I know people actually members of the NDP. They do NOT think of themselves as being Liberals or anything like them. They’re as different as Liberals and Conservatives.
A plausible case could be made for the NDP being more different from the Liberals than the Liberals are from the Conservatives.
Agreed. There are probably going to be a few votes going their way from people who would be astounded at how many of their policies they disagree with.
If O’Toole wins a minority, who is going to support him on non-confidence votes? The NDP? Not likely unless they get major progressive concessions, and that’s not likely. The Bloc, whose major policy is separation, and getting whatever goodies they can get from The Rest Of Canada? Possibly, but giving Quebec lots of goodies is not going to go over well with their base in Western Canada.
A Conservative minority will not last long.
You might be surprised. The NDP is usually running on thin financial ice and wouldn’t be prepared to fight another election soon. Their primary reason for supporting the government of the day isn’t policy, it never is; it’s preparedness for an election. The Conservatives would give them enough to allow Singh to publically say he didn’t want to force an election - it doesn’t have to be too much.
It might be hard to do, but he could largely try to avoid raising anything that is likely to become a confidence vote. Harper survived as a Conservative minority government, after all, by largely reining in the more extreme members of the party. O’Toole at least has a chance at doing the same.
If he plays it carefully, it’s possible that only the budget would be a confidence vote, and even there, unless it’s a hard-right, screw you taxpayers kind of budget, the other parties are likely to at least give him a chance to govern.
So, yeah, he won’t have it as easy as Trudeau and the Liberals would, but if he soft-sells it, he could hang in there for quite some time.
Yeah, I think the other parties would be punished if they kicked him to the curb too fast. They would need a very struggle narrative to say why they could not support the gov’t on say their first budget. It would need to be truly awful.
My stepson is a self described fascist, (bless his very small little heart), and of course is happily voting PPC. His mother in her efforts to hear him and respect his choices, visited their website and commented on how good their PR people are in making them out to sound rational. It does not take much research to find their true colours, but many anti-vaxers and others unable to accept the reality of the pandemic may be easily swayed.
With the recent restrictions here in Alberta, the unvaccinated are screaming bloody murder about their rights. Medical professionals are quitting their careers from exhaustion, we are flying ICU patients to Ontario, the unions are asking for the military to be brought in to help. Triage protocol is being discussed. Some non covid critical patients are going to die in the next few weeks because the system is beyond capacity. All this and Maxime was spouting his vile filth to a crowd of over a thousand in front of Calgary city hall on the weekend, all unmasked. I think the PPC will get a surprising number of votes this election.
All that said, voting was easy and pleasant this morning. Took me just a few minutes. Some people had lined up to correct addresses etc. I had my card and was sent directly to the booth. Everyone masked, polite and cheerful. We’re not Texas quite yet, but the ‘Maverick party’ candidate was on the ballot.
The PPC is polling as high as a dozen percent in some areas. This might not win many seats but could sure hobble the Conservatives as PPC voters might care little for “strategy”.
If the Greens or PPC do not win their leaders ridings it won’t be easier elsewhere.
Voting meant a thirty minute line but still shorter than the one right now. Pretty easy. Much better than not having the opportunity to do so - though how much that applies to this needless election could be discussed.
My local polling station is literally across the street from my home. I just popped over after breakfast and voted. It was completely empty other than the poll workers.
Well, they basically accused Trudeau of selling drugs to schoolchildren in the previous election and that didn’t work.
OK, my gut feeling is (by number of seats) :
- Conservatives win (minority);
- Liberals in close second;
- NDP and Bloc about ex aequo in third;
- 1 seat each (hopefully not next to each other) for the PPC and the Greens.
I don’t know, that could be awfully amusing.
He has really nice hair though. 
I think you may not understand NDP voters. Singh does this and the party goes to 5 seats next election.
The NDP did in fact support the Harper government on a number of confidence motions.
Have you ever seen the fights in the Taiwanese Parliament?
That was my experience too. Very smooth and efficient like usual. My polling place is less than a block away. The whole process, including walking, was maybe 10 minutes.
True. But I think that the NDP have changed a bit since then, especially under Singh. I tend to agree with Euphonious_Polemic that the NDP would be much less supportive of an O’Toole government. I’d rather not find out however…
When do polls close/results start coming in? Any preferred websites to watch the results that our friends up north recommend? Also is “Erin” a common spelling for a man to use in Canada? For months, I thought he was a woman who could be the first female Canadian PM.