[Bruce_the_vii]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

The Globe is hardly a balanced voice on the political scene Boots. It's a very Liberal leaning paper.

Khar has a point though with the Left continuing to split each others votes. I really think Layton will steal a few Liberal ridings. I'd say the NDP are more of a threat to Lib seats than the Tories.

Obviously it's just my opinion on an event that isn't even scheduled as of yet so I may be wrong!

I'm thinking in the by-election in Vaughan a few months back where former police Commissioner Juliano Fantino won for the conservatives the NDP were reduced to 2% of the vote. I'm told it's NDPer voting Liberal to keep Harper from going anywhere.

[EyeBrock]

Didn't work though eh? And that was a by-election. That kind of strategy is less likely to work when the NDP can sniff Liberal blood.

[CDN_PATRIOT]

I had read in various papers in the last few months that for the most part, Canadians don't want another election. I don't really know who to believe when it comes to the trigger puller on this one. I see Iggy and crew getting killed in the polls this time, more votes to the NDP, and a decent chance of a Tory majority.

But before any swift action, let's see this budget first. We Canadians deserve at least that much.

-J.

[Khar]

I don't know, bootlegga, I have to disagree. The Liberals have not been doing a great job of having a real platform to contradict the Conservatives outside of one or two issues, but the NDP have a fairly strong voice in what they want. I see the NDP taking seats or votes from the Liberals, but I don't see the Liberals making big moves against the Conservatives or the NDP.

The Liberals lost a lot of seats in the last election with Dion at the helm. I don't really think they've changed enough, focused on a platform or faced the issues which have caused them to lose so much popularity to make much of a comeback. Rather, I think the Liberals are going to continue bleeding votes to other camps. We also cannot ignore the Conservatives have become a lot more popular as of late, and these issues don't seem to have played with their popularity much. I think the Conservatives will definitely solidify their position in a few swing ridings. It's not as if we haven't seen a rash of more Conservative figures appearing at other levels of government in Ontario as well.

Just my quick opinion, though. I didn't have time to think over this post as much as my other one, so these are just my at the moment impression.

[EyeBrock]

The Liberals chief platform has been to attack the Tories. That's what you see on TV and in other media sources.

What they need to do is present a viable and votable alternative to the Tories and they just haven't done that.

[ShepherdsDog]

sort of hard to do when their leader is further to the right than the leader of the CPC.

[PluggyRug]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

What they need to do is present a viable and votable alternative to the Tories and they just haven't done that.

Thats the same for all current politilcal parties 'Brock, their "platforms" are all suffering from dry rot.

[Scape]

The libs have a platform? Wow.

[EyeBrock]

PluggyRug PluggyRug:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

What they need to do is present a viable and votable alternative to the Tories and they just haven't done that.

Thats the same for all current politilcal parties 'Brock, their "platforms" are all suffering from dry rot.

Agreed Plugs.

[Bruce_the_vii]

I’ve been following Ignatieff daily on Google for months to see what he has to say about policy. He say’s he doesn’t have 20 priorities rather about 3 or 4. He’s promoting (1)national daycare, (2) home care for elder, (3)additional funds for post secondary education and more recently (4) pension reform. So that’s four. Even if they ended the corporate tax cut and the prison construction program there would still be a structural deficit for several years. As one point he admitted he’d have to cut elsewhere to fund these new programs. It’s all just talk; he has no money. On the street they call him “Silvertongue”. He’s awful.

Harper on the other hand is going for steep corporate tax cuts while there's a deficit. He's also putting something like $5 - $9 billion in deficit into new prisons. Finally he has a structural deficit and he's avoided biting the bullet so far. I belief the $9 billion for the F35 hasn't been signed.

Harper is advocating corporate tax cuts to stimulate the jobs market while expanding immigration to a record level, 280,000 a year. It's jobs for immigrants.

Cuts are difficult. Just try to save a few million from the cultural programs. But, cuts, are the purpose of government and have been so for 100's of years.

[Bruce_the_vii]

The Treasury Board has detailed where Harper will cut in the budget. The four main victims are Environment, Cultural programs, R & D and Economic Development Programs. Cuts are very difficult, and these are his choices. There's some spending increases as well which is to be expected.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editoria ... -will-fall

Meanwhile the house budget commissioner says the F35s will be at least an additional $12 billion on top of what is planned.