Liberal Leadership: Whose Chances Do You Like?

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by obiwan18


You were going good, and then you had to louse it all up.

We do have an official opposition. The PC has lots of voters, but in all the wrong places.

Of course we do. I meant that the only other party that could conceivably win an election (ie: appeal to enough people across the county, especially in Ontario, though also out west and in Quebec) would be the PC. Not now, granted, but they have a platform that can draw support. The CA, as it stands, will never get enough seats to win because their popular base (read: Ontario) isn't wide enough and doesn't seem like it will ever get there. The BQ is basically a Quebec only party, and the NDP are just too far left to actually win enough seats.

[Ben Kenobi]

It's a big debate, can the CA change enough from a regional party to one representing National interests? It's a quite different entity from the Bloc, in that the Bloc favours seperatism, whereas the CA wants to work on greater inclusion of the West within the current system. Could Ontarians vote for such a party if they are so disgusted by the Liberals?

[Uncle Sparky]

Paul Martin bought & paid for the leadership over a year ago - what is going on now is all window dressing. The Liberals still run on a constituency/delegate vote at their convention. I think about 8 of the 305 ridings in Canada have non-Martinite delegates voting.

The good thing for Canada will be , with a very right-of-centre leader the liberal party will likely take votes from the two right wing parties and open up some room for the NDP to grow.

[mrboo123]

Originally posted by Uncle Sparky
(...)The good thing for Canada will be , with a very right-of-centre leader the liberal party will likely take votes from the two right wing parties and open up some room for the NDP to grow.

and is THAT a good thing

[Ben Kenobi]

Mighty slim pickin's over on the right, especially here in Canada.

[Kontiki]

I doubt it. I think the CA is too far right in general and too much of a "pro-west" party (which isn't a bad thing, BTW, just not greatly appreciated in Ontario) to gain enough support here. Plus, despite the Liberal's shortcomings, Ontario usually benefits the most from their government, so it's pretty hard to dislodge them. Like I said, the PC could conceivably do it, but not without stronger leadership and a few more years to wash the taint of Mulroney from the party.

[Ben Kenobi]

the PC could conceivably do it, but not without stronger leadership and a few more years to wash the taint of Mulroney from the party.

In the West or in Ontario?

Why do people in Ontario hate Mulroney? Mulroney was very good to them.

[Kontiki]

IMO, Mulroney is just too tainted by scandal in general, regardless of geography. I don't think people in Ontario feel all the problems were ok just because their province made out better than others.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by obiwan18


In the West or in Ontario?

Why do people in Ontario hate Mulroney? Mulroney was very good to them.

Yeah, Ontarians should get down on their knees and thank Mulroney for creating the GST. It has done so much good for Ontario.

[St Leo]

Go NDP. Down with the right-wing tyranny.

[optimus2861]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Like I said, the PC could conceivably do it, but not without stronger leadership and a few more years to wash the taint of Mulroney from the party.

Yeah, stronger leadership is a must. Peter MacKay just won't do it. Bernard Lord would've been an ideal candidate, but he smartly saw that going up against the expected Martin juggernaut in the next election was an untenable position, and another term as New Brunswick Premier will give him a healthier history to run on if/when he finally does make the jump to federal politics (an election in N.B. is due this year, and I think Lord will win it, as the Liberals don't have strong leadership to oppose him and Lord ran a superb campaign last time around).

Now, I don't think that the Leaky Ship Liberal will really right itself all that much under Martin (this was Chretien's right-hand man for much of his bumbling reign, remember), and that will leave the ~2008 election ripe for the picking as Martin ultimately collapses under the weight of all the expectations that Canadians are going to place on him as PM.

[Seeker]

It will be Martin.

I like the new PC platform.

I think not joining up with the creationists and gun-nuts was a very good long term decision for them.

They WILL be back, sooner or later, as a 'Red Tory' type of party.