The Candidate
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 8, 2017 7:01 PM | Last Updated: May 9, 2017
Noah Richler
During the 2015 federal election, approximately 1,200 political campaigns were held across Canada. One of those campaigns belonged to author, journalist and political neophyte Noah Richler. Recruited by the NDP to run in the bellwether riding of Toronto-St Paul's, he was handed $350 and told he would lose. But as veteran NDP activists and social-media-savvy newbies joined his campaign, Richler found himself increasingly insulated from the stark reality that his campaign was flailing, imagining instead that he was headed to Parliament Hill.
In The Candidate, Richler recounts his time on the trail in sizzling detail and hilarious frankness, from door knocking in Little Jamaica to being internet-shamed by experienced opponents. The Candidate lays bare what goes on behind the slogans, canvassing and talking points, told from the perspective of a political outsider. With his signature wit and probing eye, Noah Richler's chronicle of running for office is insightful, brutally honest and devastatingly funny. (From Doubleday Canada)
From the book
Less than two weeks to go, and too many conversations at the door are marred, now, by indifference and even boredom. People have made up their minds. The election campaign has been going on for too long and if, on the one hand, the extended campaign has served my team (and especially unknowing me) well, it is, on the other hand, going on three weeks too long for the NDP at large.
From The Candidate by Noah Richler ©2016. Published by Doubleday Canada.