Tory Party leadership contenders coughed up what, for Canada, is a pretty steep entry fee - $300,000. That's the kind of money you might risk for a shot to become the next prime minister only that's looking like an increasingly remote prospect these days.
The Liberals were in a state of post-election stagnation in late February and early March, averaging about 33 per cent in the polls. That's exactly where they were on election night nearly nine months ago.
Since then, however, the Liberals have seen their support increase significantly. It has risen to between 39 and 42 per cent support among decided voters, according to a monthly average of national polls.
The increase in support for the Liberals — which seems to have settled around 7.5 points — eight to nine months after an election is the largest for a minority government since John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives surged by 11.5 points in 1957-58.
That's the only case of a minority government experiencing a larger increase in support than the one lifting up the Liberals now.
Canada's most progressive and successful governments were minorities
ReplyDelete63-68 (pensions, medicare, gay-liberation etc etc)
72-74 (Berger commission, FIRA, election-expense reform)
and the 2008 recession was tempered by keynesian policies the CONs were forced to adopt.
BC has a stable minority that (outside of the resources policies) makes the old BC-LIBs look like the greedy dinosaurs they are.
I like the current arrangement as I suspect many Canadian do.
If Jr. had a majority, Morneau would be in charge.
If Jr calls an early election, his bump in the polls will likely deflate.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that Jr's popularity would slump if he calls an election, NPoV, not with the alternatives the Tories are presenting.