservative landslide! In surprise pre-election news, The Mercer Report has received word from Elections Manitoba that today's result will be a PC super majority. Anonymous sources say that no matter what the real vote count is, Elections Manitoba will report a win, with over 50% of the vote for Brian Pallister's team. The reason given by the unnamed sources was that a large check was received from a Central American bank in exchange for the electi

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Mercer Lawrenson

Mar 25, 2016
1 min

CBC Vote Compass is out for the Manitoba Election

Want to get a feel for where you stand relative to the parties in the provincial election? Try out Vote Compass. As a policy wonk I find the questions to be rather shallow in this CBC evaluation tool, but over all it is worth your while to take the survey. Remember not put too much emphasis on which party you are placed closest to. These types of quizzes tend to come up with odd characterizations sometimes. Take the position test here, and if you really want to see my resu

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Mercer Lawrenson

Mar 15, 2016
1 min

The Candidates Debate! Well... hardly. :(

On Monday morning Tory commander Brian Pallister, NDP boss Greg Selinger, and Liberal muster pilot Rana Bokhari went on CJOB to “debate”. It was billed as a gloves off affair, with blood supposedly spattering the studio walls. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Premier, Liberal upstart, and PC leader all stuck to talking points, and focus group evaluated attacks. I was immensely disappointed. My expectations are not high--all I ask is for candidates to show a sembl

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Mercer Lawrenson

Dec 31, 2015
3 min

The Liberal Hair Products Equality Act

The New Liberal Hair Products Equality Act. Bill C-39 As parliament resumes in the new year, the new Liberal government plans to deal with one of Canada's biggest inequality gaps, the Mercer Report has learned. Leaked documents show that the issue of hair products inequality is finally going to receive comprehensive treatment by the Canadian government. P.E.T. made many strides towards complete equality in our nation, and Justin plans to finish the good work. Women in Canad

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