Sept. 13, 2019
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched Canada’s 43rd general election on Sept. 11. Election Day is scheduled for Oct. 21.

The Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP), a research centre at Wilfrid Laurier University that studies issues pertaining to the creation, use and representation of public opinion in the policy process, will be publishing seat projections at least weekly until election day. On Sept. 12, LISPOP projections showed the Liberal Party leading with 161 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 135 seats, the New Democrats with 21, the Bloc Quebecois with 13, the Green Party with 6, and one each for the People's Party and an Independent. 

Wilfrid Laurier University has many experts available to speak about the election and related topics.

Politics, elections and polling

Barry Kay is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. He is an expert on Canadian and U.S. politics, elections and public opinion and the Middle East. He is available to comment on electoral systems, public opinion polls, single-issue interest groups and seat projections. 

Simon Kiss is an expert on political communication, environmental politics and party politics. He is available for comment on the political role played by the Canadian news media; environmental risk perception and management; and social democratic politics and parties. Contact: skiss@wlu.ca.

John Milloy is an assistant professor at Martin Luther University College and the Practitioner-in-Residence in Laurier's Department of Political Science. He is a former advisor to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien with extensive national campaign experience. He entered public life as a Member of the Ontario Legislature from 2003-2014. During that time, John served in a variety of Cabinet posts. His research areas include public ethics, parliamentary and political reform, citizen engagement, and politics and religion. Having served as House Leader during a minority government in Ontario, John has detailed knowledge of the workings of a minority parliament. Contact: jmilloy@luther.wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x3853.

Andrea Perrella is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science. He is an expert on political participation, electoral politics, voting, public opinion of public health, and Canadian politics, particularly in Ontario and Quebec. Contact: aperrella@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x2719.

Jason Roy is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and director of the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP). He is an expert on political behaviour, voting, elections, public opinion and Canadian politics. He is available for comment on how people form political preferences, negativity in election campaigns, the significance of local candidates, and the impact of pre-election polls on voting behaviour. Contact: jroy@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x3724. Read more about his research.

Geoffrey Stevens is a political science instructor and writer. He was formerly Queen's Park bureau chief, Ottawa columnist and managing editor for The Globe and Mail as well as managing editor for Maclean's. His weekly column on politics appears in Torstar and Metroland newspapers, including the Waterloo Region Record. He is available for comment on Ontario politics, backroom politics and political journalism. Contact: geoffstevens40@gmail.com or 519.621.4822.

Brian Tanguay is a professor in the Department of Political Science. He is an expert on political parties and party systems, including the transformation of social democratic (NDP) and nationalist (Parti Québécois) parties in Canada; electoral reform in liberal democracies; and language and political identity, particularly in Quebec. Contact: btanguay@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x3663.

Economic policy, labour and taxation

Jason Dean is an instructor in the Department of Economics. He is an expert in labour economics and the economics of immigration. He can speak about topics related to employment, wages and taxation. Contact: jadean@wlu.ca.

Ellen Russell, associate professor in Laurier’s Faculty of Liberal Arts, is an economist and expert on labour, public policy, wage trends and growing inequality. She is available to comment on the economic, political and cultural factors impacting workers in recent decades, particularly related to worker bargaining power and real wages. She was formerly senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and has regularly commented on economic issues in the media. Contact: erussell@wlu.ca. Read more about her research.

Tracy Snoddon is an expert in public economics, public policy, federal-provincial fiscal relations, and the fiscal dimensions of climate change policy, including carbon pricing. Contact: tsnoddon@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x2673.

Environmental policy

Simon Dalby is a Laurier Geography professor who teaches at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). He is an expert on governance, security and climate change. In particular, his research has focused on climate change and geopolitics, popular representations of climate change and the strategies used in the media, and the debate about the Anthropocene era and its implications for politics and policy. He is the author of Creating the Second Cold War: The Discourse of Politics; Environmental Security; and Security and Environmental Change and the co-editor of Reframing Climate Change: Constructing Ecological Geopolitics. Contact: sdalby@gmail.com

Professor Robert McLeman, of Laurier’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, can speak about Canadian climate policy, particularly in terms of impacts, adaptation, and the consequences of inaction. He is an expert on the human dimensions of climate change, including the relationship between the environment and human migration, community adaptation to climatic variability and change, and citizen participation in environmental science. He is currently serving as a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change synthesis report on climate change vulnerability, impacts and adaptation. Contact: 519.884.0710 x2653 or rmcleman@wlu.ca.

Debora VanNijnatten, associate professor in the departments of Political Science and North American Studies, is an expert on Canada-U.S. relations and environmental and climate change politics and policy. Contact: dvannijnatten@wlu.ca. Read more about her research.

Randall Wigle, professor in Laurier’s Department of Economics and at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, is an expert on Canadian climate policy and environmental economics, especially the linkages between federal and provincial action. He uses general equilibrium modelling to simulate the world economy’s response to environmental and trade policies. Contact: 226.772.3164 or rwigle@wlu.ca. He is available before Sept. 17 and after Oct. 1.

Health policy

Ketan Shankardass is an expert on policy approaches to improving public health and health equity. He is available for comment about the impact of specific policies on population health, health equity issues, and the role of chronic stress on health. Contact: kshankardass@wlu.ca.

Indigenous rights and resource management

Miguel Sioui is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. He is an expert on Indigenous knowledges, Indigenous land-use and environmental management, particularly in eastern and northern Ontario, northern Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Yucatan, Mexico. Contact: msioui@wlu.ca or 819.639.1789.

Darren Thomas is a lecturer in the Indigenous Studies program and a PhD candidate in community psychology. He is an expert on Indigenous rights, self-determination and resource governance and has studied how Indigenous communities are consulted prior to development, such as in the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario. Contact: dthomas@wlu.ca or 519.756.8228 x5773. Read more about his research.

Security and defence policy

Alistair Edgar is the associate dean of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and was the executive director of the Academic Council on the United Nations System from 2003 to 2018. He is an expert on UN peacekeeping, peacebuilding and international security, and can speak about issues related to Canadian security and defence policy, NATO and defence industrial base policies. Contact: aedgar@wlu.ca or 226.772.3167.

Social policy

Lea Caragata, professor in Laurier’s Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work, is an expert on social welfare policy and poverty. She is available for comment on food security in Canada, issues affecting low-income single mothers, social housing and the democratization of public space. Contact: lcaragata@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x5219.