CanPol: May(?) 2011 Election. Vote today!

[notyoueither]

The riding won't be close.

This was the alternative May was looking at running in.

You're probably correct, but there are strange things happening re NDP and Liberal support.

Last time the Liberals won by ~1,800 votes, but they and the NDP bled a lot to the Greens.

It is an interesting three way split.

I wouldn't be comforted by that were I a Conservative. This party doesn't fare well in front of courts.

They do just fine, and in this case there is a wide range of opinion (including NDP workers saying that the Elections Canada prosecution is biased, and legal opinions calling into question the decision of the Appeals Court).

We'll see what the SCoC says, I'd imagine. I can't see them not hearing the Conservative appeal.

[Asher]

Just what we need. More bull**** ads.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/liberals-drop-gloves-with-attack-ad-on-harpers-secret-health-agenda/article1988246/

Liberals drop gloves with attack ad on Harper’s ‘secret’ health agenda

Conservatives are reacting with fury to a Liberal attack ad that accuses them of harbouring a secret agenda to cut health care funding if they obtain a majority government.

“The Liberal ad uses some of the dirtiest tricks in the book — including twisting words out of context and deliberately altering dates to make old words appear recent,” Tory campaign manager Jenni Byrne wrote to party supporters in reaction to the new attack ad.

She accused the Liberals of “turning to falsehood and fear mongering to rescue their floundering campaign. They are grasping at straws.”

The letter raised eyebrows, including in the Liberal camp, since it is the Conservatives who, in the past, have been criticized for distorting, exaggerating or generally misrepresenting their opponents’ policies through attack ads.

"This is by far the silliest and most far fetched statement coming from the Harper Conservatives as they scramble to cover up Harper's stated views on health care and the cuts he's admitted to," said party spokesman Michel Liboiron."

But it is also clear that, as he continues to trail in the polls, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has abandoned the high road he promised to stick to when the campaign began.

If Mr. Harper is given “absolute power,” the ad warns, he plans to cut $11-billion from the federal budget. “Where would Harper’s cuts leave your family’s health?” the narrator asks.

“The stakes are too high. Vote Liberal.”

The Liberal ad is intriguing on several fronts. It implicitly assumes that a Conservative majority government might be in reach, a remarkable concession from the Liberals, who have trailed in the polls since the election campaign began.

And it suggests that, with Mr. Ignatieff showing little sign of momentum among voters, the Grit war room may have decided something must be done to shake up the debate.

By warning of a secret Tory agenda to slash funding for health, they have done just that.

Mr. Harper dismissed the ad when asked about it by reporters at a campaign stop in Vancouver Saturday. It was the Liberals, he said, who cut health care funding, not the Conservatives.

“They said they would increase health care. They cut it,” he said. “This party said we would increase it. We increased it. We say we’ll continue to do so, and we will.”

When asked Friday about the Liberal ad, leader Michael Ignatieff said the Conservative pledge to continue health care increases at six per cent can't be believed. He said the Conservative numbers "don't ad up" when other long term Conservative pledges are factored in,listing the purchase of new F-35s and a pledge to allow income splitting for Canadians with children under 18.

For the record: in the years before he became Conservative Leader, Mr. Harper was bullish on the idea of permitting greater private-sector participation in health care, although he has since retreated from that position and has promised to protect the Canada Health Act.

The Conservatives do plan to cut government spending as part of their own plan to balance the budget, but they promise to do so without reducing transfers to provinces, including health transfers.

It is true that the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien cut funding for health care in the 1990s as part of its efforts to eliminate the federal deficit. Once the budget was balanced, the Paul Martin government signed a ten-year accord to increase funding by six per cent a year. The Conservatives, when they came to power, honoured that commitment, and pledge to continue the arrangement, as does Mr. Ignatieff.

But the minutiae of health care policy may matter less than the fact that, with a little more than two weeks until the May 2 vote, the Liberals have taken off the gloves, and the Conservatives are swinging back.

[Wezil]

This part...

“The Liberal ad uses some of the dirtiest tricks in the book — including twisting words out of context and deliberately altering dates to make old words appear recent,” Tory campaign manager Jenni Byrne wrote to party supporters in reaction to the new attack ad.

...was another lol moment.

They should know.

[Thoth]

**** all this noise.

Kick Quebec out, get them to stop using our currency, exclude them from NAFTA, and give them their share of the national debt.

Then when they beg to be let back in, do so under the condition of no equalization payments. No negotiation. Our way or the high way. Quebec needs to know its place.

QFT.



Quebec: GTFO.

[notyoueither]

I've been wondering where the Conservative ads are. I have seen a lot of the NDP and some of the Liberal, but not many Conservative.

[notyoueither]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/ignatieff-channels-the-boss-calls-on-canadians-to-rise-up/article1988238/

Ignatieff channels the Boss, calls on Canadians to ‘rise up’
Bill Curry
Regina— Globe and Mail Update
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 1:57PM EDT


Michael Ignatieff started the campaign channeling Dylan. Now it’s the Boss.

Inspired by a Bruce Spingsteen album he was listening to on his iPod, the Liberal leader tried out a new rallying cry in Sudbury that he says will become a staple of his campaign stump speech.

After a relatively staid question-and-answer “town hall” Friday evening in Sudbury — where some in the crowd told him he was “too nice” and should start showing more passion — the Liberal leader got the crowd on its feet. He ran off a list of Conservative controversies and called — almost shouted — for Canadians to “rise up.”

That’s a line from “My City of Ruins” off Springsteen’s The Rising, an album largely focused on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City. Earlier in the campaign Mr. Ignatieff regularly quoted a Bob Dylan song, saying “You gotta serve somebody.”

The Liberals have posted a video of the speech, with added soundtrack, to YouTube.

In his list of Conservative controversies, he ended Friday with the episode in Guelph, where the Conservative Party attempted to have student ballots overturned — a bid that was rejected by Elections Canada.

There were also allegations that a member of the Conservative team attempted to grab the ballot box.

Earlier Friday, Mr. Ignatieff had said the situation was like something you might see in Egypt or Syria.

The Conservative war room immediately went on the attack.

“Michael Ignatieff says our government is like a Middle East dictatorship and he’s using the song ‘My City of Ruins’ to describe Canada. You can almost hear the panic in his voice,” writes Conservative campaign manager Jenni Byrne, in a note that was circulated Saturday morning. “Get ready for his bizarre attacks to become more frequent and more shrill.”

Speaking the morning after unveiling his new line of attack, Mr. Ignatieff made no apologizes. He said it’s an attempt to get people to “wake up” from public cynicism.

“I’m listening to Bruce on my iPod. The Rising is on my iPod. My City in Ruins has been one of my favorites songs since it came out,” he said. “These things just come into your head. There’s no big clever strategy here. You just think, What am I looking at here?...

“I’m looking at a Conservative party that tried systematically to try to stop young Canadians from voting, and what I’ve been saying last night I’ve been saying all along ... It all begins to accumulate. Drip, drip, drip. Slowly you look at this pattern of abuse of power and you do want to say to Canadians: “Rise up, rise up. Now’s the time. We’ve got to do something about it. It just comes right out of the ground and it also comes out of the crowd. They were rising up at the end because they connect and understand exactly what I’m saying.”

Mr. Ignatieff rejected the suggestion that his rhetoric is going too far.

“Do I look like a nut to you?” he said. “It didn’t feel like a rant to me. I’m a happy guy here and I can’t compare anybody to a Mideast dictator. I’m saying if somebody began to engage in the manipulation of an election, you wouldn’t be surprised if it was in Syria or the Middle East. But you’d be surprised if it was in Canada. That’s a very different statement.”

“Do I look like a nut to you?”

Starting to.

[Hauldren Collider]

Iggy's not too likely to win the election, is he?

[notyoueither]

I think they are going into preservation mode. Trying to motivate their base to vote as well as scare NDP voters into voting for them.

These things don't tend to play too well with centrists and undecideds. It could be a recipe for a really good ass whipping for themselves. I started April picking between the Liberals and the Conservatives. All he's done is flipped me to picking between the NDP or Green and the Conservatives.

[Asher]

Yep. The melodrama is a bit much.

[Wezil]

Iggy's not too likely to win the election, is he?

No, he is campaigning against the wrong opponent. Instead of running to win (ie beat the Conservatives) he instead chose to run for 2nd place (beat the NDP). He deserves to lose.

[notyoueither]

How could they ever have thought it a good idea to bring Martin and Chretien out into a race where they want to make government ethics and practice an issue?

Are they really that deluded about themselves?

The Conservatives should be able to land this one outside the park. This is a gimme.

[Wezil]

I agree, bad idea. Then again the Conservatives should have been able to kick Dion half way to Kyoto but failed. They have their own Achilles heal - Harper.

[Fake Boris]

How could they ever have thought it a good idea to bring Martin and Chretien out into a race where they want to make government ethics and practice an issue?

Are they really that deluded about themselves?

The Conservatives should be able to land this one outside the park. This is a gimme.

Harper has avoided bringing up the past. His own past declarations are way too shadowy.

[notyoueither]

They have their own Achilles heal - Harper.

I think I have to agree. Other leaders could have done better in any of the past three elections (Clark or McKay, for instance). The problem is that leaders like them were extremely unlikely to win the leadership. Harper or Day (etc)? The Conservatives probably chose wisely.

OTOH, Harper has made steady gains since 2004. He's overcome most of the scare tactics the Liberals used effectively for many years to keep themselves in power. The Conservatives would never win in Quebec, it was said. The Conservatives would never win in Toronto, it was said.

So, I guess we'll see. I think the Conservatives have to run a strong finish. To do that they may have to take risks. Last time they coasted in. This time I'm thinking they've saved powder for the final ten days, or they have another strategy. I wonder how effective they are being in their target ridings? I'm seeing very little spending activity nationally or in my region. I'm not shocked that Alberta would not see strong spending, but I am wondering where they are on the national broadcasters?

[notyoueither]

Are federalists in and outside of Quebec better off with a Conservative majority government or a Liberal minority going into a referendum campaign?

Harper is not a popular figure in Quebec, but would the Liberal brand be worse?