cANADA'S NEXT Prime Minister???

[TOM4CWB]

Gilles Duceppe, elegant separatist
CBC News
Gilles Duceppe was the first politician ever directly elected to the House of Commons on a sovereigntist platform. He won a 1990 byelection in the Montreal riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie, running officially as an Independent but really under the banner of the fledgling Bloc Québécois, which had just been formed but not formally registered.

That byelection followed the collapse of the Meech Lake accord and the formation of the Bloc by an informal group of former Tory and Liberal MPs under the leadership of the charismatic Lucien Bouchard.

Duceppe, who had spent much of his adult life casting about for a party that reflected his left-wing idealism, had finally found a political home.

After Bouchard resigned in late 1995 to become leader of the Parti Québécois and premier of Quebec, Michel Gauthier spent a year as leader, struggling to control an unruly caucus. When Gauthier resigned, Duceppe took over after winning 52.8 per cent support at a leadership convention in March 1997.

This makes him the longest-serving party leader in the House of Commons, with four election campaigns as leader under his belt.

The son of revered Quebec actor Jean Duceppe and Hélène Rowley, Duceppe has said he developed an early distaste for anglophones, even though his maternal grandfather, John James Rowley, was British by birth.

Duceppe's English-speaking Grade 6 teacher slapped him for complaining when the French students had to stand in the aisles on a school bus, and he slapped her back. "If you're talking about social justice, that event marked me," he told the Ottawa Citizen years later.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/leadersparties/leaders-duceppe.html

Extortion Incorporated. the BLOC.

The promise... we will tear Canada from limb to limb... piece by piece... till we steal every cent you have left!

May second will be special... if PM Harper does not win a majority... SHORT the Canadian $$$

Might not be a bad time to sell some calls... and buy some puts on the CDN$???

[haveapulse]

or rebirth the RPC?

[TOM4CWB]

Are you saying we will need to have a 'tea party'?

[TOM4CWB]

"OTTAWA — Jack Layton’s NDP has bumped the Liberals out of second place nationally in public favour and the front-place Conservatives maintain a comfortable lead that could deliver them a majority government on May 2, according to results of a new poll. The nationwide survey by Ipsos Reid, conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global TV, reveals a historic shift in public opinion has occurred as the political parties have fought for votes in this campaign.

If an election were held now, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives would receive 43% of the vote among decided voters, up two points from two weeks ago. The New Democrats, who are on a roll after Layton put in solid performances in the two leaders debates, would receive the support of 24% of voters — up by five points.

This is the first time in 20 years that the federal NDP has been ahead of the Liberals in the polls. Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals, despite trying in this campaign to convince voters that they are the only alternative to Harper’s Tories, have instead slipped into third place. The poll found that 21% of decided voters would cast their ballot for the Liberals, down by five points.

The news is just as bleak for Gilles Duceppe’s Bloc Quebecois, which had long held a commanding lead in public opinion in Quebec. Support nationally for the separatist party rests at 6%, down three points. More significantly, the Bloc is running in second place in Quebec, at 27%, slightly behind the NDP.

The Green party, led by Elizabeth May, has 4% of national support.

Ipsos Reid president Darrell Bricker said Thursday the results of the April 18-20 poll confirm a significant shift is occurring. He said the sudden rise in national support for the New Democrats is largely thanks to growth in Quebec and in British Columbia. It’s difficult to predict how much this boost in the popular vote would translate into extra seats for Layton’s party, he said. While the NDP has political experience in B.C., it has little history of organizational strength in Quebec. “It does come down to the ground game,” said Bricker. “You have to be able to get those votes into the ballot box.”

“The real story about the NDP surge isn’t about them winning a lot more seats, but how they affect the Liberal votes and the Bloc votes.” Bricker said it’s possible that in Quebec, as the Liberals and Bloc lose votes to the NDP, the Tories could stand to benefit in tight races. As well, in the tight races that are expected to occur in B.C., the Liberals are already far behind their opponents and the question for many “soft” Liberal voters will be where they ultimately throw their support.

So what does this mean for what could happen on election night? “It doesn’t mean they’re (New Democrats) going to be ahead of the Liberals in seat counts but what it means is that there’s an extreme competition happening at the left of the political spectrum,” said Bricker. “And as long as they’re fighting each other, they’re not fighting the Tories.” Bricker said that’s good news for the Conservatives, whose support levels — particularly in key regions such as Ontario — have remained solid since the start of the race. “The Tories are coasting into election day. The only question is, if they win a majority how big is it going to be?”

A close look at the three largest regions reveals that:

In Quebec, a four-way race is developing. The NDP (28%) leads narrowly over the Bloc (27%), with the Conservatives (24%) and Liberals (20%) close behind;
In Ontario, the Conservatives (41%) maintain a strong lead over the Liberals (27%), with the NDP (22%) not far behind. The Green party stands at 6%;
In British Columbia, the Conservatives (46%) still have a strong lead over the surging NDP (32%) and the Liberals (12%) are struggling to keep their support levels higher than that of the Green party (9%).
However, the poll’s margins of error are higher regionally than they are nationally.

The poll also has significant findings about which of the leaders Canadians trust the most. When it comes to choosing one of the leaders who is best described as someone they can trust, 40% (up by seven points from two weeks ago) chose Layton. By comparison, 35% chose Harper (up one point) and just 9% believe Ignatieff is best described by this trait (down three points). Meanwhile, 6% nationally (23% in Quebec) say it’s Duceppe. Eleven per cent said they did not know who they most trust.

Bricker said Ignatieff’s inability to secure the trust of voters is helping drag down his party’s popularity. Moreover, he said the Liberals, who are running on a left-of-centre platform filled with social program promises, don’t have the trust of the voters they are seeking. “That’s the irony here. The Liberals decided to go hard on health care and Stephen Harper in their ads. But every time people see an ad like that they’re influenced to vote for the NDP because they’re more credible.” Bricker said that with just more a week before the end of the campaign, the Liberals have little opportunity to turn things around. “The problem for the Liberals now is they are fighting a two-front war. And they’re running out of racetrack.”

Still, Bricker also noted that while the current spike in NDP support is significant, the party has not done well in past campaigns in the final days. “In the last three election campaigns, they have not finished strong. They’ve always managed to fritter it away. The question is whether he (Layton) can sustain it.”

In other regions, the poll’s findings were as follows:

In Alberta, the Tories hold 72%, while the Liberals have 13%, the NDP have 11% and the Green party has 2%;
In Saskatchewan/Manitoba, the Tories are ahead at 62%, while the NDP has 20%, the Liberals have 16%, and the Green party has 2%;
In the Atlantic region, the Tories have 44%, followed by the NDP at 30%, the Liberals at 24%, and the Green party at 2%.
For its survey, Ipsos Reid conduced a telephone poll April 18-20 of a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20. The margin of error for the regional results are: B.C. (8.9%); Alberta (9.8%); Manitoba/Saskatchewan (12.2%); Ontario (4.9%); Quebec (6.2%); Atlantic Canada (12.2%).

In the survey, Canadians were asked: “Thinking of how you feel right now, if a federal election were held tomorrow which of the following parties candidates would you, yourself, be most likely to support?” They were also asked “To follow is a character trait that can be used to describe federal political leaders. Please indicate which leader is best described by the trait: someone you can trust.”

The full results are available at Ipsos.ca

WOW... is yoour faces red yet Mustard & Rider?

[Burbert]

tommie, You are talking to yourself again!

[mustardman]

If people are stupid enough to give this man a majority- then we will get the government we deserve-

If it happens we might have to start a 'resistance movement' like when France was occupied by Germany's trustworthy leader

[riders2010]

We all know there is a majority, with the hillbillies holdin on to their guns out west and the eastern areas where tax money was used to buy off Tony Clement and others areas with the rest of canada's money it's gonna happen. Money talks, but when the economy crashes which it will with the average familey debt and cannot pay even credit cards and then asked to pay more while the mega corps get tax breaks and bailouts, the average canadian will be standing there broke while the millionaires give themselves a bonus.

Good for you canadians, vote for these guys and then make sure to bend over for extremists, racists and big business, because they are all lined up behind the reform with their peckers out.

[FarmRanger]

You need to get back on your meds Rider.

[TOM4CWB]

"Good for you canadians"

WOW... that was a 'revelation'!

YOU ARE An OBAMAnation!???

[riders2010]

Actually when I was off of them I voted conservative! lol

[mustardman]

Hey maybe We Do need pharmacare. LOL