Paul Wells on who's losing out in the polls

Your daily campaign minute from Maclean’s columnists

by macleans.ca on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 11:56am - 16 Comments

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  • TimesArrow

    I'm going to toronto to follow Mr H..

    Better scrub your face book of any pics of you and Ignatieff then. Just to be on the safe side.

  • TimesArrow

    Just what does Ignatieff need to do to stop Harper's momentum? He's already slowed it, but if he knocks the tories back a point or two wont the dippers all flood back to Jack; and we're back where we started.
    Remind me again…just why did we have this election? Oh right, three strikes and you're out. So, why isn't Ignatieff hammering this as hard as Harper is parroting coalition? He needs to move some CR voters.Mr H kindly handed you the weapon, now kindly use it MI!

  • Claudia Lemire

    This was a kamikaze election for Layton, I honestly don't know what the heck was he thinking!

    But I still love his press conference not supporting the budget, my jaw dropped, one of my favourite moments in canadian politics.

    • FVerhoeven

      Yup, I could not understand either why Layton had not taken a day or two to mull over the budget and be able to set things in perspective that way. I don't think Jack would have lost support for his party had he voted for this budget, because some of the things he had asked for were in there.

      Jack tried to pretend that he could have had all his demands met in the budget , but most people know that's not how it works.

      And another thing to remember is this: Layton is the only leader in this campaign who has not changed his position on coalition forming. Not that Ignatieff has been entirely clear on that front, but perhaps clear enough for the casual listener.Perhaps support for the NDP is down because Canadians would rather not do the coalition mess all over again. But with Jack, it might start all over again.

      • Claudia Lemire

        Demands or blackmail? I hate that kind of compromise, I've heard sneaky Mulcair bully him in to reject the budget, I don't know if it is true or not but if it is he will have to say goodbye to his leadership, and he can thank Mulcair for his scheeming.

        And I don't doubt for a second trying to work an agreement with Iggy of somekind, Ignatieff would be a terrible leader if he didn't try to organize something and take advantage. I sure hope it doesn't happen. I do feel Harper has a very good shot at a majority.

    • Blacktop

      No, one of the worst. He hadn't even read the budget. " The fix is in" somewhere. I.e. let us speculate what cabinet position he was offered by Iggy.

      • Claudia Lemire

        I agree that he was irresponsible but what a moment : )

        He won't hesitate to try to form some agreement with Iggy. if Harper doesn't get a majority they will do something!

        • modster99

          What is really weird is that I am one of those folks who kind of respects/likes Layton. I disagree with almost every word that comes out of his mouth, but he sticks to his convictions (I just can't figure out how he comes up with them). Is it because he has no one to impress, and nothing to lose. All the others have to watch who they offend.

          • Claudia Lemire

            I know exactly what you mean, I feel the same way, sometimes he really pisses me off and others I do really admire him.

            But if he fails on this election , he is toast and sneaky Mulcair will form his own mutany, wouldn't that be ironic?

  • Johnny

    Stick to writing, Wells. You look like an idiot on TV.

    • Claudia Lemire

      What a terrible thing to say, not nice sir!

      What`s with the need to insult and the bullying, C`mon we can be better than that!

      • modster99

        agreed. thumbs down. Why even post that. think it if you want, but don't post it.

  • Steve M

    Jack had the perfect opportunity to re-insert himself into the Harper-Ignatieff race. When the PM declined a one-on-one debate with Iggy, Layton should have jumped right in offered to take his spot.

    • modster99

      how would that have helped either one of them?

      • Steve M

        Really? It wouldn't have helped Iggy at all. That's a feature, not a bug! The Liberals WANT the NDP to just fade back into the shadows.

        If Layton accepts the one-on-one debate challenge, he is instantly propelled from the sidelines to the main attraction, the same level as the two frontrunners. And Iggy would be hard-pressed to back out because of the all the "chicken" talk.

        It's similar to what Paul W. wrote about Harper's offer to debate Duceppe when Martin backed out in the '06(?)campaign. I forget the exact words, but Wells said something about how it was the first time he and many people really started to see Harper as PM material.

  • http://twitter.com/FlipFlopHarper @FlipFlopHarper

    Hopefully as more attention is brought to Stephen Harper's flip-flopping tendencies with social media, we'll be able to see more influence in the polls as we get closer to the election date…

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