Federal Tories-Grits Statistically Tied - Tory Turbulence in Quebec

Could you do "math sets '" on the liberal leadership race?Rae has said he would draw from the NDP.. but that support is falling.Kennedy has little support from Quebec and Dion little in the west. I think Rae's comments are flawed and he can' t do the math. Can you do the combinations?

In essence, Quebecers will decide the next government… and how we fare in the ROC. Strangely prescient about this Conservative Party’s agenda, with its roots in Fundamentalism rather than the party they gave their hearts to under Brian Mulroney, Quebecers have yet to be offered a reason to abandon the Bloc.

Which appears to mean minority governments in Canada for the next ten years, or at least until the Conservatives or Liberals make a mistake of such epic proportions that they drive their voters into the arms of the other.

There is no doubt that Canadian Politics is the best sport there is!

I am a conservative, but not a Conservative. Mr. Harper will need to solve the Afghanistan problem, or I predict he will lose the next election. He needs to either pull our troops out of that country or at least move them out of Kandahar, where Canada will then be in a position to do more humanitarian work. If he does that, I am not cocerned about re-election of the government. The government is sitting on a mountain of cash to solve the fiscal imbalance and come up with an environmental plan that satisfies Quebec.

It would be more interesting for analytical purposes if you could break up the "West" into smaller regions (e.g. B.C., Alberta, and Sask/Man.), and also if you could break up Ontario into the GTA, and the rest of the province (and perhaps the same for Quebec between Montreal and the rest). These smaller areas have widely divergent voting patterns that can't just be lumped into one big area for a more detailed analysis of possible seat results.

I believe Afghanistan and foreign policy may be having an effect in Quebec, but let's not forget the impact of some recent (smaller) events which, when added together, are changing people's impressions of the Conservative government and causing some level of disapointment: The broken promise on income trusts, the constant blaming of the previous government (like a broken record), Garth Turner's expulsion from the party, Ambrose's weak performance on the environment, an accountability act which reduces transparency, a lockdown on what MP's are allowed to say... and the list goes on.

This all adds up to a feeling that the new government is no better (and in some senses worse) than the previous government. Canadians are not stupid. They are quickly realising that the promise of a more open and democratic government was nothing more than a pipe dream.

In jumping in here, I may be seeing things too simplistically, and am perhaps being a bit naive, but shouldn't all parties be providing us with solid platforms, honourable leadership, someone with a vision of where they want to take Canada and Canadians? Shouldn't party platforms represent how we see ourselves in the world, and how we want ourselves to contribute to the world? I continually read about what one party can bring to that province, what another party can promise and supply to another province. No one province should be able to hold the rest of the country's breath, whether its in eastern, central, western or northern Canada.

Where's the leadership Canadians can trust? I think far beyond electoral reform, vote splitting, voting this to block that, promising this while taking away that, we should look at a more fundamental issue - where are the visionaries, the orators, the inspirers, the catalysts that bring all of our dreams together to continue to build a great country? Where is the leader that can capture Canadians' imaginations in being the best we can be? Why is our political climate not bringing these people forward?

Jan from Whitby,
There is nothing better for the Conservative Party of Canada and the PM to do than stay true to their principles and act accordingly.
Canadians will respond favourably to any political leadership as long as it effective and above board.