Minimum to Maximum Seat Projections

Here are my minimum to maximum seat projections based on polling data by each riding from April 28-30 polls from Nanos, EKOS, and Decima

Con: 114 - 151
NDP:102 - 138
Lib: 43 -70
Bloc: 0 - 6
Green: 0 - 1

Minimum = seats where, based on the above polls mentioned, the party has a good lead over the other parties.
Maximum = add in all the seats where the party is in a tight race with other parties. There are about 49 tight races across the country.

As you can see, we will end up with either a Conservative or NDP minority government, with one of those parties forming the official opposition. The Liberals will fall back to 3rd place, and the Bloc will become almost non-existent (it even looks like Gilles may loose his seat!). Elizabeth May is in a very tight race for her Green Party seat where so far the Conservatives are slightly leading.

If the NDP surge continues at the pace it has been going in the past few days, it will be a very tight race for who wins the most seats - NDP or Conservatives. If the surge increases even more, then we will definitely have an NDP minority government.

Not Rex: Humberto gives you many reasons to vote NDP

Not Rex: Orange crush | rabble.ca
Watch the video!

New Seat Projections as relating to the NDP surge

Here are my seat projections based on polling data from the EKOS and Nanos polls of April 27 and 28 only.

These projections are based on 3 different scenarios regarding the NDP surge.

1) If the surge levels off (at the April 28th level):

Con: 124
NDP: 118
Lib: 56
Bloc: 10

2) If the surge keeps going along similar to how it has been the past week:

NDP: 124
Con: 123
Lib: 54
Bloc: 7

3) If the surge rate increases significatly:
(this would mean if all the tight 2 or 3 way races (as seen April 27-28) that include the NDP would all go to the NDP)

NDP: 146
Con: 110
Lib: 48
Bloc: 4

Another NDP minority government prediction

Another word from our NDP conscience ... - The Globe and Mail
Douglas Bell:
A while ago I passed along a correspondence from
Liam McHugh-Russell . That missive turned out to be somewhat, sort of,
kind of prescient. Just a reminder: Mr. McHugh-Russell ran against
Michael Ignatieff in Etobicoke-Lakeshore as the NDP candidate in 2006
and again in 2008. He’s a law student at McGill these days and a pretty
sharp cookie. So here’s his latest. It’s worth reading right to the end
because his conclusion is a stunner.


Liam McHugh-Russel:

So I watched CBC's The National and I have three things to say:

1. The NDP surge is the story, two nights in a row. The first eight
minutes of the show were about how well the NDP is doing and how the
other parties are responding. Some people said some things about Québec
and the Constitution – and the response? Jack looked calm, smooth and
energetic talking about how his priority is making people's lives
better. Harper looked whiny, harping on the point. Ignatieff seemed
passionate, but only got five seconds on TV and the point he made didn't
stick.

2. The At Issue panel treated the surge as a fait accompli; we are,
in other words, no longer at the point of shooting milk through our
nose. Remember that thing I said about non-belief turning into belief,
Jack is not Ed, the word on the street living in 1988, all that we need
to know is that we don't actually believe what we think we believe?
We're way past that point. The surge is real, people realize it's real,
the other parties realize its real, the press treats it as real, and it
was already real on the weekend, when people came out in
disproportionate numbers to vote in the advance poll, 33-per-cent more
than in 2008. If that translated on election day, we're talking 75 per
cent of the population voting rather than 58 per cent. So we're talking
new voters, no doubt. Ignatieff's message today is that the Liberal
voters who didn't come out in 2008 are back, and he's right – they are
back with a vengeance, and they're voting NDP.

3. The Insiders panel pretty much agreed with the At Issue panel:
the surge could be nudged but not reversed, but the other parties
haven't planned for this and they don't even have a plan to nudge them,
let alone reverse them. The numbers game, the candidates question: it's
just not going to make a difference. The At Issue panel and Peter both
talked about the surge building, the possibility that the NDP could end
up with even more votes, more seats than the current numbers show. Angus
Reid poll released a few moments ago? Shows the NDP at 30 per cent,
five back from Cons, 8 per cent ahead of the Liberals. What's going to
happen next? The NDP put up new ads in Montreal in bus shelters today
and the news cycle is going to be in a frenzy for the next three days
talking about wedding dresses and British republicans; Mansbridge isn't
even going to be in the country. In other words, with the election past
the last curve in the track, the NDP is not only ahead but still gaining
momentum and spending money.

Where does it all end? Check out people's first and second-place preference from today's EKOS poll:

I told you two weeks ago that the NDP would need just a glimmer of
hope to finally take off, and now they've gotten it. They're finally
heading toward their ceiling and that ceiling is high indeed: 130 per
cent the height of the Conservatives or the Liberals. You want a seat
count? NDP 115, Conservatives 110; Liberals 65; Bloc 18. In the end,
politics is possible and suddenly, so are these results. Me, I am still
rooting for the NDP because I believe they're serious about us having
the Canada we already have, except better. But it's also very exciting
that the result we do get five days from now will be determined by the
question I said mattered when this whole thing started: whether
Canadians believe it's possible for them to have the government they
want. And it seems increasingly like they can – and that they will.

***

These predictions are almost identical to my predictions 2 days ago:
NDP: 115
Con: 110
Lib: 55
Bloc: 28

No Surprises Here: The Globe Endorses Harper

Politics and its Discontents: No Surprises Here: The Globe Endorses Harper
Nope. No surprise here at all. Hats off to Politics and its Discontents:

As if to once more remind people of how hollow its claim to being
Canada's national newspaper is, the Globe and Mail has offered an
endorsement of Stephen Harper. Its reasons for recommending that the
electorate (or at least that portion lacking critical thinking skills)
give yet another mandate to Harper and his regime would be laughable
were the stakes not so high, and once more amply demonstrate the
journal's increasing irrelevance to the Canadian political discussion.


I am reproducing a small portion of its rallying cry for the Conservatives to illustrate. The bolded portions are my own:




Only Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have shown the
leadership, the bullheadedness (let's call it what it is) and the
discipline this country needs. He has built the Conservatives into
arguably the only truly national party, and during his five years in office has demonstrated strength of character, resolve and a desire to reform.
Canadians take Mr. Harper's successful stewardship of the economy for
granted, which is high praise. He has not been the scary character
portrayed by the opposition; with some exceptions, his government has
been moderate and pragmatic.


It is because of this kind of fatuous thinking that I have not spent a day regretting my decision late last year to cancel my subscription to the once venerable paper.


More:
Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?: When mediocre editorial boards go bad
The people who run the Globe have lost touch with reality.

Far and Wide: Shame on the Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail has endorsed the politics of fear, the notion of unaccountable democracy, the idea that a budget is fiction, the precedent that one can lie about military expenditures with no recourse, THIS IS WHAT an ENDORSEMENT means.

Polygonic: Oops they did it again
No intelligent being (and I include dolphins, puppies and bonobo chimps) can honestly consider Stephen Harper a sober steward of the Canadian economy. The historic deficit proves it wrong, and the simultaneous drunken sailor spending, with its “state secret” price tags to-boot, only underline it.

A Creative Revolution: Predictions were right
It wasn't rocket science to know that Corporate media are going to endorse the most corporate owned party.
No matter how many laws they break, how out of touch they are with Canadians, or how absolutely wrong it is for any media to take sides. They did it again.

Orwell's Bastard: "Find new ways to protect Parliament?" WTF?

Indeed. The Grope & Fail, claiming that the Conservatives are the best to protect Parliament is just insanely absurd. The Conservatives are the ones who have done more harm to tear down and undermine a democratic parliament than any other governing party in my lifetime. The Grope & Fail's reasoning for their endorsement of the Conservatives is a joke.

NDP rise to within 3 points of the Conservatives

Grits set to lose long-held bastions in Montreal and Toronto to NDP, says dramatic new Forum Research poll | The Hill Times - Canada's Politics and Government Newsweekly
The new Forum Research poll of 3,150 Canadians shows that the NDP have risen yet again and are now at 31%, 3 points behind the Conservatives at 34%.
They project that this will result in the following seats if an election were held today:
Conservatives: 137
NDP: 108
Liberals: 60
Bloc: 3

The NDP need to gain at least another 15 seats (and the Conservatives drop another 15 seats) for the NDP to reach minority government position. With the trend showing that they continue to rise in voter intention, it is a possibility.

Excerpt from the article:
If the voting intentions hold, the Liberals stand to lose at least four of the party’s Montreal fortresses to the NDP, including Westmount-Ville Marie, where former astronaut Marc Garneau is battling for re-election; Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Lachine, held by prominent Liberal Marlene Jennings since 1997; and perhaps even Papineau, another longtime Liberal seat where Justin Trudeau, son of Liberal icon Pierre Trudeau, who is struggling to keep a Commons seat. LaSalle-Émard, once held by former prime minister Paul Martin, is also set to fall to the NDP, Mr. Bozinoff told The Hill Times. Incumbent Liberal Lise Zarac is fighting to win the riding.

Several Quebec Conservative seats and most Bloc Québécois seats are also set to be swamped by the surprising NDP wave in Quebec

An analysis based on the poll findings and voter intentions in key ridings across Canada show Mr. Harper and his Conservatives are set to lose three seats to the NDP in the Québec City region— Beauport-Limoilou, where Syvie Boucher, a prominent Tory, is fighting for re-election; Charlesbourg-Haute-Sainte-Charles, won by Daniel Petit, another Parliamentary secretary with the Harper government; and Pontiac, the West Quebec riding where one of Mr. Harper’s most high-profile MPs, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, is battling to win re-election. The Liberals are set to lose their long-held bastion of Hull-Aylmer across the Ottawa River from Parliament, held by Marcel Proulx, and Gatineau, where former Liberal MP Françoise Boisvin is set to oust Bloc Québécois incumbent Richard Nadeau.

In Ontario, although the NDP is set to win at least two Liberal seats in Toronto, Beaches-East York, held by Maria Minna, and Parkdale-High Park, where Liberal star Gerard Kenney is set to lose the riding back to New Democrat Peggy Nash, it is the Conservatives who are poised to gain from the Liberal implosion in the province. The poll results show the Conservatives are closing in on Eglinton-Lawrence, held by prominent Liberal Joe Volpe, a former leadership contender, since 1988, and at least four ridings from Liberals in the Greater Toronto Area.

In the Atlantic, Geoff Regan, the son of former Nova Scotia Liberal premier Gerald Regan, faces the prospect of losing his re-election bid in Halifax-West to the NDP. The NDP also stands to win South Shore-St. Margaret’s from Conservative Gerald Keddy and in Newfoundland and Labrador’s St. John’s-Mount Pearl, barely won by Liberal Siobhan Coady in 2008.

“With the NDP continuing to gain steam from coast to coast, and both the Liberal and Conservative parties’ support lagging, the key question now is whether the NDP have the ground troops to deliver their vote on election day,” Mr. Bozinoff said.

The results are based on an interactive voice response survey of 3,150 randomly-selected eligible voters across the country, on April 26, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 per cent 19 times out of 20.
The poll found the Conservatives have lost ground to the NDP in the Atlantic region, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

Why Layton's fit for office

Why Layton’s fit for office - The Globe and Mail
Brian Topp clears up some misconceptions and misunderstandings regarding Jack Layton and Quebec in Canada.

Layton's opponents have claimed "he sold his soul to Quebec separatists to obtain this [NDP lead in Quebec] result."

From the article:

A foolish thing to say, in the case of Michael Ignatieff. Mr. Ignatieff said substantially everything Mr. Layton has said on the question of Quebec’s constitutional status, essentially word-for-word, in 2006.

And a foolish thing to say, in the case of Stephen Harper – author of the House of Common’s “Quebec is a nation” resolution, flowing directly from Mr. Ignatieff’s 2006 statements.

So what is there is to say about this matter, one of many issues (by no means the most pressing) on the minds of those francophone Quebeckers, who are – maybe just maybe – a few days away from re-engaging with federal governance?

There is this: It remains true that the Quebec National Assembly has not ratified the 1982 amendments. This is an issue that will have to be addressed at some point. The time to address it is when we can be sure we will succeed.

There is this: One of the necessary preconditions to “succeeding” is having a new and better federal government that francophone Quebeckers see themselves in, and that is working on priorities they support.

There is this: In the 1998 reference case, the Supreme Court wrote the rulebook on any future referendum, should there be one but hopefully there won’t. Both then-Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard and then-prime minister Jean Chrétien welcomed this ruling at the time.

And there is this: Fewer Bloc MPs in Parliament is good for Quebec and good for the rest of Canada. Working to re-involve francophone Quebecers in the governance of Canada is what Canadians hope and expect an aspirant for prime minister to do. Acknowledging this issue, as Mr. Layton did when asked (as anyone campaigning in Quebec inevitably will be) is respectful of the views of francophone Quebeckers, and is therefore good nation-building.

Mr. Layton is making a remarkable contribution to Canada in this election by reaching out successfully to French-speaking Quebeckers – something that has eluded all other national leaders in Canada for over twenty years. He has addressed these issues responsibly and with due respect for Canada’s unity, our laws, our democracy and our respect for each other.

That’s what people who are fit for office do.

NDP Still Rising

Tories Lead in Canada, NDP Firmly in Second Place Due to Quebec Strength | Angus Reid Public Opinion
Although this is an on-line poll, and generally deemed not as accurate, it still seems in sync with the other polling trends and is very close to the April 25th EKOS poll results.

Conservatives: 35%
NDP: 30%
Liberals: 22%
Bloc: 7%
Green: 5%

The trend of the NDP support has been a on a continual rise for some time now, growing faster as we get closer to May 2nd. With this trend, we may even see the NDP tie or surpass the Conservatives.

In Ontario, one area where the NDP rise was slowest to start out of all the provinces, The NDP are now at 27%, closing in on the Liberals with 30%. The Conservatives still lead in Ontario with 38%. The NDP started this campaign with only about 16% support in Ontario.

***

Poll on this blog
Interesting results so far on the poll on my blog. Here is the seat projection (proportionately) from that poll:
NDP: 272 seats
Conservatives: 24 seats
Green: 12 seats
(no seats for Liberals or Bloc)

Toronto Star makes things up and plays the FEAR card to try to bring voters back to the Liberals

Tim Harper: Majority so tantalizingly close for Harper - thestar.com
Incorrect Tim.
Actually, if you look at all the polls (except for the Ipsos-Reid polls), they all show the Conservatives in the lead, but only in minority territory. And, the latest EKOS poll (random landline/cell phone poll of over 3,000 adults across Canada - which gives it a very high accuracy rate) shows the Conservatives slowly losing support, while the NDP, in second place, quickly catching up to them.

What is usually a sure-fire way to get soft Liberal-NDP swing voters to line up behind the Liberals is to scare them with a possibility of a Conservative majority. This has worked in the past. But now, with the NDP well ahead of the Liberals in most areas across the country, this tactic is not working. And, it doesn't make sense either. The logic would be that to stop the leading party, you would want to shore up support for the party with the next highest support. Well, today, that is the NDP. Logic would now show that a vote for the Liberals would split the vote and let the Conservatives in.

Even their readers, in the poll at the side of the story, don't believe them. The question: Do you think the Conservative Party is on the road to a majority government? Out of 63,999 votes, 58% said No, and only 31% said yes.

If you are scared of a Harper majority, the only party in position to stop it is the NDP. The NDP continue to gain in the polls and are now only 6 points away from the Conservatives. The trend shows that the NDP continues to gain support every day. If those on the wall throw their support behind the Liberals now, it will split the vote and may give the Conservatives a majority.

So, put away your fear and vote this time for a party that actually shares your values and beliefs. Throw your support behind the NDP now and we may just get an NDP government, a government that actually cares about what you care about.

The NDP has a national public transit strategy

National Public Transit Strategy Still Missing from this Election - Torontoist
The Torontoist published this misleading bit of journalism today. Again, like most MSM, they only count the Conservatives and Liberals when speaking about the election. The Torontoist did include a mention of the NDP, who do have a national public transit strategy. So, why the misleading title of the article?

Excperpts from the article:
In addition to the FCM, the Canadian Urban Transit Association has called for a national transit strategy—something that the NDP’s Olivia Chow had put forward in the form of Bill C-615,
which had its first reading on February 3, 2011. The bill (aptly named
an Act to Establish a National Transit Strategy) called for all levels
of government to work together to establish and maintain permanent
federal funding mechanisms for public transportation.
Sadly, as we've already noted, a full slate of urban issues, including transit, is not getting very much airtime in this federal election.
...
As mentioned, the NDP is calling for an additional cent of the gas tax
to be dedicated to cities, which could be used for public
transportation. However, they are also calling for a National Public
Transit Strategy, and, given that Olivia Chow had proposed a bill
establishing this before parliament was dissolved, we can assume they
are taking this seriously.


Sadly, what is missing is not the platform items and the attention of parties, but the lack of coverage and the lack of attention given to certain topics by the MSM, and sadly, by the alternative media like Torontoist, along with the total discounting of the NDP, who, by the way, are now 2nd in the polls.
I expected better from Torontoist.


The NDP National Transit Strategy:
    * Provide a permanent investment plan to support public transit
    * Establish federal funding mechanisms for public transit
    * Work together with all levels of government to provide sustainable, predictable, long term and adequate funding
    * Etablish accountability measures to ensure that all governments work together to increase access to public transit.
(From the bill tabled in parliament by NDP's Olivia Chow this past winter)
See:
http://www.ndp.ca/press/new-democrat-tables-national-transit-strategy
http://www.ndp.ca/press/new-democrats-outline-new-national-transit-strategy
Also, from the NDP platform:
* We will enact a National Public Transit Strategy in order to maintain and expand public transit across the coutnry, with a clear mechanism for sustainable, predictable and long-term funding
* We will immediately allocate another cent of the existing gas tax to public transit funding for municipalities
* We will encourage transit use by providing a tax exemption for employee workplace-based transit passes

Maria Augimeri vs Ford Nation

Ford team eager to go up against Augimeri - thestar.com
Excerpts:

Last Thursday, an Ontario Superior Court judge ordered a by-election,
saying “irregularities” in the voter list invalidate the results of the
Oct. 25 civic election. Ford-endorsed Cusimano lost by 89 votes to Augimeri, who has been a North York, Metro and then Toronto councillor since 1985.

City lawyer Susan Ungar said the city will probably appeal the
decision. In the meantime, Augimeri continues to represent the
Downsview-area ward.

...
Mayor Rob Ford’s team, drooling at the prospect of another council ally
to help push his conservative agenda, is poised to unleash “Ford Nation”
on Councillor Maria Augimeri in a court-ordered by-election.
...

If another vote proceeds, Augimeri said, she will also campaign on Ford’s record, saying his transit plan that shelves the Finch light-rail transit line, the TTC’s reduction of Downsview 101 bus service and other measures prove he’s “anti-Downsview.”

“I’m voting (at council) for my community, an independent voice. The mayor wants a mannequin, a soulless puppet, who will jump when he says jump . . . I beat them before and I’ll beat them again.”

Canadians' concern for Healthcare may result in more votes for the NDP

Government ethics and accountability among top issues in campaign, says Forum Research poll | The Hill Times - Canada's Politics and Government Newsweekly
The NDP are the champions of our Healthcare system. They brought it in and they continue to fight to keep it and to improve it.
The Conservatives want to get rid of it, and the Liberals have crippled it in the past with cuts to transfer payments.
With people ranking keeping Healthcare and keeping it public as high on their list of priorities this election, it is no wonder the NDP are doing so well in the polls.

Of the voters who ranked health care as the most important issue, 87 per cent of the survey respondents said they were in favour of supporting medicare rather than having more privatization of medical care and services.

May 2nd Seat Prediction

Based on polling trends and a gut feeling (I know, not very scientific), here is my seat prediction for the May 2nd election:

NDP: 115
Con: 110
Lib: 55
Bloc: 28

Yes, an NDP minority government.

NDP vaults into 2nd place and closes in on the Conservatives

NDP leapfrogs Liberals to land in second spot in ‘astonishing’ twist | iPolitics
Support for the NDP continues to rise across the country, putting them in 2nd place with 28%, compared to the Liberals with 23.7% and the Conservatives 33.7% support. The seat projection from this would be 100 seats for the NDP. And, with a steady rising trend, it is possible we could see an NDP minority government, with the Liberals holding the balance of power.



The EKOS poll surveyed 3,004 adult Canadians, including 2,783 decided
voters, between April 22 and April 24, 2011. Results are considered
accurate within plus or minus 1.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For a full report on the EKOS survey, including the poll questions, click here. The EKOS poll was a dual landline/cell phone survey from random sample.

The NDP, in EKOS polls, have risen from a low of 14% support since the election was called, to 28% - a rise of 14%. All the other parties have lost support, some more than others, but especially the Liberals and Bloc.

"The NDP rise is not a blip, but rather a steady progression throughout
the campaign that exploded last week and is now rocking most parts of
the country. And because the NDP leads as the second-choice pick for
voters, Graves said the growth potential may not be fully exhausted yet." - EKOS pollster Frank Graves.

See also:
Globe & Mail: NDP winning support on the right and left

CTV Conservative bias plain to see

Buckdog: CTV And Jane Taber's Anti-NDP Bias Caught On Film

Read the link.

Rob Ford penalizing victims

Ford’s graffiti war dings businesses, non-profits - thestar.com
Ford is creating more of a problem. He is forcing building owners, who have been the target of graffiti artists, to clean up the graffiti, or pay up. It is one thing, for such a thing to happen if there have been complaints about the graffiti. But it's another to send out officers to hunt down more graffiti that no one has complained about, and force building owners to clean that up or be billed for having the city clean it up.
Ford should pay for those jobs out of his own pocket. Ass.

NDP on the rise across Canada

Accidental Deliberations: A growing movement
Not only has the NDP risen to the lead in Quebec, but their numbers are rising across Canada. One poll shows them now pulling ahead of the Liberals into second place alone.
From above link:
In other words, all previous strategic-voting scaremongering is now
becoming as wrong in fact as it is in principle - both because the NDP
is finding itself in the strongest position to challenge the Cons across
the country, and because it may have a stronger baseline of expected
seats to build from. And the prospects for a major change for the better
in Ottawa are growing by the day.


Jumpin Jack Flash


Jack finds his groove, NDP in reach of official opposition, says new Forum Research poll
Excerpt:

Nationally, the survey gave the Conservative Party support from 36
per cent of decided and leaning voters, 25 per cent for the NDP, 23 per
cent for the Liberal party, and six per cent each for the Green Party
and the Bloc Québécois. A separate Forum Research analysis, based partly
on ridings won and lost in the 2008 election, suggest the survey
results would give the Conservatives 149 of the 308 Commons seats if an
election were held today, with 71 seats for the NDP, 64 for the Liberals
and the Bloc Québécois would have 24 seats.

The poll also mined attitudes on one of the most controversial
aspects of this election—an endless barrage of television attack ads—and
found evidence the ads have affected voter opinion, although not in the
way the two main parties may have expected.

Fully 88 per cent of those surveyed indicated they had seen some campaign ads on television.

Significantly, 26 per cent said they felt the NDP has had the best
ads, followed by 23 per cent favouring Conservative ads and 14 per cent
who said Liberal ads were best.

Fully 12 per cent of the respondents said they had a change of heart
and switched voting preferences after seeing some of the ads. There, the
NDP enjoyed the largest gain in support, from 19 per cent who favoured
the party before seeing television ads to 31 per cent after seeing TV
ads. The Conservative party showed the largest loss, from 26 per cent to
14 per cent among voters whose minds changed after seeing some of the
television ads.

“These results, coupled with the steady rise in support for the NDP,
suggest its ad campaign may be providing a lift in support,” said Mr.
Bozinoff.

In Quebec, Mr. Layton’s native province, the poll found NDP support
has mushroomed to 34 per cent, with the Bloc Québécois second at 25 per
cent, the Liberals at 18 per cent, the Conservatives registering as a
preference for 16 per cent of voters and the Green Party with four per
cent.

“This has got the tinge of a mini-referendum on federalism,” said Mr.
Bozinoff, who predicted there is little doubt the Bloc Québécois,
sharing a common support base with the Parti Québécois, will “pull out
all the stops” in the final 10 days before the May 2 election.

In Ontario, the Conservatives received support from 42 per cent, the
Liberals were second, but with support from only 28 per cent, and the
NDP was third, with 20-per-cent support from decided and leaning voters.
The Green Party came in with support from eight per cent of the
respondents in the 106-seat province.

The survey gave the Conservatives 43-per-cent support in the GTA,
with the Liberal slipping to 25 per cent, its lowest level of support in
the seat-rich urban region since Forum Research began its tracking the
weekend Mr. Harper called the election.

In British Columbia, where NDP growth can eat away at both the
Conservatives and the Liberals, the party’s support has crept up to 31
per cent. The Conservatives are in first place in the province, with 38
per cent, and the Liberals lag at 19 per cent. The Green party received
support from seven per cent of those who were reached in B.C.

The Conservatives retain their lock on Alberta, with 58 per cent
support, and the other parties behind at levels under 20 per cent. But
in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where the Conservatives lead with 45 per
cent, the NDP is second with 25 per cent, and the Liberals statistically
tied at 23 per cent. In that province, if NDP growth continues, the
party could win back at least one or two of the seats it held up to
2004.

In the Atlantic, the Forum Research survey found the Conservatives
and Liberals in a virtual tie, with 33 per cent and 32 per cent support
respectively. But the poll found the NDP not far back, at 22 per cent,
and the Green Party at nine per cent.

ipolitics.ca - Frank Graves: Emergence of NDP alters national strategies
Excerpts:

With the countdown on, Election 41 has entered surprising new territory.

A new poll conducted by EKOS Research and iPolitics.ca, along with a growing number of other polls using a range of methodology, are revealing unexpected developments that few if any pundits would have dared predict.

Building on a solid if unspectacular rise, Jack Layton’s NDP are scaling heights they’ve not enjoyed since Ed Broadbent’s salad days. In fact, the party may be closer than ever to tasting the nectar of real power at the federal level.

First the basic numbers: The Conservatives continue to hold on to a significant lead at 34.4 points, short of the last election and down from our last poll where they were 37.4. It is highly likely that this shift is a real decline and the fact is that for both frontrunning parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, the trend lines are not promising.

Figuring out what this means for the next Parliament will undoubtedly tax the imagination of journalists and academics, and the algorithms of seat forecast models will get a workout as they try to predict what might happen if trends stabilize where they are today, or keep shifting toward an unprecedented three-way power split.
...
On March 24, the NDP stood at 14.2. Since then, the progression from also-ran to contender has been steady — from around 17 points to 20. In this poll, they’re at 24.9, basically tied with the Liberals and just nine points shy of the Conservatives.

What happens next is uncertain. While the NDP have grown, they have held on to a major advantage on second choice and now lead all parties by a large margin in terms of their theoretical ceiling (around 50 points).

Ignatieff - worst attendance in Parliament

Which MPs missed the most votes? - The Globe and Mail
If I elect someone to represent me in Parliament, I expect them to do so. This is yet another reason I am not voting Liberal.

From Nov. 2008 to Dec. 2010 there were 311 votes. Michael Ignatieff missed 182 of them! The next closest absent member was Stephen Harper. He missed 142 votes. Gerard Kennedy was in the top ten too, with 103 missed votes. Most of the worst offenders were Liberals.

Michael Ignatieff's non-voting record
April 14:

Today, Michael Ignatieff struggled to explain is horrible voting
record to reporters. He has the worst attendance record of all MPs for
the last session of Parliament. In 2010 he missed 70 per cent of all
votes and 72 per cent of confidence votes.

Let’s have a look at some of the pieces of legislation he missed voting on since he was crowned Liberal Leader:

(Government bills are bolded.)

• C-449, Free Public Transit for Seniors Act
• C-510, Criminalizing abortion
• C-343, Family leave
• C-300, Corporate Accountability of Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries
• C-201, Stopping pension clawbacks for veterans
• C-384, Euthanasia
• C-302, Italian-Canadian Recognition and Restitution Act
• C-469, Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights
• C-307, Charter of the French Language
• C-530, Northwest Territories borrowing limits




• C-46, Canada-Panama Free Trade Act
• C-42, Strengthening Aviation Security Act
• C-501, Pension protection
• C-473, Protection of Insignia of Military Orders, Decorations and Medals
• C-393, Aids-drugs-for-Africa bill
• C-304, Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing Act




• C-47, Budget implementation act II, 2010
• C-42, Strengthening Aviation Security Act
• C-386, Replacement workers
• C-290, Tax credit for loss of retirement income
• C-440, War resisters
• C-308, Improvement of the employment insurance system




• C-5, International Transfer of Offenders
• C-45, Appropriation Act II 2010-11
• C-280, Qualification for and entitlement to EI benefits




• C-2, Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
• C-475, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (methamphetamine and ecstasy)
• C-395, Employment Insurance during a labour dispute




• C-9, Budget implementation act I, 2010
• C-232, Official languages for Supreme Court justices
• C-444, Québécois national identity in the Telecommunications Act
• C-241, Employment Insurance removal of waiting period




• C-7, Appropriation Act I, 2010-11
• C-392, Made in Canada Act




• C-50, Employment Insurance benefits
• C-42, Ending Conditional Sentences for Property and Other Serious Crimes Act
• C-52, White Collar Crime
• C-306, Canadian Products Promotion Act
• C-268, Minimum sentence for trafficking minors
• C-309, Economic development agency for Northern Ontario
• C-279, Employment Insurance severance and vacation pay




• C-20, Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act
• C-288, Tax credit for new graduates working in designated regions
• C-273, Right to repair
• C-310, Air Passengers' Bill of Rights




• C-11, Human Pathogens and Toxins Act
• C-24, Peruvian Free Trade
• C-9, Transportation of dangerous goods
• C-2, European Free Trade

The NDP CAN manage the economy

NDP can manage economy
This article came out before the election in 2008. Shortly thereafter, the Harper Conservative government orchestrated the worst mis-management of the economy in the history of Canada. History has shown that the Conservatives are worse (especially the Harper Conservatives) at managing the economy, contrary to what the MSM is constantly telling people.
History also shows that the NDP, contrary to what the MSM is constantly telling people, is the best at managing the economy.

The article from the link above:
(Originally from The Ottawa Citizen, by Elaine Gibson, Oct. 8, 2008)
(Emphasis here is mine.)

Conservatives have the reputation of being the good financial managers, while people believe that NDP governments cannot manage the economy.

Yet a federal finance department analysis of federal and provincial governments over a 22-year period reveals a very different picture: New Democrat governments have balanced their books 46 per cent of the time while Conservative governments have only had 35 per cent balanced budgets and Liberal governments 21 per cent. Why does the belief persist that New Democrats do not have credibility on the economy?

First, there is the impression that expenditures that help ordinary people are frivolous -- unemployment insurance benefits, housing, child care, education and other social programs. Liberal and Conservative governments have cut all of these. Since the NDP is strong on social programs, it is suggested that the NDP "spends too much" but they have had strong supportive programs while still balancing the budget, as demonstrated for the last 11 years in Manitoba.

The Conservatives frequently repeat that the NDP will raise taxes, but the NDP promise is really they will not carry through with proposed Conservative corporate tax cuts for 2009 to 2013.

Second, people don't take into account that lowering government revenue is the same as spending. The $40 billion in tax cuts over the last two years show up on the debit side of the ledger along with expenditures, not counting the proposed $50 billion corporate tax cuts. The late NDP leader David Lewis coined the term "corporate welfare bums," which still applies today. Small businesses and people with low to medium incomes spend most of their money in the Canadian economy; money in the hands of big corporations may be invested outside Canada, including jobs. Conservatives count on a trickle-down effect for jobs but there are no guarantees.

Conservatives constantly refer to the Bob Rae government, even though there are Conservative examples of worse deficits (e.g. Brian Mulroney or Grant Devine in Saskatchewan). Stephen Harper now muses that a deficit might be necessary (because he will not give up on tax cuts), while Jack Layton would rather give up some of his "kitchen-table priorities."

It is Conservative-style economics that have driven the United States into its hole -- tax cuts for the wealthy, a resistance to regulating their big business and banker friends and excessive expenditures, particularly military spending. Mr. Harper has greatly reduced the federal budget surplus for any future government. Believing as he does in his conservative ideology, how can we trust him with an economy moving towards recession? He might continue to help out big corporations, but there will be a shrinking safety net for the rest of us?


Report shows NDP has best balanced budgets record

OTTAWA - Provinces with New Democrat governments are more likely to have surplus budgets than governments of any other political party, a new report from the Government of Canada indicates.

At a time when the Harper Conservatives are projecting a record $56 billion deficit, the report shows that New Democrat governments have been, and continue to be strong financial managers, while delivering a better quality of life for ordinary people.

The numbers speak for themselves:

New Democrat governments produced budgets that were in surplus 51 percent of the time covered by the report.

Conservative governments ranked second, while Liberal governments fell far short; producing surplus budgets only 30 percent of the years they governed.

Included in the strong record of New Democrat fiscal management is the Romanow government who dug-out Saskatchewan from years of deep Conservative deficits, as well as eight balanced budgets in Manitoba under former-Premier Gary Doer.

The Fiscal Reference Tables are produced annually by the federal Department of Finance. The report for 2008-09 was released on Friday

Budgetary surpluses or deficits by party
(1986-87 to 2008-09)

Party	Years in government	Years in deficit	Years in surplus (as percent)
NDP	53	26	50.94
Conservative	124	61	50.81
Parti Quebecois	8	4	50.00
Liberal	91	64	29.67

NDP Lead in Quebec

NDP surges to top spot in Quebec,Bloc Québécois campaign flagging | iPolitics
Montreal Gazette: NDP surge to the lead in Quebec: poll

The latest polls in Quebec by CROP and EKOS both put the NDP in the lead now over all the other parties. If this carries over to election day, it will be an historic moment for Quebec, the NDP and politics in Canada.

Ekos:
NDP: 31%
Bloc: 23.7%
LPC: 20.6%
CPC: 16.9%

CROP:
NDP: 36%
Bloc: 31%
CPC: 17%
LPC: 13%

Such momentum can only help to push the NDP higher in the polls across the rest of Canada. At the rate they are rising, we may even see a minority NDP government with a Conservative opposition.

More news and posts on this topic:
Cyberpresse.ca : The NDP took the lead in Quebec
(Note: this is the google translated page)

Mike Watkins dot ca: NDP Lead in Quebec

Blunt Objects: NDP officially becomes the new Bloc Quebecois



Cyberpresse.ca : Seriously, good Jack!
(also translated by google here)

NDP - The best party to fix and improve healthcare in Canada, AND the most trusted

It’s time to fix health care – in Northern Ontario and across Canada
...

Layton says Michael Ignatieff isn’t the solution.

“With less than two weeks left in the election, Mr. Ignatieff now
says health care is a priority. But just three weeks ago, he released a
platform that barely mentioned health care,” said Layton.

“I know where I stand. And unlike Mr. Ignatieff, I’m fighting every day to protect health care.”

The New Democrat plan will reduce wait times by training 1,200 new
doctors and more than 6,000 nurses; bring home care and long-term care
under the Canada Health Act; and introduce an affordable strategy to
lower prescription drug costs.

Accidental Deliberations: Trusted
In case there's any particular doubt why the Libs have changed the subject from health care, Ipsos Reid offers the strongest answer yet:

Forty-six
per cent of likely voters said they trust Jack Layton and the NDP most
to manage health care in Canada, according to a new poll by Ipsos Reid.
Thirty per cent of respondents said Stephen Harper and the Conservative
party were most trusted and 20 per cent reported trusting Michael
Ignatieff and the Liberal party more.

Now, this isn't the first time the NDP has ranked ahead
of the Libs on health care among other issues - so there should have
been plenty of warning signs even before the Libs developed their
campaign plan. But the new polling offers a rather compelling signal
that any focus on health care by the Libs would play right into the
NDP's hands - and that likely explains the Libs' flailing to try to
drive the election campaign in yet another direction.

(Hint:
However proud the Libs are that their leader is roughly as popular as
the man they consider unfit for office, any attempt to build a cult of
Iggy will run into similar problems.)

See also:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/decision-canada/Liberals+trusted+less+than+Tories+health+care+poll/4650291/story.html

Interview with NDP leader Jack Layton on The National

CBC News - The National - In Depth & Analysis - Interview with Jack Layton
Peter Mansbridge presents his interview with the leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Jack Layton, on Monday, April 18.

NDP now in second place tied with the Liberals

NDP moves into tie with Liberals: Poll - thestar.com
An Angus Reid poll of 2,032 Canadian adults, April 15-16, 2011, shows that the NDP continue to rise and are now at 25% of national support.

The Toronto Star tries to undermine this result (see: Toronto Star's Coverage of NDP Surge is a Joke ... Almost Literally), but the facts are there. People are sick of the Conservatives and the Liberals and are flocking to support the NDP, the only federal party who has been fighting for Canadians (and not against them) all along.

The poll results:

Conservatives: 36%
NDP: 25%
Liberals: 25%
Bloc: 9%
Green: 5%


Another poll result, by Leger, puts the NDP at 22%, a 4 point surge from their previous poll:
Tories hold lead while NDP surges
This poll was done by Leger with 3,534 Canadians from April 15-17, also after the leaders' debates.
Poll results:
Conservatives: 38%
Liberals: 26%
NDP: 22%
Green: 5%

In Quebec:
Bloc: 34%
NDP: 24% (above the Liberals and Conservatives now)


In the Nanos poll, which has a much smaller sample, thus a much higher margin of error, the results are:
Conservatives: 38.8%
Liberals: 28.8%
NDP: 19.2%
Block: 8.5%
Green: 3.4%

What is interesting in the daily Nanos tracking poll is that in the past week, the NDP has steadily risen, while all the other parties have lost a bit each.

ADDENDUM:
Accidental Deliberations: Momentum Building
"Of course, all of the pollsters are quick to pair the NDP's gains with a declaration that they might not last until election day. But however tempted some respondents might be to shift their votes, they'll have absolutely no reason to do so when there's no meaningful advantage to doing so - which means that the NDP's effective parity with the Libs (paired with greater popularity on issues and in leadership) may offer exactly the right set of conditions for lasting change for the better. "

The Harper Song (Steve It's Time To Leave)

YouTube - The Harper Song (Steve It's Time to Leave) by John Roby
Great song!

NDP continue to rise in the polls

CTV 2011 Federal Election | Poll shows NDP numbers moving up in Ont., B.C.
The NDP continues to rise in the polls -mainly in BC, Ontario, and in Quebec (which the article forgot to mention).
The other parties are either stagnating or dropping.

On election day, vote for the party that shares, and will actually fight for, your values and beliefs. Vote NDP.

Harper is so out of touch with reality he doesn't know India is not in Canada.

Native group blasts Stephen Harper over gaffe - CTV News
This is from 2004, but it's another example of how out of touch Harper and his Conservatives are with Canada.
Excerpt:

Conservative leadership hopeful Stephen Harper was forced to
apologize after a congratulatory letter bearing his signature was sent
to an Ontario native organization. Unfortunately for Harper, his letter
referred not to a native celebration, but to one in the Indian
subcontinent.

"On the occasion of India's national day, I salute the Indian
community for long-standing contributions to the economic and cultural
vitality of our wonderful country," reads the letter, leaked to the
media.

The mix-up prompted a sharp response from the president of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres, Rick Lobzun.

"This is 2004, Mr. Harper, not 1492 - the last time a man got lost looking for India," he wrote in a letter dated Wednesday.

"Look what has happened to the aboriginal population ... since then."

In India, Republic Day is celebrated each Jan. 26 to mark the date
when the country's constitution took effect, marking its independence
from British rule.

The occasion is typically a time to celebrate the achievements of
Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian nation-builders. There is no connection
to First Nations peoples in Canada.

Silvia Maracle of the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship
Centres, told CTV's Canada AM on Friday that she found Harper's letter
"laughable" at first, but her mood soon changed.

"As we got more upset and more concerned about the disrespect shown
to us and the disrespect to others, we then thought, maybe this is why
we don't get our issues answered, we're in the wrong database."

Maracle's suspicion turned out to be correct when Harper's office apologized for the mix-up, blaming it on a clerical error.

When confronted by reporters, Harper, too, was apologetic.

"It's a minor clerical error and to the extent there's any problem it's been apologized for," he said.

However, Maracle said Harper has made "no effort" to contact her organization to apologize directly.

NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis said the letter is just another example of why Harper is not fit to lead government.

"He's not prime ministerial material and he's got to show a better understanding," she said.

ShitHarperDid site goes viral

Anti-Harper website attracts two million hits
Over 2 million hits in a couple of days. Hopefully this will turn into more anti-Conservative votes!

Visit ShitHarperDid

NDP support for cities

The NDP care about urban voters.

See sections 2.6 - Investing in Critical Infrastructure, and 4.4 - Strengthening Public Transit for Liveable Cities
in the NDP Platform.
http://www.ndp.ca/platform

From 2.6:
"- Funding urban public transit with an additional cent of the existing gas tax.
- Significant new funding for affordable and social housing
- Made-in-Canada federal procurement policy for investments in public transit, infrastructure and other key investments
- Continuing current federal infrastructure funding commitments, like those under the Building Canada Fund."

From 4.4:
"- We will enact a National Public Transit Strategy in order to maintain and expand public transit across the country, with a clear mechanism for sustainable, predictable and long-term funding
- We will immediately allocate another cent of the existing gas tax to public transit funding for municipalities
- We will encourage transit use by providing tax exemption for employee workplace-based transit passes."

UPDATE:
Layton Pledges Support to Cities

QUÉBEC CITY – NDP Leader Jack Layton today pledged to support cities with dedicated resources to build green infrastructure, upgrade water treatment facilities, build affordable housing, and keep communities safe.

At a rousing breakfast rally in Québec City, Layton told supporters that strong, sustainable cities are key to Canada’s future.

“Canadian cities drive innovation, attract investment, and are an engine for job creation,” said Layton. “But Stephen Harper has turned his back on cities with no long-term plan to meet today’s growing challenges.”

Layton said he will work together with cities in Québec, and throughout Canada, to build green infrastructure and provide the quality of life we need to be leaders in tomorrow’s economy.

“My plan dedicates resources to build green infrastructure, with targeted funds for urban transit, clean water, research and development,” said Layton. “It will help communities like Quebec City and all across Canada realize their vision for a healthy and sustainable future.”

Layton told supporters that Québecers are turning to the NDP to change Ottawa.

“The NDP is on the move in Québec,” said Layton. “Everywhere I go I can feel the momentum growing. Québecers want to break from the status quo with new leadership they can trust. Working together, we can make it happen.”

NDP support rising after the debates

NDP trends up after debate while Liberal support stays stagnant - The Globe and Mail
Excerpt:

The three-day rolling poll, conducted for CTV and The Globe and Mail,
has not picked up the full impact of the two leaders’ debates. But it
does register the first night of the English debate in which Mr. Layton
was seen to have done well.

Pollster Nik Nanos attributes two other factors to Mr. Layton’s gains: health care and Mr. Ignatieff.

Health care continues to be the number-one issue of concern in this
election; the Nanos poll is showing it trending upward day after day.

And, as Mr. Nanos points out, the NDP have a lot of credibility when it comes to health care, accessibility and universality.


See also:
Accidental Deliberations: French debate followup

and

NDP poised to take Gatineau

NDP poised to take Gatineau

Duceppe on the defensive in Gatineau
The NDP polling trend in Gatineau has been ever increasing, while the Bloc has been dropping.
As of April 12th, the projection numbers were (from ThreeHundredEight.com) 29.5% for Bloc and 28.9% for NDP. A couple of weeks ago, the Bloc was leading with a much higher margin. The NDP numbers have been steadily climbing here.

Ford must be drugging 2/3 of the city council

Council Votes to Bring in Consultants for Major Service Review - Torontoist
The fact that 2/3 of the Toronto City Council continue to vote for wasteful and nonsensical things, while voting against reasonable and sensible things means that Ford must be spiking their drinks with something to turn them into mindless zombies.

The other 1/3 of Council who seem to be awake must be bringing their own drinks to meetings.

Rob Ford's Gravy Train amount: - see: If you can't find a gravy train, make your own

Curious about what was so bad about things Stephen Harper did?

shit harper did
The site shows one bad thing at a time that Stephen Harper and his Conservatives did. Click the button below the current item to get another, and another and another ...
All the items have links below them to a new site, showing when these came up in the news.

Jack Layton shines in English Debate

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/decision-canada/Four+debate+viewers+think+Harper+poll/4605023/story.html
In an Ipsos-Reid survey of 2,615 English speaking Canadian adults who watched the debate, 42% thought Harper won, 25% thought Layton won, 23% thought Ignatieff won and only 2% thought Duceppe won.
Another finding was that of the 4 leaders, peoples impressions of Jack Layton improved the most

Excpert:
Layton appeared to make the biggest gains in the debate, exceeding the
expectations of many Canadians. Prior to the debate, only 12 per cent of
people thought he would win. A majority of viewers, 55 per cent, said
their impressions of him improved, while only 14 per cent said their
impressions worsened.

Accidental Deliberations: Canada 2011 - English Debate Wrapup
Excerpts:
...only Layton looks to have emerged having accomplished what he needed to -
both in terms of suggesting something positive to go with challenges to
the Harper Cons' style of governance, and more importantly in terms of
having baited Stephen Harper into some key mistakes which will help to
feed the rest of the campaign.
...
... Layton managed to use his time in the health care debate to set out
strong distinctions between the NDP and the other national parties -
both in its commitment to keeping funding going in the long run, and in
its plan to make improvements before the 2014 round of negotiations with
the provinces.

Perhaps more surprisingly, though, Layton also
got Harper to show a few more cards than he probably wanted to. Rather
than shying away from the issue of privatization, Layton challenged
Harper directly. And Harper allowed that he sees no problem whatsoever
with "alternative delivery mechanisms" - leaving himself vulnerable on
the question of what changes he's prepared to endorse while funding the
provinces, and how those figure to alter a system that serves as a point
of pride for Canadians.


Jack Layton shows real Canadian Leadership in English language debate

OTTAWA - Jack Layton dominated the English Language debate
tonight, clearly articulating the concerns of Canadian families and
proving he’s the only Leader who can take on Stephen Harper.

Addressing the issues that matter to Canadians, Layton spoke about
the need to create jobs, help small business and give families a break.
Layton cited Harper’s policies of deregulation and corporate tax
giveaways as reasons “why people can't make ends meet, why so many
people are still out of work.” Turning to Stephen Harper Layton said:
“Your policies don't address them.”

Layton pointed to Harper’s dismal record on fixing Ottawa after years
of Liberal entitlement and scandal. "You've become what you used to
oppose...you said you'd clean up Ottawa from scandals and now we've got
the most closed, secretive government we've pretty well ever had,"
Layton scolded Harper.

Layton also put Michael Ignatieff’s record under the microscope. “You
don’t show up for 70 per cent of the votes. For most Canadians, if you
don’t show up for work, you can’t expect a promotion.”

"There you were, supporting Mr. Harper on this massive program
corporate tax cuts, and suddenly you're against them. You're Mr.
Harper's best friend,” said Layton. “If not for you, I’d have to lend
him my crutch."

Layton also scored the signature jab of the night by calling Stephen
Harper’s crime policies a “hashtag fail” a twitter reference that
brought down the house and set the social media world all atwitter.

 

Stevie looked like he was on drugs, Duceppe won for facial expressions, Iggy didn't land that curcial punch, Layton won.
Excerpts:
Loved how Layton jabbed Steve with the crooks all sitting in senate
...
Sure Jack at the last few seconds of that segment had him [Ignatieff] on the ropes about absenteism
...
Layton did very well and was the winner of the evening.    He was calm, scored some jabs and was consistent.


The Debate: Canadian Values Win
Excerpt:
The other issues I particularly noticed were the ones that were only
raised by Jack Layton, electoral reform, particularly proportional
representation and aboriginal issues.

Jack also gets some points for language, being the only leader to use the term ""hashtag" in the debate and "commentariat" during the post debate scrum.


Federal Electoral Debate 2011: The Blather where We All Come To Gather
Excpert:
Layton was very good, probably the best he's ever been (and Layton's a
strong debater). His sections on immigration were excellent. His "you're
all the same" attack lines on Ignatieff/Harper were less so, but the
NDP candidate has to do that. Overall Layton came across as extremely
policy-oriented, which isn't his usual strength—he's an attack dog first
and always has been.

Conservatives and Liberals love taking our money and giving it to corporations. The NDP will stop this and invest this money back into Canada.

Buckdog: Here's 5 Questions That Harper - Flaherty And The Conservatives WILL NOT Answer About Corporate Tax Cuts!

In their own words: Liberals on corporate tax cuts

Both the Conservatives and the Liberals support corporate tax cuts. History and studies have shown that these cuts don't create jobs and they don't create more investment in Canada. The corporations just line their pockets with the extra money and, if they do invest, it is into things outside of Canada. And often they close up their plants and move them to another country with cheaper labour (thus, reducing jobs in Canada!)

Read the links above.

The NDP is the only party proposing to roll back the corporate tax rates to still very competitive rates, and to use the money for Canada and Canadians.

Canadians' impressions of Jack Layton improved after watching the debate

Four in 10 debate viewers think Harper won: poll

The poll, conducted by Ipsos Reid for Global National in the half-hour immediately following the debate, found that 42 per cent of viewers thought Harper won, followed by 25 per cent who thought Layton won. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was victorious in the eyes of 23 per cent of viewers, while only two per cent of viewers thought Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe won.

Layton appeared to make the biggest gains in the debate, exceeding the expectations of many Canadians. Prior to the debate, only 12 per cent of people thought he would win. A majority of viewers, 55 per cent, said their impressions of him improved, while only 14 per cent said their impressions worsened.

...
The pre-debate survey was conducted among 2,615 English-speaking
Canadian adults. The post-debate survey was conducted among 2,365
English-speaking Canadian adults who watched the debate. The poll has an
estimated margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points for
the pre-debate survey and plus or minus 2.1 percentage points for the
mid-debate survey, 19 times out of 20.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/Four+debate+viewers+think+Harper+poll/4605023/story.html#ixzz1JNdYVmzC

NDP fighting for Childcare

New Democrats reintroduce Early Learning and Childcare Act
April 29, 2009:

OTTAWA – Today, New Democrats took a major step forward for
children and working families through the reintroduction of landmark
legislation designed to build quality childcare for future generations.

New Democrat Childcare Critic Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina)
reintroduced The Early Learning and Child Care Act in the House of
Commons today.

“The legislation builds towards the creation of a universal, high
quality, affordable and non profit childcare program in Canada,” says
Chow. “The Canada Health Act helped define Canada as a country, and
after years of empty promises to Canadian parents, an act to enshrine a
national childcare system in Canada is long overdue. Canada simply can’t
do without childcare,” she added.

During the last session the Act was voted on twice, passed the
Standing Committee and was awaiting third reading when the election was
called last fall.

The re-introduction of the New Democrat Early Learning and Childcare
Act comes in the wake of several reports that ranked Canada last of all
industrialized countries in early childhood education and care
investment. A recent Senate report also points out that Canada does not
have a comprehensive national childcare strategy.

Olivia Chow - Supporting families, children and youth

Olivia Chow:

• Introduced – and Parliament voted in favour twice – a historic bill to build a national, high quality, affordable and universally accessible early child hood education and care program for Canadian children.
  
  
• Launched the Children’s Health and Nutrition Initiative to
  provide all children with a healthy breakfast, snack or lunch in schools
  and community centres. The second component of the Initiative calls for innovative ways to
  protect children from manipulative marketing messages that encourage
  poor nutritional habits. The NDP also introduced a private member’s bill
  to ban all commercial advertising directed at children under 13 years
  of age.
  
• Launched a Youth Safety and Crime Prevention Plan which
  focuses on enhancing year-round youth employment programs and building
  strong neighbourhoods.

Marijuana poised to become legal in Canada July 11, 2011

Pot laws ruled unconstitutional - thestar.com
Excerpt:

An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that the federal medical
marijuana program is unconstitutional, giving the government three
months to fix the problem before pot is effectively legalized.

In an April 11 ruling, Justice Donald
Taliano found that doctors across the country have “massively
boycotted” the medical marijuana program and largely refuse to sign off
on forms giving sick people access to necessary medication.

As a result, legitimately sick people
cannot access medical marijuana through appropriate means and must
resort to illegal actions.

Doctors’ “overwhelming refusal to
participate in the medicinal marijuana program completely undermines the
effectiveness of the program,” the judge wrote in his ruling.

“The effect of this blind delegation
is that seriously ill people who need marijuana to treat their symptoms
are branded criminals simply because they are unable to overcome the
barriers to legal access put in place by the legislative scheme.”

Taliano declared the program to be
invalid, as well as the criminal laws prohibiting possession and
production of cannabis. He suspended his ruling for three months, giving
Ottawa until mid-July to fix the program or face the prospect of
effectively legalizing possession and production of cannabis.

The NDP Supports Seniors

Layton announces plan to strengthen pensions, retirement security

Layton proposes new help for senior health care

Layton announces plan to help 'sandwich generation'

The NDP Platform

NDP Platform: Practical First Steps
Also check out the download links for the full platform and the costing document

I especially like the Fix Ottawa section:
Setting the Tone in Ottawa
Restricting the Prime Minister's Power to Avoid Parliament
Making your Vote Count ("We will propose electoral reform to ensure Parliament reflects the political preferences of Canadians. To this end we will propose a new, more democratic voting system that preserves the connection between MPs and their constituents, while ensuring parties are represented in Parliament in better proportion to how Canadians voted. Your vote will always count")
Building a New Relationship with Civil Society
Balancing the Federal Budget

Download the NDP platform and costing documents for more details.

Standing up to Stephen Harper

Olivia Chow » Standing up to Stephen Harper
While Olivia Chow and Jack Layton’s New Democrats have been standing up
to Stephen Harper and getting results for you, Harper—with help from the
Ignatieff Liberals—have been making decisions that hurt Canadians.

See the chart at the link for a few examples

It’s time for real leadership on the issues that matter most to you.
Olivia Chow and Jack Layton’s New Democrats will continue to push for a
stronger Canada Pension Plan and an increase to the Guaranteed Income
Supplement; we will keep up our efforts to increase the number of
trained family doctors and nurses and we will take steps remove the 5 %
federal sales tax from your home heating bill. You can count on Olivia
Chow to get things done for you.

Better Health Care

New Democrats will work to train and hire more nurses and family doctors
and take steps to reduce the cost of your prescription drugs.

Standing up for Seniors

New Democrats will strengthen the Canada Pension Plan and increase the
Guaranteed Income Supplement to make life more affordable for seniors.

Making Life More Affordable

New Democrats will take the 5% federal sales tax off of your home
heating bill, re-introduce the eco-renovation tax credit, and fight
consumer-gouging practices like usage-based Internet billing.

Jobs and Education

New Democrats will invest in post-secondary education and make practical
job training more accessible and affordable to every Canadian.

Conservatives caught lying again for the millionth time

Tories used praise for Liberals to defend summit costs: Fraser - Canada Votes 2011 - CBC News

The Conservatives used a quote by the auditor general (which praised the government spending) which referred to the spending on a summit arranged by the previous Liberal government, claiming that this is what the auditor general said about their recent summit spending (over $1 billion on the G8/G20 Summit last year).
The auditor general would like the Conservatives to modify their report and remove this comment of her's as it is wrong attributed (and she is pissed about this, and rightly so!).

Excerpt, comments from the NDP's Pat Martin:
"This was complete misrepresentation and a fraudulent use of a quote
about an event that happened years before, cut and pasted into this
context,” Martin said.

Martin told the CBC's Solomon that Fraser pointed out in the letter that she wasn’t even a witness before that committee.

"She made no official comment about (it), because she was in the middle of her investigation about the G8/G20,” Martin said.

“The auditor general is the most trusted individual on Parliament
Hill. For (the Conservatives) to misrepresent and to falsify her
comments is unethical. It’s dishonest. It’s beneath contempt.”

Which Canada will You Vote for?

Canada
This is a brilliant piece detailing how the Harper government has undermined Canadian work to fight global warming, how this has resulted in sullying Canada's reputation on the world stage, and the Harper government's contempt for parliament and Canadians regarding these issues.

It covers numerous issues, but mainly those listed above.

Harper government lied to parliament, and may have broken the law funneling G8 money to Tony Clement's riding

Tories misinformed Parliament on G8 fund: Auditor general - thestar.com
Excerpt:

OTTAWA—The auditor general says the Harper government misinformed
Parliament to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund that lavished money
on dubious projects in a Conservative riding.

And she suggests the process may have been illegal.

The findings are contained in a confidential report Sheila Fraser was to have tabled in Parliament on April 5.

The report was put on ice when the Harper government was defeated and is not due to be released until after the May 2 election.

However, a Jan. 13 draft of the chapter on the G8 legacy infrastructure fund was seen by The Canadian Press.

It reveals that Industry Minister
Tony Clement, the mayor of Huntsville, and the general manager of
Deerhurst Resort chose the 32 projects that received funding — with no
regard for the needs of the summit or the conditions laid down by the
government.

27 Reasons to vote Conservative - NOT!

So What Did I Miss?
A summary of the worst offences by Stephen Harper's conservative government over the last few years.

Conservative Corporate Tax Cuts - creating jobs ... in China

Buckdog: Stephen Harper Gave This Company Lots Of Tax Cuts And NOW They Are Creating Jobs .... in China!

Still thinking of voting Conservative? Maybe it's not such a good idea

YouTube - Harper Government 3
Watch the video.

NDP ad about cheating Conservative Senators

Cheating Senators must stop campaigning
“Stephen Harper said he’d clean up the scandals once and for all, instead he’s made things worse,” Layton says in the TV spot. “It’s time to choose a Prime Minister you can count on, a Prime Minister who will help your family get ahead, who’ll put political games aside and get things done for you. Not just the well connected.”

Rob Ford continues to wallow in gravy

Newsstand: April 7, 2011 - Torontoist
And spread it around to his cronies. Read.

Rob Ford's Gray Train amount: $100,000

Questions about Bruce Carson raise questions about Stephen Harper

Questions for Stephen Harper on Bruce Carson: the Thursday edition
Stephen Harper is being found to be one of the most dishonest and corrupt prime ministers in the history of Canada.
The Bruce Carson case just raises more red flags about Harper's leadership.

The above link, and those below get to some of the details that have come out so far:

Toronto Star: Carson was 'Harper's guy' on Afghan file

Impolitical: Carson allegations widen

Updates
Impolitical: Guess who is making news again today
Excerpts:

Several sources who have been interviewed for security clearances, both for themselves and others, noted this week that CSIS agents had pressed about such issues, and asked if there was anything in the subject’s past that might make them vulnerable to blackmail. Neither Mr. Carson nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

"Vulnerable to blackmail." This is why these security clearances exist for those working at the highest levels of government.
...

The memo, sent to Harper in 2008 from the then head of the Privy Council Office, Kevin Lynch, includes an attached document dated January 2006 listing the official procedures for conducting “background checks,” and what to do if the findings of those investigations cause concerns.

“When problematic issues are identified, the national security adviser to the prime minister will personally convey the results of the checks to the prime minister or to the chief of staff to the prime minister," the attached document said.

The PCO official said yesterday that the outlined procedure did not apply to Carson's clearance. Why wouldn't it?

Irrespective of who cleared Carson, it's just not credible that a senior adviser to a Prime Minister has all this trash in his background and during his employment in the PMO and no one knows the whole story or red flags any of it. We should be concerned about the company that is being kept in the PMO. Kind of important.

Rabble TV - a primer on the new mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford

YouTube - FORD MODEL T
An unaccountable hobby politician.
Watch the video.

Uncovering more MSM slant - Pro-Conservative Grope & Fail's take on the NDP

NEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: DAY NINE: Platforms (part one)
Excerpt:
What's also remarkable in the above two linked articles of what took
place at the town hall meet-up that Mr. Layton held at Laurentian
University in Sudbury, Ontario is that somehow the Globe reporter failed
to mention Jack Layton was using this particular backdrop to unveil his
party's platform on health care and the Sudbury Star reporter picked
right up on this little tidbit. Jack says his plan will bring 1,200 more
doctors and 6,000 more nurses into the country's heath care system in
the next 10 years - that's a news worthy announcement that would seem to
trump reporting on unseen rotten tomatoes. But it is illustrative. Not
only will NDP policy ideas have a hard time getting a fair reading in the media, sometimes they won't even get a mention.


Since the Globe and Mail prides itself on being a national newspaper,
the failure to report on the NDP platform announcement about their
health care plan is more than puzzling. This would seem to be the
singular most important aspect of the story at least so far as Canadians
not living in Sudbury are concerned. Yet it fails to garner mention and
there were some pretty specific details too: Mr. Layton
proposes creating a fund to repatriate 300 Canadian doctors now
practising abroad -- investing $80 million a year over four years to
upgrade medical schools across Canada to make room for the next
generation of family doctors -- and his party would forgive student
loans for medical professionals who choose family medicine for at least
10 years, regardless of where they practice. He calls these "...practical first steps to ensure that you and your family have access to the health care you need -- when you need it."

A Summary of Ford's destruction of Toronto .... So Far

Hume: Ford wreaking havoc but outmanoeuvring his foes - thestar.com
... a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of Torontonians. ...