Posc Student

The chances of a Conservative majority is drifting further away by the day so hopefully Harper will resign as leader soon. If he does I will be happy to get a Conservative membership and vote in an upcoming convention. Peter Mackay, Bernard Lord, Christian Paradis, Tony Clement, John Baird and James Moore are all potential leadership candidates that I could support, there are probably others as well. I would probably like to see an Atlantic Canadian take the post though.

The Liberals still have a strong brand and could rebuild, they were at 32% a few weeks ago. I think they need to get rid of a lot of their MPs and have a policy shift, they are no longer at the centre.

I really like him to, from what I've seen of him I'd say we are pretty close ideologically. He tweeted today about having a fiscally conservative government that invested in social programs that was green and so on and I thought it was great, it's why I thought of him as a leader. He's mentioned before to about how Canada may need a new party that is in the centre, but why create a new centrist party when you can use an already strong name like the Liberals and just rebuild.

Andrew Coyne!

I don't no why I'm bothering to respond to you but the fact is the last polling done before the election showed them several percent higher and there rise is very similar to what is happening with the NDP. I don't no what the fact that their policies are closer to the Liberals has to do with anything because it's not the point I was making.

I'm not sure they ended up winning less seats then they did in the previous election. Their support peaked mid campaign fell slightly and then dropped from the polls to the polling booth.

People should remember that in last years' British election the Liberal Democrats dropped between 3% to 5% from the final opinion polls to the election results, the lowest level they had seen since the begining of the campaign.

People shouldn't be forced to vote, what if you don't support any of the parties running in your area? There was only four names on my ballot and while I like the candidate I voted for I still hated voting for any of them.

I don't think any of them will make a good Prime Minister.

There are still a number of moderate conservatives within the Conservative caucus. I think under the leadership of a Progressive Conservative the party would seem much different, there were always right-wing nut jobs in PC caucuses. The Conservative have managed to lure some Liberals to their party over the last few years. I think we need a majority so we see exactly what the Conservative party is going to be.

While I'm no fan of Harper he ran the two longest miniority governments in Canadian histroy.

I doubt the "natural governing party" would want a few cabinet seats in an NDP government. You'd see Liberals crossing over to the Conservatives I think.

Agreed. There are many Liberals who would rather prop up the Conservatives then the NDP, the Liberals may still be the official opposition after May 2, though.

All seat projectors are now screwed up becuase of what is happening in Quebec. The NDP may very well get 53 seats next week, I doubt it but it could happen.

I think a few people might be surprised when they get to the ballot box and Jack Layton's name is no where to be seen. Eric at 308 has an article this morning talking about the NDP in Quebec and he doubts that it is possible for them to get a large number of seats there. The NDP have said they only have about 6 or 8 ridings where they are really well organized, and that will make a difference come election day. There are many people who may like the idea of voting for the NDP, or Jack Layton's party, but when you get in the voting booth and have a choice between an NDP candidate, who you may have never heard of and who could be a university student from another city, or an incumbent from another party I think that's when a number of people may decide against the NDP. I think you'll see the party's strong candidates get elected but I have my doubts if the candidates they put in ridings just to say that had 308 candidates will get elected.

The party's poll numbers may be surging but does it mean they can win seats, specifically in Quebec?

The NDP getting in the 90 plus seat range is all based on them getting upwards to 50 seats in Quebec, do people think that could actually happen?

Unlikely but you never know. Why should she have had to win a seat before running for leader? Mulroney had never held a seat when he became leader and look how well he did in the 1984 election, and Chretien wasn't an MP when he became leader. Someone from outside the party might be exactly what they need.

Why doesn't anyone ever give suggesstions on the next leaders?

Lets see if the "NDP" momentum, which I think is Layton momentum and yes there's a difference, holds up on election day. I'd love to see Harper resign no matter the outcome, majority, minority, second party or third party, I'll be on the Conservative website ASAP buying a membership. Some of my choices in no particular order would be: Peter MacKay - only started liking him recently. Christian Paradis - a moderate Quebecker would be good for the party, though he's had his controversies lately. Tony Clement - I like that he actually has a personality. John Baird - I think he's a great MP and Minister, his well known pitbull image may be hard for people to foget. James Moore - One of my favourites. Bernard Lord - Don't know a whole lot about him but he seems like he could be a good choice. There's others I've thought of I'm sure. I'd like a good moderate conservative, no social conservative. My fear is that Harper junior will be picked, aka Jason Kenney.

I think five weeks would be enough if 75% of Canadians were as in tune with politics as the people are on these forum but for those who don't follow politics it can be pretty quick. I like the idea of a slower pace campaign that is probably 7 weeks, it would be nice to see the leaders actually spend more time in the provinces and travel to more areas to listen to more Canadians.

I doubt there are many leaders who work harder then any other. There's so much going on behind the scenes to really know how hard they are working anyways.

Jack Layton has stated many many many times that he is going to be the next prime minister, he runs a campaign on forming government. His platform is supposedly what he'd do if the NDP formed government not what they'd try to lobby for if they were the second, third or fourth party.

I don't have a hate for Jack Layton, I'm not a big fan but all our leaders suck. I was just brining up the fact that two weeks ago he released a platform and over the weekend he sent out a press release saying that he can't afford all his policies. Is it not a lie? For your information punked I will likely be voting later today for my NDP candidate.

Jack is flip flopping on policies he put in his platform 2 weeks ago, people seem to think he is so honest but if you put him in power he is going to be break promises just like any other politician. You socialist think he is some god and that he is so different then Harper or Ignatieff because he has some charisma but he is not.