The Weekly Writ for Jan. 26

Setting up the return of the House, polls out of Ontario and Quebec, and a good day to pick a premier.

Welcome to the Weekly Writ, a round-up of the latest federal and provincial polls, election news and political trivia that lands in your inbox every Wednesday morning.

Today’s instalment of the Weekly Writ is a different one — for the first time since the fall of 2019 I’ve decided to take an honest-to-goodness vacation, though Omicron has scuppered any ambitious travel plans I might have had a few months ago when a little optimism could have been forgiven.

But I didn’t want to leave you short-changed in my absence. So, in the recurring segments of the Weekly Writ we’ll take a look at an upcoming Saskatchewan byelection, delve into a day that has been a popular time to pick a premier and mark an ominous milestone for the premier of Alberta.

Oh, I also need to follow-up on some Ontario and Quebec polls from last week.

First, though, I wanted to ring-in the upcoming return of the House of Commons by looking at some of the historical precedents for the leaders in the House — and whether that bodes well or ill for each of them.

Third time’s a charm for an NDP leader