Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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oneh2obabe
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Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

Post by oneh2obabe »

to stop 'radical' NDP.

Julian Beltrame
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Stephen Harper has long sought to destroy the Liberal party. He's now asking Liberals to help him do it.

The sudden and unexpected surge of the New Democrats over the past two weeks has opened the door to two distinct and disparate outcomes — a Conservative majority or an NDP-led minority government.

But for the former to occur, Harper needs Liberals to abandon their party and join him, and Saturday he made a direct appeal to centrists of the party with dire warnings of economic calamity if the NDP were given a chance to implement their "radical" platform.

"I think the vast majority of traditional Liberals don't support such a platform," he told a rally in Liberal-held Richmond Hill near Toronto.

"I encourage all voters who feel that way and many voters who would have traditionally supported the Liberal party to support a moderate mainstream platform for the economy."

To do otherwise, he said, could result in an NDP-led government that will raise taxes and destroy jobs.

In the afternoon, Harper took the same fearsome message to another Liberal-held riding, that of former Tory Scott Brison in Kings-Hants, N.S.

Two new polls Saturday suggested the Conservatives are still shy of what would be considered majority territory.

But the new calculus created by the NDP overtaking the Liberals opens the possibility Harper's goal could be achieved without adding to the 38 per cent the party received in 2008.

It also creates the possibility NDP Leader Jack Layton could win enough seats for the Governor General to ask him to form a minority government should Harper fail to win the confidence of the reconfigured Parliament after May 2.

Asked after a boisterous rally in Burnaby, B.C., about the NDP's sudden popularity, Layton said Canadians are disillusioned with both old-line parties.

"I think people in Canada were prepared to give Stephen Harper a chance, and they found things didn't really change in Ottawa," he said.

"There were lots of promises made that things were going to be done differently (but) they went from scandals of the Liberals to scandals of the Conservatives. ... People are looking for a change."

Layton appeared to be thrown off-stride by a potential scandal of his own, however, after the Sun media chain reported he once visited a massage parlour in Toronto's Chinatown and was interviewed by a police officer after a raid.

The incident happened in 1996 and no charges were laid, but it dominated a news conference Saturday, detracting from the message of hope and change he's used to build support in the last couple of weeks of the campaign.

Layton insisted he had done nothing wrong, calling the story by a news organization with Conservative connections "innuendo, smear politics."

"I went for a massage at a community clinic. The police advised it wasn't the greatest place to be. I left and never went back," he explained.

Layton's wife, MP Olivia Chow, said her husband told her about the incident after it happened and that no one was "more surprised than my husband when the police informed him of allegations of potential wrong doing at this establishment."

The circumstances surrounding the story, which Sun Media said was based on a retired policeman's account and his notes from the time, have been referred to the Ontario Police Department for investigation.

Layton refused to speculate about its impact on the campaign two days before Monday's vote, but the report is just the latest example of the increased scrutiny from both media and political rivals that the NDP's new popularity has attracted.

Stories have proliferated about NDP candidates who have taken time off during the campaign or do not speak French while running in francophone districts of Quebec.

Layton was accused Friday of making a policy mistake with an offhand remark to Reuters that he hopes the Bank of Canada does not raise interest rates.

It was the sort of remark that would have gone unreported if uttered by the leader of a third or fourth party. Coming from a politician with a shot at being leader of the Opposition in the next Parliament and even a chance of being prime minister, it drew fire.

He quickly cleared up any confusion, saying he supports the principle that the Bank of Canada sets monetary policy independent of political interference.

Meanwhile, the Liberals' Michael Ignatieff spent Saturday in what appears to be his last stronghold around Toronto.

Even the Toronto Star, Canada's largest circulation daily newspaper and a supporter of the party more often than not, is now urging Canadians to vote for New Democrats to stop Harper.

The NDP explosion appears to have left Ignatieff almost in denial. On Friday, he said voting for the NDP and candidates who vacation mid-election is like "taking a trip to Fantasy Island" and hectored Canadians to "stop fooling around."

On Saturday, he urged Canadians to ignore polls that suggest his party will be relegated to third place for the first time in history.

Don't believe the polls, he told supporters in Guelph, Ont., and elsewhere, because the Liberal base remains strong enough to get out the vote.

"We’re going to get the vote out and everybody’s going to be surprised Monday night," he said.

"It's not over, it's not over," he exhorted supporters.

But even if the polls are only partially correct, Ignatieff's best hope would seem to be to edge out the NDP for second place.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ignatieff-conc ... 03780.html
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steven lloyd
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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oneh2obabe wrote: The sudden and unexpected surge of the New Democrats over the past two weeks has opened the door to two distinct and disparate outcomes — a Conservative majority or an NDP-led minority government.
Interesting times indeed.
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Fritzthecat
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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What a *bleep* weasel! First they spread the BS story of Jack and now they want Liberal help after a year of attack ads and a smear campaign against Iggy!?!?!?

Why would ANYBODY vote for these scumbags? The epitome of dirty rotten scumbags.

Why doesn't Harper and his Konservatives campaign on their platform and 'record"? Becasue it is.....

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steven lloyd
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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Fritzthecat wrote:What a *bleep* weasel! First they spread the BS story of Jack and now they want Liberal help after a year of attack ads and a smear campaign against Iggy!?!?!? Why would ANYBODY vote for these scumbags?
:129: Why would anyone vote for the Iggyotic guy ? Including any sensible person with previous Liberal affiliations. The Liberal Party needs to be given a kick in the head. First Dion and then Iggy? Time to wakey-wakey Liberals - and in the long run getting decimated in this election might be the best thing to happen to the Liberal Party.
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NAB
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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I agree. Oh well, only a little over 48 hours to go and we will know whether the tide has turned or not.

As well, that thing from a US perspective was interesting steven, but I think they have it wrong. They may think Canandians might reject a leadership contender because he/she want its too badly, but Canadians are a lot smarter than that LOL. They can spot a conspiracy and the tool being used to advance it a mile away ;-)

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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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NAB wrote:Canadians are a lot smarter than that LOL. They can spot a conspiracy and the tool being used to advance it a mile away ;-)

Nab
Yes, most Canadians can spot a tool a mile away. That's probably why the tool will never get a majority government.
Don't take my silence to mean I've agreed with you; I easily could've just lost interest in explaining how wrong you are.
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steven lloyd
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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daria wrote: Yes, most Canadians can spot a tool a mile away. That's probably why the tool will never get a majority government.
48 hours to go, and we'll see if we have a Harper majority (stable, moderate government and continued economic recovery), or a NDP led coalition with a separatist party holding veto power.

Won't that be exciting :127:
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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daria wrote:
NAB wrote:Canadians are a lot smarter than that LOL. They can spot a conspiracy and the tool being used to advance it a mile away ;-)

Nab
Yes, most Canadians can spot a tool a mile away. That's probably why the tool will never get a majority government.
Geeesh. If I didn't know better I might almost get the impression you don't like Harper daria :-)

Cummon now, you know that girls who talk that way are actually secretly in love with the person they claim to hate ;-)

As for the majority Conservative govenmemnt, cummon now, you know you want it as much as the majority of Canadians do :dyinglaughing:

Nab
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daria
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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NAB wrote:
daria wrote: Yes, most Canadians can spot a tool a mile away. That's probably why the tool will never get a majority government.
Geeesh. If I didn't know better I might almost get the impression you don't like Harper daria :-)

Cummon now, you know that girls who talk that way are actually secretly in love with the person they claim to hate ;-)

As for the majority Conservative govenmemnt, cummon now, you know you want it as much as the majority of Canadians do :dyinglaughing:

Nab
Does that mean you secretly want a three way with yourself, Iggy, and Layton? :200:
Don't take my silence to mean I've agreed with you; I easily could've just lost interest in explaining how wrong you are.
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oneh2obabe
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

Post by oneh2obabe »

^^^now that would be .... never mind, gonna behave myself tonight.
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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daria wrote:
NAB wrote: Geeesh. If I didn't know better I might almost get the impression you don't like Harper daria :-)

Cummon now, you know that girls who talk that way are actually secretly in love with the person they claim to hate ;-)

As for the majority Conservative govenmemnt, cummon now, you know you want it as much as the majority of Canadians do :dyinglaughing:

Nab
Does that mean you secretly want a three way with yourself, Iggy, and Layton? :200:
LOL. Na, I'd very much like to get in a last man standing cage with Iggy, but it seems Layton has other tastes ;-)

Nab
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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steven lloyd wrote:
Fritzthecat wrote:What a *bleep* weasel! First they spread the BS story of Jack and now they want Liberal help after a year of attack ads and a smear campaign against Iggy!?!?!? Why would ANYBODY vote for these scumbags?
:129: Why would anyone vote for the Iggyotic guy ? Including any sensible person with previous Liberal affiliations. The Liberal Party needs to be given a kick in the head. First Dion and then Iggy? Time to wakey-wakey Liberals - and in the long run getting decimated in this election might be the best thing to happen to the Liberal Party.
I agree Steve. I shook my head when Dion got the leadership and but I was in shock when they replaced him with Iggy. Paul Martin was not my favourite but he did a much better job than I anticipated.

I think the real issue is how elections are being fought and how the person on which to cast a ballot is made. The whole issue of populist fear mongering really took off in the 90's with the lunatic fringe Reform party and has grown into the present day Konservative Party. The old "fiscally conservative" Tory of the past is long dead and buried. Harper is just a slightly re-labelled Reform nut. That is why he scares me so much.

The Reform Party built its base on lies, rhetoric and hysteria. Harper continues that grand tradition.
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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Talking about lies, scare tactics and the like . . . remember all the scare tactics about Harper's hidden agenda? Remember the charge that Harper would have troops in the streets? Now we're hearing he's going to change Canada's health care system into a carbon copy of the American one and when he's not busy doing that he's going to outlaw abortion and somehow manage to outlaw same-sex marriage as well. So when you talk about scare tactics and lies just remember those.

Edit to add: Harper has apparently learned the art of mind control. From Margaret Wente's column today in the Globe and Mail:
Through much of the campaign, the Liberals have been in denial, blaming everyone but themselves. They blame the Conservative attack ads and even the electorate. Many liberal intellectuals believe Mr. Harper has mastered the insidious art of mind control. (As one of them wrote in the Toronto Star, “The ‘Harperization’ of our minds has already kicked in.”) Others believe the Liberals’ main problem is that Mr. Harper appeals to stupid people. But my small-l liberal friends are pinning the blame on Iggy. “Why can’t he get his message across?” they complain.
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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Urbane wrote:Talking about lies, scare tactics and the like . . . remember all the scare tactics about Harper's hidden agenda? Remember the charge that Harper would have troops in the streets? Now we're hearing he's going to change Canada's health care system into a carbon copy of the American one and when he's not busy doing that he's going to outlaw abortion and somehow manage to outlaw same-sex marriage as well. So when you talk about scare tactics and lies just remember those.

Edit to add: Harper has apparently learned the art of mind control. From Margaret Wente's column today in the Globe and Mail:
Through much of the campaign, the Liberals have been in denial, blaming everyone but themselves. They blame the Conservative attack ads and even the electorate. Many liberal intellectuals believe Mr. Harper has mastered the insidious art of mind control. (As one of them wrote in the Toronto Star, “The ‘Harperization’ of our minds has already kicked in.”) Others believe the Liberals’ main problem is that Mr. Harper appeals to stupid people. But my small-l liberal friends are pinning the blame on Iggy. “Why can’t he get his message across?” they complain.
Give him his majority and see what happens. Minority governments are a different animal than majority. He's had to play nice the last 5 years.
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steven lloyd
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Re: Harper asks traditional Liberal voters for help

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Fritzthecat wrote: Give him his majority and see what happens.
That's a great idea, and IMO, the best possible outcome. The other possible scenarios, including the one where Layton forms a government with Iggyotic people and separatists is really scary. I don't need to be fear-mongered about that possibility.
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