Derek 2.0

Its simple Comrade Argus, after the NDP have chased off all the greedy corporations, transforming Canada into a agrarian society, we'll need masses of unskilled labor to work the fields of the collective farms We'll call it Tom's Great Leap Backward.........

Exactly, as is the majority of the NDP's socialist agenda.

Furthermore, four months ago the NDP was averaging in the low 20s, and the Liberals led the polling averages in the mid 30s.... as Newton said about opposite reactions.........inversely, the Tories have been within a 2-4% +/- average for nearly two years.......and of course, the Tories historically poll 3-5% below reality, and until very recently, the NDP's policies have been given a free ride........... Conservative 35-36% majority this fall...........some parties campaign to win opinion or popularity polls, others, elections...

Right, but the focus of the OP is doing a great disservice by forgetting the past........the closet Canada ever came was a brief period after the Second World War (~1947-1961)........barring a major shift on how Canadians viewed the World, I highly doubt it.....at best, we're the Costco for World Superpowers, past, present and into the future.

Economics and a strong military go hand in hand..........The British Empire didn't rule the waves by subbing out the French/Spanish/Dutch navies.....

What percent of Canadians have a University degree? 30%? And of those that are University educated, and choosing to vote NDP, how many are employed in their field of study as opposed to mixing drinks or serving coffee?

No, Mulcair stated bringing it into align with other G7 nations, which currently would translate into ~18-19%, or a 3-4% increase, not a 5-6% increase as thought my Mulcair.........

The NDP can't.......currently their promises will put us billions into the red, even with reversing personal tax cuts/credits and raising other taxes........

Who cares? ~50% of Canadians pay next to no taxes.......the Conservative path to a Majority this year requires ~34 1/2-35% of Canadians to not want to pay more taxes so others get free/cheap daycare........

Their competition, if also in Canada, pays the same rates, inversely will also increase their prices to correlate with an increased tax burden..... The Canadians that vote and will decide this election won't vote to increase their personal expenses, be it through the NDP's proposed reversal of various tax cuts and credits, an NDP tax on Carbon, or an indirect increase in the price of consumer goods.

Sure, but then, we're discussing the NDP's economic and tax policies.......simplistic...naive....damaging....whatever you want to call it.

Corporations don't actually pay taxes, as expenses are off loaded onto consumers...........likewise corporations just change tax jurisdictions to further reduce their burdens. Mulcair has to raise taxes to fund all of his socialist promises..........of course, Corporations don't vote in suburban Ontario, hence the folly of corporate tax increases. What is funny, Mulcair's two percentage point slip translates into billions of dollars.........The NDP's economic policy, what's a few billion here or there As I said several days ago above, the NDP's platform in the coming days, weeks and months is about to be riddled full of holes, by not only the Tories and Liberals, but also by economists and the media. The 5-10% of voting Canadians, that live within 20-25 ridings, that will decide this election, vote with their pocketbooks............hence a Tory Majority this Fall.........and you thought the Harper Tories were scared of the NDP, this is just the beginning.

Yes indeed, from this far out, I don't see how it wouldn't be a Bush ticket, with someone like a Rubio as the other half.

We will indeed..... ----- And so it begins: Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war............

Indeed.......The NDP will have a nasty fight from the Gerald Butts Trudeau Liberals in the Atlantic, greater Montreal and Toronto urban ridings......likewise a resurgent Bloc that will no doubt attack the NDP on its proposed binning of the Senate, in effect, cutting an influential voice for Quebec......I would also assume, based on their own party ties, that the Ontario Liberals will also lend support to the Trudeau Liberals....... And that is all before the NDP face the Tory war chest and ground game in the rest of Ontario and the West........I fully expect, following another Tory majority this Fall, a new Liberal Democrat party circa ~2017, building its own national machine in time for Prime Minister Jason Kenny in 2019

Harper is not the least bit afraid of the Mulcair NDP, as already said, the Tories want a fight on policy, namely tax cuts versus tax hikes and tax cut reversals......Mulcair is ever the showmen, that I don't discount, but he is propped up by socialist polices and reliant on Quebec.....and this will be his undoing.

I'm not hanging my hopes on anything but political fact.......despite the Provincial NDP win in Alberta, the Federal NDP are now only polling somewhat more competitive in 4-6 Federal Alberta seats, including the one they already hold, in Greater Edmonton and Lethbridge.....in the former, previous Federal Liberal "bastions" and in the later due in part to internal Tory squabbling in Jim Hillyer's former riding......despite this, a good night in Alberta for the Federal NDP will be retaining their current seat and picking up another 1-2.........That is until the connections between the Federal & Provincial NDP and their ties to anti-oil crusaders and the Tides foundation come to light in the coming weeks......Alberta's election of an NDP Government is best likened to them diving on the grenade for the rest of the country, as a result, a nationwide "teachable moment" on socialism. ----- Trudeau doesn't have an act to get together........as I was saying in years previous when you and a great many others expected a Trudeau majority Government this Fall ----- Harper hasn't shown weakness with regards to the debates (there will be debates, just not under the previous format), likewise both the Tories and NDP have agreed to take part in the new economically focused French TVA and English Maclean's debates....... ------ The Duffy/Senate affair is not registering with the public.....sorry.....Likewise, once reality in focused on Mulcair's plans for the Senate (in that he can't do what he promises), I would expect the entire Senate reform issue will garner little attention.......The election will focus on pocketbook issues, like already announced tax cuts (and several big ones to announced later this Summer/early September) by the Tories, and the new taxes proposed by the NDP: starting with the reversal of current tax cuts and credits, new capital gains taxes, and the oh so popular carbon tax ........ To paraphrase Chesty Puller's response to being surrounded by enemy forces: "All right, they're on our left, they're on our right....they're in front of us, they're behind us....they can't get away this time!!!" As I said, the Tories are giggling at the prospect of us versus the socialist NDP election..... If you don't believe me, ask yourself this: why have the Tories left the NDP alone? We have enough money to go after both the Trudeau Liberals and the NDP.........yet not a peep directed towards the NDP Clam before the storm.......

The Harper Conservatives have had a negative media focus on them going into the the last several elections.......I'd be worried if it was otherwise......Less than a year ago the Trudeau Liberals where well ahead of both the Tories and NDP.....so what's your point? Likewise, going into the last several elections, the Tories have historically polled ~3-5% lower than the historic outcomes, I don't expect this trend to reverse itself, hence why I pay little attention to private polling versus internal party polling.......with the 30 new seats, which the Tories will win at least 2/3rds, the the political calculus for a Tory Majority is somewhere between ~34-35% of the vote, with the Quebec reliant NDP and Liberals at ~37%+ percent......... With the recent numbers and the downward trend in Liberal fortunes, its unlikely they could even become the Official Opposition. With the NDP, their numbers will halt and decline once the party and media focus shifts onto them, likewise the unexpected Duceppe redux, which has already resulted in a ~10% shift in the Bloc's favor (currently mostly at the Liberals, Greens and Tories expense) too will pose trouble for the Mulcair NDP.....fore they will have to run a two-front campaign, one promising gum-drops and sunshine to the rest of Canada, and another to maintain his base within Quebec.....the last Federal party so reliant on Quebec was Mulroney's PCs and we all know how that turned out...and now Mulcair wants to wade in the same waters that Mulroney did to his own peril with the Senate.... NDP supporters should soak this in now and enjoy it well it lasts, but they will (sometime late this Summer) be on the end of an onslaught by a Liberal party with a restocked war chest in the Atlantic provinces, the Liberals and now Bloc in Quebec, the Liberals in greater Toronto and the deep pockets of the Tories in the the rest of Ontario and the West.......... The result will be a Tory Majority and the eventual merger of a stronger NDP with a rump of the remaining left leaning Liberals, and a focus on 2019....

More so that the Tories are grounded in reality..........for instance, the NDP's promise to ditch the Senate. When the SCC says all ten Provinces must agree, and with only one that wants the see it go (Saskatchewan), Mulcair is embarking on a fools errand, doubly so when the largest base of the NDP's support (Quebec) will fight to tooth and nail see the Senate remain.......Mulroney learned the hard about attempting to herd cats with Meech Lake, Mulcair's promise, though lofty, is stillborn......and like many of their other polices, this will become evident once the political focus shifts to the NDP..... And don't be fooled, Mulcair is just as nasty as Harper and would be a force to reckon with if he had a more centrist Liberal Party of Canada behind him. By all means bookmark it (or my many other posts over the last several years here stating as much) and we'll revist October 20th+ We want to campaign against the socialists as opposed to a hype driven idol, far more predictable outcome on election day......

Less than a year ago, you, and many others felt Trudeau would win a Majority this Fall........where are the Liberal's now? Inversely, when was the last attack add you've seen against the NDP or a negative comment in the media about their policies? That will change soon, so to will their apparent popularity peak...... Please, continue to discount the Harper Tories, but you're setting yourself up for a let-down this Fall......A ~170-180 seat Harper Majority will be the result......

Mulcair and the NDP, to date, have been given (by design) a largely free ride by not only the other parties, but by the media and economists alike...Once their platform is given further scrutiny (end of Summer) they will come back into factual orbit..........We (Conservatives) want to campaign against "social-democrats" on an national scale any day of the week, after all, an election encompassing policy versus personal media driven popularity is our strong suit, right in Prime Minister Harper's wheelhouse.

And so they should heed your advice:

Not the slightest, I'm quite content with the NDP polling well now and helping to displace the Trudeau Liberals as the anti-Harper vote. Likewise, once the Liberals are no longer a factor (late Summer?), as a Tory, I'll be confident in the Tories ability to further sway Canadians in a CPC-NDP race........

Don't get me wrong, I still think Lang should have been turfed too......

To be honest, I haven't got a clue why......My political interest in Quebec waned in the late 80s, and since, Quebec has been a political mistress best avoided for the political right...... With that, I would assume several things that might be a factor. First, no Jack Layton, in that Duceppe might not have been disliked, just not liked as much as Layton. Inversely Mulcair could be seen as a something rotten in Denmark representing the "left" what with being a former Charest cabinet member?? Also, from an extreme left vantage, perhaps for some, today's NDP and Liberals don't respect "Quebec's values"....ie, Liberal support of C-51 and the NDP' recanting on bringing back the LGR?? One thing is certain, both the NDP and Liberals path to power is through Quebec.......a resurgent Bloc won't help their cause.