What Will It Take for Conservatives to Win Urban Canada?

With Karen Stintz, former Toronto city councillor and 2025 federal candidate What happens when Conservatives run a strong urban campaign, knock on thousands of doors, and still fall short by 1.4%? This week on Craft Politics, we sit down with Karen Stintz, a political veteran who nearly flipped Eglinton–Lawrence, one of the toughest ridings in the country for Conservatives to crack. She brings the hard-earned lessons from the 2025 campaign trail—and they’re ones the entire movement needs to hear. In this episode: 🗳 What Karen’s close race reveals about urban voters’ shifting priorities 📉 Why the collapse of the NDP didn’t lead to a Conservative win 🏙 The myth that urban voters “just don’t get” conservatism—and how to break it 📺 The power of legacy media in big cities (and why it still shapes the ballot question) 🤝 Why it’s time for Conservatives to stop fighting and start making friends and allies Plus: 🚨 We debate the missed opportunity for compassionate conservatism on homelessness and addiction 🇨🇦 Karen delivers a stinging critique: “How did we let patriotism slip away from us?” 🧱 Should the rebuilding of urban conservatism start at the municipal level? And don’t miss: 🎤 A surprise drop-in from Andrew Percy, live from being eaten alive by Ottawa’s mosquitoes after attending the King’s Speech 🦝 Joseph’s failed political dreams of running a raccoon-free campaign for Mayor of Toronto 📰 An issue scan covering: • Charles III’s parliamentary visit • Carney’s single mandate letter • Reform UK’s lurch leftward to challenge Labour • And why CEO turnover is a sleeper political story 🔊 Listen now if you want to understand why urban ridings are still so hard to win—and what it’s going to take to change that.