Bryan

The problem with stats like consumer confidence is they become self-fulfilling prophesies. Tell people things are bad enough times, and they'll make it happen for you.

Ignatief could not beat Dion, but Harper did. You guys think that LOSING to the weakest leader the Liberals have ever had puts Ignatief in a position of strength?

As a hard core Conservative supporter, I think a Bob Rae led Liberal Party would be an amazing gift. He'd be a lot easier to bury than Dion was, for a variety of reasons. ....I mean... Yeah! Bob Rae, we're scared of him!!!! Please, have mercy, don't elect Bob Rae as your leader!

Baby steps. Brand new party is building a foundation, one riding at a time. Balloon majorities can just as easily swing the other way, they make give you short term gains, but they don't advance the long term plan. The new Conservative movement has increased their seat support in every single election they've run in. During that time, the Liberals have been all over the map. Three consecutive Liberal leaders have seen their support drop. Harper has essentially ended the careers of two of them.

Independents are not a party. The rules are very different, especially financing.

I think practically the whole country outside of Quebec appears to be rebelling against too many Quebec leaders of any federal party.

In my riding they did.

Is that really true though? I know in my riding, the total votes for the top two parties (CPC and LPC) were about 3000 higher than last election. The combined votes for everybody else were nearly 5000 lower. This is why I say the united opposition was a fabrication. It was a very loud group of people who represented a much smaller minority than they realized. The people actually voting for the government came out to support in even higher numbers, but the protest voters weren't even upset enough to show up. Even the seemingly small increase in overall support doesn't tell the whole story. When you're already holding certain seats, your support is unlikely to increase much when you hold, especially in places where the support was already very high. It's the increases in the seats you don't hold already that matter. In my riding, 5000 more people voted Conservative than before, and that pushed them well beyond the Liberal incumbent. 5000 additional votes gives you an 11% increase in popular vote for the riding (and gain a new seat), but it's an insignificant number nationally.

I does. It says that the mock-outrage at Harper was a fabrication. If people don't care enough to even vote, they're obviously not opposed to the status quo.

The Bloc is the elephant in the room that none of the other parties want to address. If they were serious about fractured parliaments, and voting splits, electoral reform, and all the rest, they'd insist on Elections Canada reforms first. There should be regulations in place that force parties running in a federal elections to actually be federal parties.

Absolutely not. He clearly meant Dion changing plans mid election was the panic. He also dismissed the five point plan as being a plan, specifically because all it had in it were the things the Conservative were already doing anyway, and things you do anyway when you form a government.

So, who was most accurate then? Angus Reid was really close, and they are claiming "victory" in their emails to people who polled for them. Angus Reid Poll Conservatives 37% Liberals 27% NDP 20% Bloc Québécois 9% Green Party 7% Independent n/a Other n/a Final Result Conservatives 37.63% Liberals 26.24% NDP 18.20% Bloc Québécois 9.97% Green Party 6.80% Independent 0.65% Other 0.51%

Of course he will. He had four opposition parties and all major media outlets demonizing him in unison for five weeks, and he still ends up with 20 MORE seats. His 'steady as she goes' approach has gradually increased seats in every election, and will continue to do so.

I'd much rather see lip service to the lunatics than full-fledged adherence to the doomsday cult.

That's right, Prime Minister Harper called me at home this afternoon! Pre-recorded, of course, but it was still cool. Just a Thanksgiving greeting, and a thank you for my support during this campaign.

I like having choices. The Conservative party we have now would not exist were it not for the upstart Reform. What I don't like is having so many choices that fragment things to the point where majorities are very unlikely. We need to adopt a system where the winner is the winner, period. That could be done by making it so a minority cannot be defeated by vote of non-confidence, or we could reform the voting system in some manner so that a majority is required.

That goes both ways though. I know a lot of people who probably would not be voting either if it were not to make sure we don't end up with a Carbon Tax.

What's undemocratic is the opposition outright lying in almost every ad, giving the public an "everbody knows" perception regarding things that are complete fabrications. What's shocking is that anyone would support their leaders doing such things. Absolutely they should be sued for lying. I'd even donate to the legal fund if such a suit went forward.

And yet, Mulroney was a poor PM, while Harper is the best one we've had in at least 40 yrs. I'll take a great PM with a minority over an poor one with a majority any day.

Nanos is showing increased CPC support. http://www.nanosresearch.com/election/CPAC...er-13-2008E.pdf Three day average: Conservative 34.2% Liberal 26.7% NDP 21.4% Bloc 9.5% Green 8.2% Last day (Sunday) only: Conservative 37.1% Liberal 26.7% NDP 20.3% Bloc 8.7% Green 7.1% Shows Liberal support steady, but Conservative support climbing towards the end at the expense of the parties that are even more to the left!! edit: I was beat to it!

So, should Harper sue the opposition for defamation once the election is over? I think he should.

Considering I already have an extra $3000 in my pocket since Harper came to power, I sure can imagine it! He's the only politician I know of who has ever lowered my taxes directly, instead of a complicated bait and switch with either zero sum or an actual increase. The Green shift is a complicated bait and switch. No thank you.

That undecided/willing to change their minds group is at lot more vital than most people realize. I was playing with this predictor this morning: http://predictor.hillandknowlton.ca/predictor/ It really is amazing how little of a shift in percentage support is required to make huge difference in seat projections, especially the Quebec vote.

Not only that, but people need to keep in mind that harper is not suing the author, the publisher, or Donna Cadman. He's suing the Liberals because what they posted on their website made claims that go beyond what is on the tape or the book, and they have no evidence to back that up. As far as suing the Liberals just because they're bankrupt, perhaps that's why Harper was so low key during this election, and refused to hit back every time that Dion called him a liar? Maybe he's planning on suing the Liberals for their actual campaign too?

Rhinos have a message, people have voted for them. Communists have a message, people have voted for them. White supremacists have a message, and people have voted for them. Are they all legitimate?