Federal Elections 2015

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by underscore

Interesting, I thought a spoiled ballot was the best way to do that.

This is what I meant pretty much, I'll edit to make it more clear

[carisear]

Latest projections show liberal forming a majority. even though I voted conservatives, i'd much rather have a liberal majority than ANY minority gov't.

[Traum]

^^ link to poll / article?

[jasonturbo]

I haven't seen any article suggesting a Liberal Majority lol

CBC Poll Tracker currently has;
LIB 35.1%
CON 31%
NDP 23.3%

Majority does not seem likely for anyone as of right now, 308 says it's a toss up right now between Lib and Con minority.

[Traum]

Maybe Carisear is referring to this?

New seat projections show possibility of Liberals forming majority gov't - NEWS 1130

...at the high end of their estimate / the remote end of the realm of possibilities, the Grits could take 175 seats, based on our forecast

I still think it makes more sense for the Libs to seek support from the NDP to form a minority Liberals government.

[MindBomber]

The Conservative candidate for Langley didn't attend a debate which the Liberal, NDP, and Green candidates did. How can Conservative voters reconcile the notion that candidates are avoiding the residents of their ridings? It's a demonstration of contempt. An MP with contempt for their constituents would not do much to advocate for them and their concerns, that much is clear.

[underscore]

^ was a reason given for their lack of appearance?

[MindBomber]

He offered the excuse of 'other commitments,' which doesn't cut it, for me.

The debate is a significant enough occasion in the election cycle that it should be prioritized over any schedule conflicts. I have no doubt that the NDP, Liberal, and Green candidates have busy schedules and that they could have dedicated that portion of their days to other priorities, but they didn't.

[Roach]

I'm guessing you are talking about Dean Drysdale?

The conservatives have held a strong support hold in this newly created riding. With that being said, it would be arrogant of him to think that appearing for a debate is unnecessary.

Kev

[underscore]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

He offered the excuse of 'other commitments,' which doesn't cut it, for me.

The debate is a significant enough occasion in the election cycle that it should be prioritized over any schedule conflicts. I have no doubt that the NDP, Liberal, and Green candidates have busy schedules and that they could have dedicated that portion of their days to other priorities, but they didn't.

It depends completely on what the other commitments were, I can think of several that I would find acceptable and several that I wouldn't, so I wouldn't slam him too heavily without details.

[MindBomber]

No, Mark Warawa, the con candidate for Langley-Aldergrove.

To his credit, Dean Drysdale, the con candidate for Cloverdale-Langley City, did attend the debate in his riding.

Originally Posted by underscore

It depends completely on what the other commitments were, I can think of several that I would find acceptable and several that I wouldn't, so I wouldn't slam him too heavily without details.

I did consider that prior to my post. The other commitments that I would consider to be valid explanations would be extraordinary circumstances that cannot be rescheduled, like a funeral. In the unlikely event that it were clarified that the candidate's other commitments were of that nature then I would retract my comment. I would not do so prior to that, though, because he's chosen to place himself into a position of scrutiny.

[ilovebacon]

i did a online survey on facebook and it said that i should vote for liberal

[Lomac]

Mark Warawa used to be in my old riding. While I'm not a Cons fan in general, nor a Warawa fan in particular, he used to be pretty outspoken about being silenced by the Conservative party while in the House of Commons. It is/was fairly rare that a member would actively object while in session to being withheld the opportunity to speak when it's his time, especially about their own party, and it's something I respect.

I'm hoping that the reasons he didn't attend the debate were of a more serious nature because the possibility that someone like him is willingly being silent by the directive of his party goes against what he had so often fought for in the past.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by underscore

It depends completely on what the other commitments were, I can think of several that I would find acceptable and several that I wouldn't, so I wouldn't slam him too heavily without details.

He had no other commitments. He's in hiding like other cons. Across Canada cons are missing debates and not showing up at other functions because Harper is telling them too. He's afraid they will say something stupid. Not surprising if you look at the the candidates.

Tory Candidates Reportedly Urged To Skip Debates, Avoid Media

Also Harper is going after Trudeau because of his pro pot and making stuff up like Trudeau wanting to open up brothels. But on the other hand harper is hanging out with Rob Ford a known drug user and who has used prostitutes. I guess as long as he is a con it does not mater what he does.

[jasonturbo]

Originally Posted by Manic!

He had no other commitments. He's in hiding like other cons. Across Canada cons are missing debates and not showing up at other functions because Harper is telling them too. He's afraid they will say something stupid. Not surprising if you look at the the candidates.

Tory Candidates Reportedly Urged To Skip Debates, Avoid Media

Also Harper is going after Trudeau because of his pro pot and making stuff up like Trudeau wanting to open up brothels. But on the other hand harper is hanging out with Rob Ford a known drug user and who has used prostitutes. I guess as long as he is a con it does not mater what he does.

At this point, the only reason I would want to see the Cons remain in power is just because I know it will make you mad

[MindBomber]

Lol

[CRS]

https://www.facebook.com/cbcnews/vid...3731171679604/

When Trudeau was asked why Dan Gagnier quit after it was revealed that he wrote a letter to staff at an oil company about how best to lobby a new government for the Energy East pipeline. Liberal supporters who heckled a reporter asking him about the resignation of his campaign co-chair.

[pastarocket]

-just heard on the radio station news1130 this morning that the projected number of seats in the House of Commons for each party would mean a Liberal minority government.

Personally, I prefer a minority government, Liberal or NDP, so that no political party can just ram through legislation without proper debate and examination of proposed legislation before bills go to a vote in the H.O.C.

[Hondaracer]

Minority just means nothing will get done, even though I've got da monies on it, it's not the best outcome for anyone really.

[pastarocket]

The Conservative party's ad campaign is certainly stepping up their radio ads.
-heard a Conservative ad on Virgin 94.5 about "protecting the economy, lower taxes" blah blah blah

[Habboy]

Im baffled the the Conservatives have ANY support left.....Canada is worse off in all aspects since they have been in power.
Time for a change....

[mr_chin]

Originally Posted by ilovebacon

i did a online survey on facebook and it said that i should vote for liberal

That's my choice too because I heard on the radio that they're going to excavate more land to build more houses in hopes of reducing housing price.

[Lomac]

Originally Posted by Habboy

Im baffled the the Conservatives have ANY support left.....Canada is worse off in all aspects since they have been in power.
Time for a change....

...

I'm not a Conservative supporter by any means but to say Canada is worse off in all aspects is hardly fair. They also have some good things going for them. Just not enough for me to consider them this time around.

[Jmac]

They haven't done a bad job over their 2 terms, but I wouldn't say they've done anywhere near as good of a job as they seem to perceive themselves as having done. Quite frankly, their actions and ads over the past few weeks have pushed me from indifferent towards the Cons to wanting them out.

[7seven]

I voted for the Conservatives during advanced polling but if the Liberals win, I too hope its a majority rather than a minority so things get done and we're not stuck in political limbo/gridlock. In terms of some issues, the Liberals are more similar to the Conservatives than the NDP, like not scraping C-51, keeping some military personal overseas, business tax breaks, etc... so I'd be ok with a Liberal majority rather than any minority gov't.


Seems like one of the larger strategic voting organizations is coming under fire for endorsing/getting people to vote for a NDP candidate who is a friend of the executive director rather than the Liberal candidate who according to most polls is ahead

Leadnow accused of pro-NDP bias, conflict of interest

Organization defends its endorsement of Vancouver Granville candidate Mira Oreck

BY PETER O'NEIL, VANCOUVER SUN OCTOBER 16, 2015

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STORYPHOTOS ( 2 )



Vancouver Sun Ottawa columnist Peter O'Neil spent one of the final days of the campaign with Stockwell Day and James Moore as they tried to sway voters to support Harper.
Leadnow, the highest-profile organization raising money and recruiting volunteers to encourage “strategic voting” aimed at defeating Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has been accused of a pro-NDP bias and an apparent conflict of interest.

That charge came after Leadnow endorsed on Thursday the NDP’s Mira Oreck over Liberal Jody Wilson-Raybould in Vancouver Granville, even though most current polling data suggests they are either in a statistical tie or that the Liberal has a clear lead.

The executive-director of Leadnow is Lyndsay Poaps, a Vancouver resident who is the founder of Frontrunner, a candidate school for young women. Oreck is a volunteer with that organization and the two are friends, Poaps confirmed in an interview.

One Vancouver Granville resident, who voted NDP in the 2011 election and plans to vote strategically for the Liberals on Monday, said Leadnow may be confusing voters due to an NDP bias.

The organization’s canvassers, who went to her door in August when the NDP had a big lead in B.C., said she was told residents should vote strategically to oust Harper and that Oreck was the best choice, according to Bernadine Bolton.

Now that momentum has switched to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, she’s wondering if the endorsement of Oreck could confuse voters and split the anti-Harper vote.

“It makes me very concerned,” said Bolton, who wrote to the Elections Canada returning officer Thursday to register her concerns about fairness and the Poaps-Oreck connection.

“I just want things to be fair. This is a very important election for us. I want people to be informed, and there’s a lot of confusion out there.”

Bolton’s letter of complaint said Leadnow is purporting to be an “independent and non-partisan” organization trying to defeat Harper, yet is releasing information “that appears skewed in favour of the NDP candidate (who) may have strong ties to Leadnow.”

Another riding resident and a Liberal campaign volunteer, Dale Hunter, said in an email to The Sun: “None of this passes the sniff test.”

But Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Canada’s former chief electoral officer, said there’s no apparent violation as long as Leadnow, a registered third party in this campaign, stays within rules which, for instance, don’t allow per-riding spending in excess of $8,788.22.

Poaps, who said canvassers did not endorse candidates prior to the organization making an endorsement, rejected the notion her organization is showing favouritism.

She said that, based on their own recent poll showing Oreck and Wilson-Raybould are in a statistical tie, they left it to the 5,400 people who signed up with Leadnow to participate in strategic voting.

Roughly 2,000 responded to the email survey, with the overwhelming majority saying they believe Leadnow should endorse a candidate.

Of those who cast a vote, 61 per cent favoured Oreck and 39 per cent Wilson-Raybould.

The survey included the Liberal and NDP positions that Poaps said are important to her organization. That list noted that Trudeau has “ruled out working with the NDP and Greens” on a coalition or formal agreement to govern, whereas the NDP’s Mulcair has said he’s open to that idea.

It also said the Liberals have said they will “study” different electoral reform options, whereas the NDP has vowed to “pass proportional representation electoral reform.”

And in another controversial matter that has divided Canada’s centre-left, it said the Liberals say they will amend Harper’s anti-terrorism law, while Mulcair has promised to “repeal the C-51 spying bill.”

Poaps rejected any suggestion that her personal relationship might have impacted the process.

“The decision was not up to me. We put all the information to our community,” said Poaps, who noted that across Canada, Leadnow has so far endorsed 13 Liberals and 10 New Democrats.

Oreck said she isn’t getting unfair help.

“Leadnow has their own process; I think everyone’s clear on what it is,” she said.

“My assumption and understanding is that their pledge-signers voted, and this is the outcome.”

Pollsters Frank Graves of Ekos and Mario Canseco of Insights West questioned why a strategic voting organization would take sides when polling doesn’t yet show an obvious anti-Harper candidate.

“I think it makes half of the progressive voters in the riding very upset,” Canseco said.

“So much for ‘uniting’ in the hopes of defeating Harper.”

Wilson-Raybould didn’t engage directly in the debate, saying through a spokesman: “I am confident that the people of Vancouver Granville will make their own choice for real change, and that it will be Liberal.”

Interview requests placed with Conservative candidate Erinn Broshko didn’t get a response.

Leadnow issued a new Environics poll earlier this week for that riding showing the Liberals at 35 per cent, the NDP at 33 per cent, the Conservatives at 28 per cent and the Greens, under candidate Michael Barkusky, at four per cent. That poll of 505 respondents, done Oct. 9 through 11 and using automated voice technology, had an error margin of 4.4 percentage points, putting the Liberals and NDP at a statistical tie.

But another poll, sponsored by Friends of Canadian broadcasting and conducted by Mainstreet Research on Oct. 8, had the Liberals way ahead there. It used similar technology but with a larger sample size (665) and resulting lower error margin (3.7 percentage points).

That poll put 44 per cent of decided and leaning voters with the Liberals, 28 per cent with the NDP, 20 per cent with the Conservatives and nine per cent with the Greens.

Among the polling analysts and strategic voting sites that have released data or taken a position:

* Strategicvoting.ca concluded the race is too close to call, and that people should “vote your preference.”

* threehundredeight.com, which aggregates all polls while considering factors such as voting histories and incumbency, said those polls suggest 46.1 per cent are with the Liberals, 23.8 per cent with the NDP, 22 per cent for the Conservatives, and 8.1 per cent for the Greens.

* tooclosetocall.ca, which uses a more cautious formula to calculate polling trends, has the Liberals at 35 per cent in the riding, compared to 28 per cent for the NDP and 27 per cent for the Conservatives.

Leadnow accused of pro-NDP bias, conflict of interest