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May was a busy month for Canadian political bloggers. It was difficult to keep up with the latest gaffe, controversy or scandal courtesy of your local conservative politician — especially for those on the West Coast, shellshocked as they were in the wake of yet another electoral victory by Christy Clark’s B.C. Liberals. Here’s what you may have missed this month:

Christopher Majka caught up with NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair early this month in a candid and comprehensive interview. It’s rare to find the Leader of the Opposition so willing to talk so thoroughly on so many issues. Absolutely this month’s must-read for NDP apparatchiks: The mind of Mulcair: The leader of the NDP on energy, climate change, and electoral reform.

Rob Ford was grist for the progressive news mill this month, but in an exceptional entry, Michael Laxer was able to avoid the shoot-fish-in-a-barrel temptation and expose the right-wing politics which underwrite the crackgate scandal: Dangerous addictions: Toronto, right-wing hypocrisies and Rob Ford. Make sure you also caught David Taub Bancroft and David Climenhaga weighing in.

Christy Clark’s B.C. Election victory caught the province by surprise — and providing a particular painful defeat for anyone hoping for a new direction after May 14. But Blogs Coordinator Michael Stewart saw two hopeful signs in the tea leaves of defeat: Eby and Heyman offer answers to NDP heartbreak. Meanwhile, Nathan Crompton at The Mainlander asked some tough questions of Adrian Dix’s losing campaign.

The casual $90,000 gift between friends, Mike Duffy and Nigel Wright (did I mention he’s Stephen Harper’s Chief-of-Staff? Sorry, was) also provided plenty of political meat this month. Elizabeth May made some startling allegations in Stephen Harper needs to answer for Mike Duffy, while David Climenhaga points the finger directly where it belongs–at the top: (Prime) ministerial responsibility and all that … surely the wrong man has quit! And rabble.ca Editor Derrick O’Keefe opined about the bizarre defence strategy by a Harper Government mired in scandal, asking: What does ‘means’ mean? Harper, the media and a growing scandal’s unanswered questions.

Oh. And it turns out the Conservative Party of Canada was found guilty of electoral fraud. Oops. The Council of Canadians, unlike Stephen Harper, kind of think that’s a big deal: Election fraud finding by Federal Court points directly at Conservative Party.

And by the way, Iglika Ivanova on the Progressive Economics Blog reminds us, child poverty? Still a problem: Child poverty rampant in Canadian cities.

Finally, Feminist Current guest-blogger Karen Ingala Smith wrote a powerful rejoinder to the popular anti-feminist response to critiques of male violence: This thing about male victims. Mandatory reading.

 

Photo: flickr/stephen_dyrgas