2005-6 Federal Election: New poll shows Tories in the lead

[samplain]

I can handle a Conservative minority, but not from my vote. Ill let the Rest of Canada vote them in if they wish. Libs may need this time to regroup. However, I wont contribute to a Conservative majority.

These polls dont represent a majority in seats. there'll be enough people accross Canada come elections with cold feet to a Con majority.

 

[blixa442]

Truth be told, there's nothing in the Blue book that even remotely comes to being right-wing.

That said, the Tories are behaving like the outcome of the election is all but decided with one week to go before the vote.

Mayor, Tory MPs meet over cities deal
Jan. 14, 2006. 09:21 AM
PAUL MOLONEY
CITY HALL BUREAU


A senior Conservative MP met with Mayor David Miller yesterday in an attempt to mend fences over the federal party's position on a new deal for cities.

"This is about starting to build some bridges and make sure everybody knows what everybody's doing," Monte Solberg, the party's finance critic, said in an interview. "There have probably been some misunderstandings in the past, but that's why we're here."

The 45-minute meeting in the mayor's office was requested by the Tories, whose leader, Stephen Harper, has been criticized by Miller for not getting behind a new deal. Miller's office said the mayor had no comment on the meeting.

Solberg and York-Simcoe MP Peter Van Loan emerged from the meeting to say Ottawa should be doing more to develop Toronto's waterfront.

"We've seen $25 million go without any real results yet," Van Loan said. "The money's been spent largely on consultants. We need to see some real results, some real cleanup of the lands, some real infrastructure constructed, some real improvements proceed."

Harper has said that a Conservative government would give cities and towns a say in policy areas that affect them, such as housing, transit, infrastructure and immigration. But critics have attacked the party's gas-tax plan, saying it doesn't give cities direct access to the money, distributing it instead in the form of a percentage of tax revenues that provinces can spend as they please.

In April, Miller said the Tories had shown little inclination to adopt policies helpful to cities.

But yesterday Solberg (Medicine Hat) said his party would not only honour waterfront revitalization agreements between Ottawa and the City of Toronto, but would do so quicker than the ruling Liberals have proceeded.

"We're just reminding the mayor that the government's been in power for 12 years, it's announced waterfront projects 20 times. Nothing's ever happened," he said. "We're here to tell him we're not just going to commit, we're going to deliver."

 

[BrianHawkins1]

Antiloop:

"The truth is, a majority (or near majority) of Canadians dont care about the environment, envy the United States, want tax cuts (ie more money for themselves), dont really have much concern for social issues, and tend to view government in a negative way and would rather see the lot of them disappear than actually do anything that will result in real change..."

I don't believe that's true. A large minority, yes, but not a majority or near majority. Though large swaths of the country are routinely referred to as "conservative", overall this is actually one of the more progressive nations on earth in many ways.

"...The remaining Canadians who do care about such issues are divided among the NDP, The Bloc, The Green Party and more left of center members of the Liberals. Without this strength in numbers of putting support behind a single party, there isnt much hope for anything less than a Conservative minority"

This, on the other hand, I believe is true, which is why I think it's time for the NDP to fold, and for a new centre-left party to be created to replace it. It is clear to me that the NDP will never form a government in this country, mainly because of an apparently unshakeable perception problem rather than an inherently unpopular platform. Imo, Canada is essentially centre-left in nature, yet there is no national party at the moment that truly reflects these values. Reform/Conservative and the Bloc have proven that new parties are currently entirely viable, and in short order. I'm confident that a new federalist centre-left party, unbeholden to unions and untarnished by the past like the NDP, presenting a more 'pro-regulation' than 'anti-business' stance, and sporting a young, charismatic, preferably Quebecois leader, could form a government within two or three election cycles of inception. I don't think it's any secret at this point that Canadians all over the country are wishing for alternatives to the current crop of parties. There seems to me to be a yawning vacuum in the federal political landscape that, strangely, mirrors what I believe are the core values of the nation. Fill that vacuum with new blood and a blank slate, and I think you could clean up from coast to coast.

 

[bizorky]

If Chrétien were still prime minister I have no doubt that there would have been a Liberal majority last election.

If he remained PM, Chrétien would have kept his majority until roughly now, since there would have been no need for him to call an election. Martin didn't have to call an election; at that time he personally was quite popular and could have rode out the whole Quebec sponsorship affair by setting the RCMP on it. In the meantime, he could have passed all the legislation he wanted, and could have run on a record of actually getting things done.

Instead, Martin has relied on his advisors who appear to have no political instinct and who have managed to thoroughly piss off the Ottawa press corps, hence one of the reasons why they call the Liberals "arrogant." The leader has floundered from one semi-problem to another, seemingly unable to make up his mind on anything until the last minute, and counting on the past to buoy his party into the future.

While I won't vote Conservative, my hat's off to them for running a very good campaign. They looked ready for this and they have performed well - even managing to keep a straight face as they promise to pass popular Liberal initiatives made before the election.