New Poll Says NDP In Dead Heat With Conservatives

I came across a Toronto University commentary from the Taylor Report a few days ago in regards to the NDP's recent alignment with the Liberal Party. The NDP may be on the rise in Canada but it killed any chances of making in-roads in Québec when Jack Layton jumped to Paul Martin's rescue a few weeks ago. The commentary wording is strong and the author is not a happy camper but the same sentiment is felt by many federalists in Québec who had hoped the NDP could have been an alternative ... not any more. <p> <a href="http://www.taylor-report.com/articles/ index.php?id=15">Canada's "labour party" votes for anglophone solidarity</a> <p>---<br>« Il y a une belle, une terrible rationalité dans la décision d'être libre. » - Gérard Bergeron <br />

Ridiculous! I don`t know how one could interpret this as Jack Layton and the NDP betraying the social democrats or francophones in Quebec.Gimme a break! The vast majority of Canadians just did not want an election. Please don`t try to tell me that it is those mean old angryphones trying to oppress the french again!

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Dave Ruston

Although it's a little hard to take the comments made in the piece completely seriously with the commentator misspelling Jean Chretien's name, it's a pretty good point that within Quebec the national situation is viewed a little differently.

I think the emphasis on the NDP propping up the government is erroneous, though. The NDP and Jack Layton have said all along that the party is not interested in propping up the Liberals; a delayed election doesn't mean that no election on corruption will come (it will). We just might get to hear the full Gomery inquiry first. Even Duceppe was originally uncertain about whether pushing for an early election was the right decision for Quebec, and you'll note that the Conservatives and Bloc seem to be backing off of that push now.

And so the NDP made a temporary strategic alliance and used the minority government situation in order to cancel a giant corporate tax break and put that money towards social spending instead. Isn't that actually a blow AGAINST the kind of corporate toadying that the Liberal government has been doing all along, AdScam included? Duceppe said the new budget was "bad for Quebec", it's true, yet he had previously opposed those corporate tax cuts himself, and also supposedly favoured spending on housing, foreign aid and education, now included in the budget. So did he flip-flop or what?

Meanwhile, remember it was Stronach and Chuck Cadman, both former Conservatives, who stepped in at the last moments and actually saved the government.

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Now call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard, and we hit it fast, with a major, and I mean major, leaflet campaign.--Rimmer, Red Dwarf

A survey of 1,000 people really is next to useless and I don't think any statements can be made from such a small sample. That doesn't even take into consideration any of the other typical polling variables like time called, demographic sample, question asked, etc. I still haven't seen the conservatives do or say anything that would suddenly maked those who voted for them in the last election not support them this time. And we've seen much more liberal corruption claims from Gomery and many other specious tidbits that would make those who voted liberal last time think 'enough of that'.

That's not any prediction of course, there are simply too many variables, many may have voted conservatives simply to ensure a strong opposition and then been startled by how many seats and votes they got. I'm not convinced of that, but until somebody starts going door to door with a larger sampling I'll put as much stock in the poll as I do in the 7 day weather outlook.

Good point. I just took a poll of everyone under my roof, and 95% don't believe in the statistics presented in polls. One of the goldfish declined to participate because I was interrupting his dinner.


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"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill

The NDP is nicer--but no less naive and marxist.

I'll also happily grant that the electorate is "volatile", and as I think Layton himself said, the numbers are bouncing around like a trampoline.

But you have to admit it's rare to EVER see a poll where the NDP looks this close to the Cons; this will certainly still have the effect of bolstering the sense that the NDP is a viable alternative for voters (it needs to seem like there's a bandwagon before voters will jump on it and polls like this help form those impressions).

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Now call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard, and we hit it fast, with a major, and I mean major, leaflet campaign.--Rimmer, Red Dwarf

Niave it may be, but marxist? Don't be absurd. If you knew even the slightest thing about Canadian social democracy you would know it is far more Methodist than Marxist. Do a little research before you mouth off. It is embarrassing to show such ignorance.

The NDP only sounds nicer than the rest - they have no problem with harming the majority of Canadians in order to try and fit Canadians into their socialist ideals.

If people suffer and die in health care line-ups the NDP has no problem with that as long as health care workers are paying their Union dues.

If people lose their jobs due to NDP inspired taxation, the NDP has no problem with that as long as those people will then be supplicants to government welfare programs - and therefore subject to the social engineering desires of the NDP.

So, while NDP'ers use all the nice 'inclusive' language and treat minorities as favourite pets, the reality is that if they had power - we would all be screwed.

True, it is rare for them to be within 2% (+/- 1%) of the CPC. I think Jack's move to prop up the government has shown Canadians what he stands for, and they like it. The NDP have not taken part in the childish antics that dominated the house these last two months, to their credit!

Whereas, the CPC by standing beside the seperatists have shown Canada what they stand for. They are Mulroney's Conservatives, on angry pills.


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"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill

Based on my experience under every known ideology and political system, I can see neocon capitalism gradually turning into another version of communists state capitalism of enforced collectivization to divert the benefits to a self appointed privileged class ruling over everybody, without mercy. We now have corporations controlling our governments, who bend backward to fulfill their demands. This is not democracy by any stretch.

I have to laugh when I read nonsense about unions featherbedding workers etc. when even the most neocon biased statistics show the gradual disenfranchisement of the majority, with absolutely no benefit increases for 30 years to the so called "working class" and daily more pressures on the middle class. In the meantime a ruling sector saw their incomes and benefits increase by astronomical figures.

If it takes social democracy to bring back a certain degree of democratic equality into economics, so be it. Anybody who can not see that the present state of affairs is not only unjust, but fraudulent and criminal, has some serious mental problems.

Exploitation is a form of violence and always ends up in bloodshed, when people can not take it any longer. How long the present state of affairs can keep on deteriorating is anybody's guess, but it won't be forever. So it would be better for the rulers to use their little brains and curb their presently insatiable greed, before it is too late. I'm OK , well off and have no problems, but billions of others do and I hope they get get their rights back through peaceful means. Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

What NDP "socialism"? They gave up on public ownership of the means of production in 1956, or rather the CCF predesessor, with the Winnipeg Declaration.

"Canadian Election Results - Disappointing NDP due to failure to use "S" word"<br />
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"...Jack Layton, the NDP leader, ran a fair campaign and was forceful in putting forward his reformist program. The main problem with this program is that it never explained the source of the problems workers face (Capitalism), or the solution (Socialism)..."<br />
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<a href="http://tinyurl.com/7n2x4">http://tinyurl.com/7n2x4</a><br />
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