Jerry J. Fortin

I like the slogan, its simple and to the point. Consider that the country needs solutions to problems. When you think about it, there are many things that many folks think should have been done better. The slogan says that.

Wilbur, move over and let me stand beside you. We need some changes to enhance the system.

Well for starters, the tag line to this campaign has already been labeled "We can do better". By itself that statement leads the average citizen to think that at the very least the plan calls for improvements to the current state of affairs. From there we can see an alternative way of doing things for the citizens that don't think we are doing well enough right now. Keep in mind that the loss of thousands of jobs in the manufacturing sector will not go well for the Conservative party. Those job losses will not simply stop, they will continue for a while yet and that means EI issues. Again not something that looks good for the Conservatives. So with one simple statement the Liberals provide the foundation for a solid campaign of positive vision. Harper is left with tweaking all the parts of the government that are not working well, including programs and service delivery. Once again this is an area that doesn't look good for the Conservatives. Harper is going to have to justify his actions with the public whereas Iggy simply says there is a better way to do all this stuff. This time around the incumbent has the heavy lifting to do and the opposition can simply point at the problems or offer solutions the government hasn't explored. The positive vision that Iggy is putting out there is simply on the other side of the street from the reality of day to day governance and is very likely the easiest way to uproot the Conservative government.

Those are the areas to watch, there is just no doubt of it. We need to keep in mind that the breakdown of support is lacking in the published stats. They don't tell you where the respondents are from and it is important to understand that fact. Rural Ontario tends to vote Conservative and urban tends to vote Liberal. The south tends to go Liberal and the north tends to go Conservative. The same kind of thing applies in Quebec, where their demographics tend to swing toward English votes splitting between Liberals and Conservative and the French going the way of the Bloc with the area around Montreal being considered urban and Liberal/Conservative to a great degree. So the statistics are swung by where folks respond from even within the provinces that are being polled. These things are known issues with statistics and they need to be taken with a lot of salt.

Wouldn't that be nice. It is a good solution for our current problems, take away the non-confidence motion.

Interesting sure, but definitive not. There is only one poll that counts, the general election. Who knows what the future will bring? The twists and turns have not yet begun. There will be attacks and visions for the public to digest before long. At this point it is a little early to be picking a winner, but the one thing that is sure is that the public will get an earfull very soon.

Good then you will have noticed that they change their positions from time to time. The thing to do is wait until the platforms are set and then judge them accordingly.

I agree. The fact is that the Liberals are ahead of the Conservatives in both provinces.

The point I am trying to make is that we need to decide who to vote for based on what they are saying. It is all we have to judge them with.

Just keep in mind that the public places much trust in what the media says.

To a very real degree it is all about what Iggy wants. He is the one that will ultimately decide whether or not to call the election.

The experiment is failing dude. Do you really think that citizens are happy? Do you think they want this election? Do you think that citizens are happy with the political parties we have? You are very idealistic, that is both to be expected and to be respected yet it is not a condition you will likely retain. The older you get the more pessimistic you get. That is because you get to see first hand how the system works and how much it costs to deliver what it does.

The important numbers are from Ontario and Quebec. Harper can't afford to lose seats in either place, and the polls suggest that is what is going to happen.

Most Canadians will say that we have many social programs but that we are not a socialist nation. I would be one of them. I will also say that we are a nanny state with cradle to grave benefits and a population that believes they have a large number of entitlements that the government is required to deliver. The NDP keep saying it is so. The NDP needs to take a step back from the edge and start planning how to get Canadians to warm to the idea of labour having a say at the table.

I will give Iggy this, at least he has a positive view of the future. At least he has some vision of where he wants to see the nation going by means of a charted pathway to prosperity. Iggy is looking beyond the short term problems we have in his position, perhaps the only candidate to do so.

The election hasn't even been called yet and folks are trying to pick the winner based on partisan ideology. Don' t you folks think we need to hear what these partisan groups are saying they will do first? I mean really folks the platforms are not clearly defined yet, so how do make an informed choice?

If Iggy wants to move into 24 Sussex with a majority he will have to get another 15 points in the polls or form a coalition of the opposition parties. It all depends on what he wants. The thing is, he will likely be moving in 24 Sussex either way.

The debt and the deficit are two fingers of one hand. That same hand has a finger for spending and a thumb to hold onto the spending habits called a bureaucracy. The wrist can change its public perception of a change of direction but the fact remains the fact that we are in debt up to the eyeballs.

The Liberals will gain many seat in Ontario, the EI thing must be remembered.

Argus the left screams evil and the right screams evil, and there is always finger pointing going on. There is no middle ground and the so called centre is merely an illusion. That is why we have the problems we have. There is no single group smart enough to find the common ground because there are all trying to outflank each other. They all want to be different from each other. The smart move is to take a little from all of the positions and build on that. Yet we are missing an important ingredient and that is calm passion. There is no love for this country anymore. It has been split and divided several times over. French verses English, rural verses urban, men verses women, citizen verse immigrant and so on. We are now a nation of multi's instead of a nation of uni's, we have built in division instead of inclusion.

I agree completely with you.

Not I .........

My small town has gained three doctors from South Africa. The simple fact is that the citizens here appreciate their new doctors and respect them. The doctors in return treat us well. The truth is that they feared for their live back home so they have mad this their new home.

Well folks its safe to say that the one political ploy unveiled in recent memory that activated a little public debate was in fact the concept of a coalition last winter. Now you can say what you want but folks were in fact engaged. It was polarizing and it was lively. The thing is that most Canadians belong to no political party and that the largest single demographic is the undecided or unaffiliated citizen. Of that group there is of course the apathetic voter who simple does not participate in the process at all. Now even a bunch of those dudes were talking about the coalition, some for and some against but they were at least talking! The one issue where all folks can find some grounds of agreement is their hate for high levels of taxation. The big tent has room for all! The way to power in Canada is to find things that are inclusive not exclusive. Any political group can use this strategy to acquire support, but it will take a combination of balls and brains to do it. Once you head down that path there is no going back because your support will evaporate, that is why it isn't done in Canada. Even so, it needs to get done and the rewards could be huge. They politicians need to find out not only where the band is playing in terms of public support, but they need to find out what song is playing and they need to learn how to play it well to attract the citizens.

The battle has yet to see the first shot fired. We are running on pure speculation at the moment. This time strategy will be everything, and timing will be a key factor in the tactical release of political information such as party platforms and government announcements. There is no party with any kind of functional lead in the polls. The numbers look very strange right now and are skewed six ways from Sunday. It depends on who you are listening to. My best guess is that Iggy will become the next Prime Minister.