Toronto-Danforth byelection 3

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Tue, 2012-02-07 17:18

Wilf Day

Debater wrote:

Might also be interesting to see whether the Green Party is still alive and whether it can get a few percentage points.

I'll be surprised if their vote percent isn't up from 2011. They have a strong candidate, we no longer have Jack, there will be no argument for tactical voting, and by-elections usually have a lower turnout. What will be interesting is, will their raw vote total even go up? It might. Which, a week before the leadership vote, would be a reminder to everyone that non-partisan and green voters may be skeptical that the NDP will actually do anything about proportional representation, and if our new leader is less vehement about it than Jack was, they may not vote NDP next time. The Green vote across Canada fell from 937,613 in 2008 to 572,095 in 2011, most of which switched to the NDP, partly to stop Harper, partly because of NDP policy on PR.

Tue, 2012-02-07 18:25

#103

Stockholm

Wilf, i think you are giving people who voted Green in '08 who drifted away in '11 FAR too much credit. Do you think most of those people even know what proprtional representation is??? I think that the Green party peaked in 2008 because it was a fashionable "flavour of the month" that year and because environmental issues were close to the top of the public policy agenda and all the talk about "green shifts" and green this and green that...In 2011 the Green party was out of the news, environmental issues had dropped like a stone as an issue of concern and suddenly the NDP was the new "flavour of the month".

Contrary to popular belief - the Greens actually tend to do very badly in byelections. In all the federal byelections held between 2008 and 2011 - Green support was in low single digits and in BC the provincial Greens have tended to have such derisory byelection results that the BC Greens are not even running candidates in the upcoming provincial byelections and Jane Sterk is whining that its too challenging for a third party to get its message a across in a byelection (compared to what??)

Tue, 2012-02-07 20:16

#104

adma

If the Greens *do* overachieve in T-D, it'll be more as a Calgary-esque dead cat bounce.

Tue, 2012-02-07 21:27

#105

NorthReport

Liberal ‘no-names’ seek nomination to run in former Jack Layton riding

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/07/liberal-no-names-seek-nomination...

Thu, 2012-02-09 12:31

#106

farnival

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-fear-pro-lifers-tr...

"...Some federal Liberals fear single-issue pro-lifers are trying to hijack their weakened party.

Their fears have been stoked by the apparent re-emergence of a group calling itself Liberals for Life, which is promoting Trifon Haitas's bid to represent the party in a March 19 by-election in Toronto-Danforth..."

looks like the Liberals are in for a bit of troubled water.

Thu, 2012-02-09 15:48

#107

theleftyinvestor

It's like when you forget to keep a domain name active. Malicious squatters move in :P

Thu, 2012-02-09 17:21

#108

Lou Arab