Thursday, March 31, 2011

Coalition To Face Wrath: 1984 Blue Wave?

Liberals look to max-out the Canadian taxpayer credit card with billions while partner NDP leader suggests Canadians should have low-fee credit cards? Do the NDP strategist understand low interest credit cards already exist? “If we want Quebec to become a country we have to have a majority in Ottawa representing Quebecers and we also have to have a sovereignist government in Quebec,” Duceppe said. Any wonder why Canadians are turned off by the out of touch politicians?

A telltale sign the opposition parties are in trouble is where they are spending time and who they attack. The Liberals are visiting ridings they currently hold and lost in 2008. Are Liberals stuck in defending Toronto, Montreal and lower mainland in BC? The NDP and Bloc look to pick off the Liberals in the lower mainland BC and Montreal.
Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics 

Shrewd political judgment had not become endemic to the Martinites, as they showed the following October when they refused to make another deal with Jack Layton. Layton was pressing for more commitments on health care in return for helping the Liberals beat off another expected Conservative non-confi dence attack. It was not for lack of money, as Finance Minister Goodale demonstrated a few weeks later with the $39 billion in spending commitments that he announced in his Economic and Fiscal Update of November 14. Clearly the men and women running the Martin shop felt they could call Stephen Harper’s bluff and take to the hustings. This was not to be the only sign of the Martin group’s overconfi dence, but it was the crucial miscalculation that abandoned its much safer position in government and exposed it to the vicissitudes of electoral combat when the media would give as much coverage to the three opposition parties’ attacks on the governing party as to its pleas for continued public support.  


...under Michael Ignatieff, the Liberals are in even worse shape going into an election in Quebec than they were under Stéphane Dion in September 2008, when they were at 16 per cent.
The Liberals' 18 per cent score in the Léger poll would break down to about 14 per cent among francophones, still nothing to write home about, but twice their francophone score in the CROP.
But both polls tell essentially the same story - francophone Quebec determines outcomes in about 60 of Quebec's 75 seats, and with scores like these, the Liberals would lose every one of them.

The Conservatives unleash their own secret weapon against the Ignatieff led coalition in a Winnipeg rally. Are the conservatives having too much fun on this campaign? I have watched clips of our PM delivers take out some time to watch a cricket match, play ping pong and perform a duet with a Gaga superfan who has become a celebrity on Youtube and American talkshows. All this publicity can't be good for the strategists in the coalition. The coalition chatter continues as defections and endorsements are making their rounds in the Ontario battleground.  


Popular candidates are coming out for the Conservatives  in the 905 and 416,  Mississauga-Brampton. A game changer in Newfoundland as our PM delivers on the promise to provide loans for Lower Churchill Falls. the emergence of Loyola Sullivan, John Ottenheimer and, quite possibly, Trevor Taylor as federal Conservative candidates, we could see three of Williams' former cabinet ministers running on a Harper-led ticket. At least two possibly three seats are up for grabs? This project will assist the Atlantic provinces and the north eastern states lower their use of fossil fuel. Anyone expect May or Suzuki to heap praise?
In the past five days I have been watching our PM take time out  in his campaign to remind us about the Liberal coallition and their tax and spend partners much to the chagrin of the Liberal friendly media. They seem to have difficulty with the Conservative messaging and warning to Canadians about the failed coup in 2008. In December Ignatieff signalled he would not support any Conservative budget. The Bloc followed up with a five billion dollar pay-off to avoid an election. The NDP almost waited for the finance minister to read the budget before signalling they would not be able to support the additional spending of nearly two billion as not enough.

The media should be careful about picking their winners. Canadians expect unbiased coverage from the news outlets. The opinions shows should be clear about their partisan views.

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