maldon_road

They have one seat, Outremont, originally won in a by-election. With this upsurge in polls Gatineau looks good for them and, maybe, Hull-Aylmer and Westmount-Ville-Marie.

That's an issue that has received a lot of debate in the labor movement - do you put a lot of people on part-time work or layoff junior employees? I don't think there is a right answer.

I hope the Liberals never try to distinguish between a "layoff" and "mandatory days of unpaid leave". What the Liberals do not need is an old-timer as a new leader. Rae belongs to the dinosaurs - John McCallum, Anita Neville, Marlene Jennings, Ralph Goodale etc. If they have to ditch Iggy, which seems likely, at least put a new face in there, not someone from another era.

Let's not forget Rae Days - enforced layoffs of public servants. By the time the Tories had done a job on Rae's record the Liberals would have trouble getting 50 seats.

Politicians' sins always seem to have a habit of coming back to haunt them. Kennedy would be okay. Leblanc's a lightweight. And of course there is Martha Hall Findlay

There is a real possibility that Iggy will get the boot unless the Libs gain a significant number of new seats, which is not likely. Bob Rae? Controversial figure. Few will remember how divisive he was as Ontario premier as I do - I still have scars over the Bill 40 wars to prove it. But you can be sure the Tories and NDP will let the public know. The presumptive leader in waiting is Justin Trudeau, a man with a shadow of his father's intellect and someone who cannot point to any achievements in his term as an MP. Of course he is young - maybe the plan is to let Rae fail as Dion and Iggy have done and then crown Trudeau.

And I do too. On another thread I opined that Layton was the best of the three anglo leaders in the debate. I just don't think his increased votes will result in any more seats than the one he has already in Quebec.

I don't think there is any doubt that among the Anglos Iggy and Layton gained at the expense of Harper.

I watched the debate and to the extent that debates mean anything, Duceppe will keep about the same number of seats as before. Might pick up Papineau thus denying the Libs a new leader. Layton was the best of the others - that means more votes, not more seats. Ignatieff was better than in English but not enough to do the Libs any good. Harper was robotic. He'll have to get his majority elsewhere.

If there was a winner it was Layton who performed well. But we have to ask ourselves - do debates really matter? If they do the NDP should be the beneficiary of any Bloc supporters looking for a new home. The Tories might have expected some more seats in Quebec but that was never really in the cards. I don't think a majority is out of the question but looking bleaker each day as the polls start to tighten up.

And he didn't help himself in the debate either. He was less emotional than in English and addressed policy but still let Layton get under his skin. He needed a really good performance which he didn't give. http://www.ottawasun.com/news/decision2011/2011/04/13/17986856.html Only issues left are whether Harper can get a majority and whether Iggy can get enough seats to keep his job.

I don't care whether people walk down the street with their faces covered, be it an Islamic veil or a Joe Clark mask, so long as they remove them when they need to, which could be in a bank, airport or government office.

What I suspect StatsCan will do if it remains a voluntary form - as I expect - is to take the returns they have and create the largest possible sample to reflect the country as a whole and that will be the 2011 census. And it will be completely accurate.

Will we see another Lawrence Cannon moment? I watched the Question Period where Cannon valiantly defended the decision not to finance birth control in their maternal health plan. Two hours later Harper says, "Oh, yeah, we'll pay for birth control".

What they need is an individual whose first words will be: "A voluntary census will be just as accurate as a mandatory one".

What the Liberal Party needs is a leader who doesn't sound like a condescending academic. Of course with four parties (Libs, NDP, BLOC, Greens) essentially all going after the same vote the Tories start every election with an edge.

When you head up a party with the likes of Pat Martin and Libby Davies in it all you have to offer is arrogance and superciliousness.

No fear of an election. Both the Bloc and the NDP know the Libs will prop up the government until their leadership convention. Dion has already said he will not defeat the government over the Speech from the Throne. What Layton was doing was that mainstay of politics - "a meaningless gesture".

No more than Harper allows his religious beliefs to seep into his politics. Ever since he became leader of the CPC he has made it clear that he will not try to restrict abortion. He's keeping politics and religion separate.

This writer thinks that McCain might help his chances of winning if he appoints a "shadow cabinet".

If you go to RealClearPolitics you can see a downward trend in Obama's lead. Currently it's an Obama lead of 4.9pp. Of course the war won't be won at the national level. It will be what happens state-by-state.

I'm not sure who will win but I think a lot of people will have second thoughts about Obama (limited experience, too liberal) and by the time November 4th rolls around it will be too close to call.

It doesn't help either that McCain is starting to look and sound like a tired old man, right in the middle of the worst economic crisis in decades.

I'm not ready to call it quits. The race seems to be tightening up, based on polls over the last couple of days. The states declared as "solid" for Obama are those that Kerry took - and he lost. The others are still up for grabs. Or is that light I see not the one at the end of the tunnel but an on-coming freight train?

Given that the polls and focus groups seem to favor Obama one might be led to believe that a lot of people stayed for the whole show.