maplesyrup Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 Belinda leads in the latest opinion poll. Northstar Poll: Stronach 41% Harper 28% Clement 19% This is hardly surprising as Canadians are looking for something new, finally a fresh face to lead the Conservative party. I expect though that Tony Clement's campaign will pick up steam, and he should end up wining the Conservative leadership race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 Harper hasn't even seriously started his campaign yet, he only just announced his candidacy. Harper is very smart and very good in debate, and Stronach has no experience and no ideas. I shall take schadenfreude in seeing her torn to pieces. So far, she hasn't really had any opposition. I know you like Stronach, maplesyrup, but it concerns me that her website and her speeches are full of trendy buzzwords popular with 30-something go-getters such as her but very, very thin on ideas and policies. Anybody could seriously embarrass her in a debate by just asking "how?" every time she suggests something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 She is just like Paul Martin, and that's another problem. A Conservative party with Stronach at the helm won't have much to distinguish itself from Paul Martin's Liberals: two parties led by multi-millionaire executives with socially liberal policies and tendencies towards fiscal conservatism without wanting to upset the applecart too much by actually putting any radical changes into place. The key difference being, of course, that Martin is a highly experienced politician and public servant whereas Stronach is a complete and utter neophyte. Furthermore, Stronach also epitomises everything that the NDP and other leftists say is wrong with conservatives: nepotism, reward for birth and money and not for skills and personal attributes, big business interests on a pedestal, and so forth. Those who know me here know I'm a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, so I say without hyperbole that if Stronach wins the leadership race I'm going to find another party to support. She joined the wrong party, it's my opinion that she's a Liberal through-and-through and I have no interest in a second Liberal party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 Maplesyrup Lets not get too excited about a poll that may be totally made up. https://www.oneconservativevoice.ca/english...02_03_04_B.html I do think Belinda's campaign manager might be following his own words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnsfurlan Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 By the way, this leadership race is NOT a one member - one vote system of selection, as per the demands of the PC's. Therefore, any poll citing general percentages has to be taken with a grain of salt. A polling of the riding associations would be a much better assessment of where this race is going. If you recall, during the PC ratification of the merger deal, a sense of where the ridings were headed was being assembled in the run-up to the final vote. Only a similar compilation will get us anywhere, in my opinion. Who has the ridings and where. That's what we need to know. Plus, this poll could just plain well be bogus. After all, why would the Conservative Party select someone who doesn't even want to debate the issues with the fellow candidates? What's she gonna say to Paul Martin during the election? "Sorry, I'm Busy"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnsfurlan Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 Also, I have yet to find a link to this new poll. Interesting. Laschinger's tricks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maplesyrup Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 There is an article about the poll in today's Globe and Mail which I discovered later on, and actually it says that Harper is leading with delegate support. "Campaign workers for Conservative Party of Canada leadership contender Belinda Stronach have buttressed their argument that opponent Stephen Harper will not sell to the public, citing a poll suggesting that their candidate is more popular. The survey, conducted by the firm of Ms. Stronach's campaign director, indicates that Canadians who did not identify a political preference are more willing to give Ms. Stronach a try than they would Mr. Harper or candidate Tony Clement. Respondents were asked who they would vote for if they were members of the party. Forty-one per cent would choose Ms. Stronach, 28 per cent Mr. Harper and 19 per cent Mr. Clement. The poll was conducted from Jan. 26 to Jan. 30, and is accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20." I'm supportive of Belinda's campaign because I think if she wins, it will bring the new Conservatives more to the centre, where they will have better chances at the polls. That's why the liberals usually win. I guess it just depends on whether you want to win or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 That's why the liberals usually win. I guess it just depends on whether you want to win or not. I shall reiterate: "She joined the wrong party, it's my opinion that she's a Liberal through-and-through and I have no interest in a second Liberal party." It is foolish to imagine that the Conservatives will ever win simply by copying the Liberals as you suggest. Why would any right-thinking person vote for an untried Conservative party with an inexperienced leader to do exactly the same things as the Liberals have done? The re-elections of Chretien have proven that the electorate is prepared to be very forgiving of lies (GST, Gulf II) and corruption (Auberge Grand-Mere). For the Conservatives to simply offer an untried and untested version of the Liberal party won't get them government. Even if they can promise less corruption and lying, recent elections show that the electorate just doesn't care. To my mind, the only option the Conservatives have is to actually be a different party and do things differently. Dalton McGuinty won an election saying "I'm not that guy", but I don't think anyone could win one saying "I'm the same as that guy." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maplesyrup Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I thought Belinda was one of the key people behind the scenes that got the two parties to merge. Was I wrong about that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 What does that have to do with this debate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 In an SES/Sun Media poll, Harper placed at 41%, with Clement and Stronach following at 26% and 20% respectively. This was a survey of 1000 Canadians which asked who they would vote for if they could vote in the Conservative leadership race, and did not specify any names but identified candidates with a brief bio. When they were asked who they would prefer to become leader by name, Harper still led but with only 27%, while Stronach overtook Clement at 20% and 13% respectively. The poll is accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20, and was conducted January 26-29. Full story here. I would expect this to be more unbiased than a poll conducted by a company who has Stronach's campaign manager for senior partner, especially as Sun Media seems to have often favoured Stronach in their editorial pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pellaken Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Belinda $tronach, ha$ one thing going for her. Thi$ i$ all, nothing more, nothing le$$ Stephen experince Harper, has one experince thing going for him. without this one experince thing, he's nowhere Tony notharper Clement has two notstronach things going for him. he may yet win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PC4EVER Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I found strange that in the description of the candidate that they put two negative points to describe Stronach and none for the two others. I am wondering if it could influence the answer ??? 1. A male candidate from Western Canada who was leader of the Canadian Alliance and the former President of the national Citizens Coalition who speaks both French and English. 41% 2. A male candidate who was a former Ontario provincial cabinet minister and very active in politics in Ontario who speaks both French and English. 26% 3. A female candidate who was the successful chief executive officer of one of Canada's largest companies, who has never been elected to office, and does not speak French. 20% When you use only the name, she is jumping in second place at the same level, only 7% behind Harper. "Based on just their names, respondents ranked the candidates (see percentages). The circled numbers represents how candidates were previously ranked by description: 1. STEPHEN HARPER: 27% 2. BELINDA STRONACH: 20% 3. TONY CLEMENT: 13% " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiraly Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 What I find pathetic is that someone with so few postive attributes can garner 20% of the vote. I think it is important to mention that she is unilingual and that she has never been elected to office as these are significant criteria to be used in selecting a leader in this country. Some one say that "Western Canada" and Canadian Alliance" are also negative attributes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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