maplesyrup

Western alienation is serious, close to 25% now, so Canada needs to act. It won't be easy, but it won't go away. I suggest abolish the Senate (this should satisfy all the whiners who complain about too much tax and patronage, etc., and bring in a more fair and simple voting system such as PR. That's it Canada's problems are solved. What's next?

Writ to be dropped on April 4 Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines. The latest buzz from Ottawa is that the writ will be dropped, for Canada's 38th election, on April 4. This time it would be much healthier for Canada/Canadians to have a minority government. And then we could see. It would be a very wrong message sent to the Liberals, if they were re-elected with their fourth majority government in a row, with such a major scandal going on.

What about this twist to the story: Bedard received car from ad firm chief: report http://www.ctv.com/ Now she does not want to talk to the press. Are we really dealing with a Martin vendetta here?

It is not a good idea for parties to have the same name provincialy and federally. Look at the Liberals right now in BC and Quebec. Both provincial parties being unpopular are draging down the federal Liberals. But the federal Liberals have designed a way to counter that in the upcoming election. You will see a lot of Paul Martin but not much of the Liberal party on most of the Liberal campaign literature advertising. There is an article by Jane Taber in today's Globe to that effect. Don't forget March 7 is the deadline for the Liberals to announce the by-election in Ottawa Centre. Do you think Liberals want Ed Broadbent MP in the House of Commons going into the next election. I don't think so. And if Layton is leading Mills by 46% to 28% in Toronto Danforth, as reported yesterday, you can bet Broadbent has an even bigger lead over Mahoney in Ottawa Centre. The federal election is going ahead for May 10 and the Ottawa Centre by-election will be rolled over into the general election. The NDP will be making big gains in BC among other places, and are looking at possibly 50 seats in the next election. The max. no of seats the NDP has ever held is 43 or 44 under Ed Broadbent's leadership

Why does Pelletier get fired but MP Joe Comuzzi keeps his job? They both insulted millions of Canadians. Or is this a Martin vendetta against Chretien folks?

In what was supposed to be a close race NDP leader Jack Layton has opened up a big lead over Liberal MP Dennis Mills. This was supposed to be the most closely watched riding on election nite. So much for that Liberal propaganda. Strategic Communications announced a survey today: Layton 46.3% Mills 28.8% -www.bourque.com Mills has run into difficulty recently concerning Torontos waterfront being accused of playing politics on the issue. http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...d=1078097705743 The NDP is showing considerable strength particularly in urban areas. Norm Ruff, political scientist, expects NDP increases in BC.

Liberals Seen Heading for Spring Election Mon Mar 1,11:20 PM ET By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Liberals are set to stick to plans for a May election now that opinion polls show public support rebounding in the wake of a major scandal, party sources said on Monday. A poll released on Saturday showed support had rebounded to 42 percent, just above the 41 percent that gave the Liberals a majority government in the November 2000 election. Party insiders said it made sense to go to the polls before bad news started flowing from the public inquiry Martin has called into how money destined for a program to boost national unity ended up in the hands of advertising firms with close Liberal ties. "I personally think it will be spring," said a senior aide to one of Martin's most experienced cabinet ministers. "The longer we wait the more chances there are of scandalous revelations coming out. And I don't see preparations for the election slowing down," the aide said. Another well-connected Liberal told Reuters: "The election will be this spring, I'm sure of it." But a veteran Liberal legislator told Reuters last Wednesday that even June was too late "because who knows what else there is out there waiting to hit us?" Professor Alan Whitehorn of the Royal Military College, who has been studying Canada's political parties for 40 years, said Martin was "strongly predisposed" to go to the polls early. "This is a man who wants to go in the spring and, unless he can see overwhelming reasons not to, his predisposition is to go... It's certainly easier to govern with a mandate than constantly be reminded by the opposition that you haven't gone to the people," he told Reuters. Liberal insiders say an early election would also put pressure on the newly formed opposition Conservative Party, which will elect a leader later this month and will not have time for a policy convention before May. More vulnerable Liberal members of Parliament, some of whom won their seats with as little as 35 percent of the vote in 2000, have said they would rather hold an election later. But the veteran Liberal legislator said this was unlikely. "Anyone who is not ready to start campaigning right now is a fool," he said. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor..._electionnn_col

I wonder how NDP candidate Pierre Lacasse is doing in Manicougan.

Layton is a Quebecker with very strong conservative roots. 6/66

Proportional Representation will alleviate a lot of the unfairness in Canadas voting system.

This must be almost unprecedented to see polls jump around so muchin such a short period of time. Quebec polls which came out yesterday showed: Bloc at 48% up 15% Libs at 32% down 19% This is a liberal base - my goodness And now the NDP have 10% in Quebec - will that translate into seats there for them? This might be a tough decision for PM martin, deciding when to call the election, that is. In spite of all these conflicting signaLS however, I expect we will be going to the polls sooner, rather than later. Don't forget Martin is much more popular than his party. And election campaigns revolve around primarily the leaders. And what about that Toronto Star poll out today showing Belinda's popularity with Canadian voters. Exciting times we live in for political pundits.

Stronach, Harper tied: Poll Voter appeal of former Magna boss called `astonishing' Clement a distant third in public support, http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...ol=968350116467

Astute beccause at the moment they are giving the Liberals a well needed message they (voters) are not pleased but not jeopardizing their place in confederation. Of the political opposition partiest is was basically the Bloc that exposed this sponsorship scandal and the Quebec voters are rewarding their good efforts at the moment.

Goldie.....do you know the calculation how the polling companies arrive at the Bloc national percentage? I'm going to try a table here - AND see if it works. Please excuse the confusion if it doesn't replicate legibly. HISTORICAL NATIONAL POLLING RESULTS COMPANY DATE LIB CPC NDP BLOC PC ALL GRN OTH EKOS 28/02/04 42 32 15 9 IPSOS-REID 20/02/04 36 27 17 11 4 PRAXICUS 20/02/04 36 28 21 13 IPSOS-REID 17/02/04 35 27 17 11 5 IPSOS-REID 14/02/04 39 24 18 10 5 COMPAS 03/02/04 49 19 17 9 SES 02/02/04 48 23 15 11 3 IPSOS-REID 24/01/04 48 19 16 10 4 EKOS 21/12/03 56 25 12 9 IPSOS-REID 14/12/03 48 21 14 9 4 IPSOS-REID 06/12/03 43 15 9 14 10 SOM 02/12/03 58 13 18 9 SES 14/11/03 49 12 10 16 12 COMPAS 21/10/03 50 14 9 14 10 IPSOS-REID 21/10/03 46 11 8 15 11 ENVIRONIC 10/10/03 46 15 13 14 IPSOS-REID 06/10/03 47 12 9 14 13 SES 13/09/03 46 15 8 19 13 EKOS 17/07/03 54 10 5 17 11 LEGER 09/06/03 55 10 8 14 12 IPSOS-REID 06/06/03 45 11 9 15 14 5 SES 01/06/03 52 10 7 18 12 EKOS 04/05/03 50 10 17 13 IPSOS-REID 27/04/03 50 10 9 13 14 4 SES 24/02/03 48 14 7 16 13 EKOS 23/02/03 47 17 8 14 11 EKOS 21/02/03 52 14 7 14 11 IPSOS-REID 23/12/02 41 10 13 15 IPSOS-REID 14/12/02 41 12 8 17 16 6 EKOS 09/12/02 47 11 8 14 16 EKOS 01/11/02 48 14 8 16 13

Once again Quebeckers have show themselves to be politically astute.

Liberals Dealt Body Blow in Quebec The Liberals have received a serious setback in Quebec according to the latest opinion polls. The polling was done Feb 25-26 before a lot of Quebeckers heard about Myriam Bedard being dissed by Pelletier. CROP Bloc 48% CPC 9% Lib 32% NDP 10% http://www.src.ca/url.asp?/nouvelles/Index...-liberaux.shtml

More could be lost in waiting http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...ol=968793972154

Probable Spring election Ekos Research Feb 28/04 (previous Ekos Poll Dec 21/03) 1,020 participants surveyed Feb 23-25 (mon-Wed) 2004 Canada Bloc 9% no change CPC 32% up 7% Lib 42% down 14% NDP 15% up 3% BC CPC 27% Lib 44% NDP AB CPC 63% Lib SK/MA 3 way tie CPC Lib NDP ON CPC 36% Lib 47% NDP 15% Oth 2% QC Bloc 40% CPC LIb 38% AC CPC & Lib tied CPC Lib NDP If anyone knows where or how to obtain the missing data please post it. Tks. http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/Conte...ol=968350116467

Every day that goes by it seems that another person is going to come out of the woodwork - like Myriam Bedard today. The Liberals have to go to the polls soon. I think there just has to be some ministerial accountability. Someone, a current sitting Liberal MP has to resign to show some ministerial responsibility. Until that happens Canadians will continue to fume over this scandal. My 2 cents. PS oops. I think I posted this in the wrong thread. Sorry. Actually the NDP is at 13% in the polls in Quebec. do they have a chance at any of the seats. What about LaCasse is that his name who ran for the NDP leadership. Is he running in Mulroney's old riding?

Things will probably continue to improve poll wise for the Liberals. They want to have an election ASAP before other issues start to impact such as RCMP raids on the BC Legislature Same-sex marriage issue currently before Supreme Court Maher Arar Inquiry Sponsorship Scandal inquiry CPC's new leader

In Quebec, the Liberals have rebounded. CROP La Presse Bloc 38% CPC 11% Lib 38% NDP 13% This in itself almost ensures an election this spring.

I think the problem with Canadian politics these days is that there is nothing there to excite us. And hasnt been since Trudeau left the scene. god, what a boring group, all of them except for perhaps Jack Layton and the NDP.

Probably good timing for Liberals to get scandal stuff out of the way during CPC leadersip race - they are preoccupied

We live in interesting times. looks like Martin is going to publically diss Pelletier & Ouellet, maybe tomorrow. I get the impression Martin wants a spring election before the new leader of CPC has a chance to gell.

Another complication for PM Martin is Democracy Watch. They are making an ethics complaint concerning Martins ties to Earnscliffe. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...hub=CTVNewsAt11 Rejecting Devine is also a plus for CPC. Can the liberals rebound in Quebec? Other weblogs of interest: paul wells at Mcleans: http://www.macleans.ca/paulwells warren kinsella http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm