Friday, April 22, 2011

Jack Layton and the NDP, the Rising Stars

According to many recent polls, the New Democratic Party is overtaking the Liberals for second place, in this election. I'm the first to acknowledge that polls should not be treated as absolutes -- after all, they did predict a majority government for Kim Campbell, whose PC party was all but wiped out a few weeks later. However, this is very intriguing news, to say the least.

While I have questioned Jack Layton's judgment lately, I have to admit, it may be paying off here. He's also dogged enough, and distinct enough from Michael Ignatieff (and Stephen Harper) to potentially make life very difficult for Harper if the Conservatives do win another minority. However, if Harper manages to get a majority, then all of this is moot; for all intents and purposes, the ReformaTories will have absolute power, and I don't doubt for a minute that they would use it to crush the opposition into dust.

Then again, this might be academic in a whole other way: one of the reasons polls are flawed, is because they rarely sample young voters in a significant way -- and as we've seen lately, they are VERY interested in this election. I firmly believe that after Stephen Harper's attacks on student voters, he has kicked up a hornet's nest that will hand his head to him on a platter.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have a theory. I think Iggy is preparing us for a coalition gov't in the event of a conservative minority...the real race is for second place. By losing, we can still win! Like Charlie Sheen says, "We're Bi-Winning"! I think Quebec has it figured out...that's why they're abandoning the Bloc for the NDP...to make it a legitimate, coalition gov't. Now the rest is up to us...vote strategically, and we'll end up with a ^NOT Harper gov't.