to move up and down
Voices from the backbench: Some MP opinions that their political parties don’t want you to know
With some Conservative backbenchers expressing concern that their opinions on abortion and other issues are being muzzled by the Prime Minister, the National Postp‘s Steve Murray looks at some other opinions MPs might have that go against their party lines
There has been a lot of talk lately about whether Jack Layton is becoming too close to Quebec separatists. Above, Gary Clement’s take.
Kelly McParland: The NDP plays a dangerous game with Quebec nationalism
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: Jack Layton’s not-so-secret agenda
Roy Green: Layton joins hands with the separatists
Rex Murphy: Jack Layton’s hidden agenda for Quebec
Infographic: How Canada voted
Canadians elected a historic government to office on Monday, handing the Conservatives their long-coveted majority and promoting the NDP to Official Opposition status for the first time ever.
Bloc Quebecois supporter Richard Bordeau watches election results at their federal election night headquarters in Montreal, May 2, 2011. (Christinne Muschi/Reuters)
Conservatives set to form majority, NDP poised to form opposition
The NDP appeared certain to form the country’s official opposition for the first time in the party’s history, coming in second to the reigning Conservatives, whose long-running quest to attain a majority government got off to a strong start in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere in Monday’s federal election.
With 305 of 308 ridings reporting, the Tories were leading or had won 165 seats — well past the 154 needed for a majority — and the NDP were leading or had won 105 ridings. The Liberals were on track to be reduced to just 30 seats, and the Bloc were poised to glean just four.
Election 2011 will be one for the books
One seasoned pollster deemed it the “Seinfeld election” — the election about nothing. But the election about nothing soon became a historic competition with an unprecedented narrative, driven by a cast of characters who were themselves scrambling to understand the suddenly wily electoral landscape.
Live Now: Election 2011 pre-game show
Join the National Post team for our live coverage as results come in for the 2011 Federal Election. Until 10:00 p.m. ET we’ll preview the key ridings and candidates you’ll want to watch. Polls close across the country at 10:00 p.m. ET and we’ll have all the breaking results and instant analysis.
Political Donations: How parties pay the rent
Where there’s politics, money is never far behind. In the lead-up to the spring election, federal parties have been busy beefing up their war chests — raising a collective $33-million in the past year alone.
Here, the Post‘s Tamsin McMahon analyzes more than 560,000 individual donations of more than $200 given to all parties between 2007 and 2010 to discover where the money comes from and who gives the most. (Political parties are not required to identify the source of donations under $200.)
When it comes to opening their wallets to federal politicians, Quebec voters are second only to Newfoundlanders for donating the least.
Newfoundland’s low donations are explained through the province’s historically low voter turnout and poverty, which has kept voters both from getting excited about federal elections and writing cheques to parties. It is a different story in Quebec, where the voters gave a mere $1.73 per person on average even as wealthy ridings such as Montreal’s Westmount Ville-Marie made up some of the country’s most generous donors.
Follow the Leaders: Day 27 on the trail
It’s the day before advance polls open for the long weekend and party leaders know they’ve got to make an impression on the ground. Again, you’ll find them concentrated in the east, with Stephen Harper making a foray into the Maritimes and Michael Ignatieff kicking around Montreal. Can they capture voter attention before heading into Easter Weekend?
NDP surge to the lead in Quebec: poll
Jack Layton’s New Democratic Party has surged past Gilles Duceppe’s faltering Bloc Quebecois and is now in first place in Quebec, according to an Ekos public opinion poll released exclusively to iPolitics. The poll, conducted earlier this week, found the New Democrats have jumped 10 percentage points since the eve of the leaders debate to 31.1% while the Bloc has dropped like a rock by 7.4 percentage points to 23.7%
Ignatieff says Liberals ‘clear’ choice for Quebecers
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Thursday that Quebecers are “experimenting” about how to replace the Conservative government, but he argued that his party would be the clear choice at the end of the day. “The electoral situation in Quebec is volatile, but a couple of things are clear,” said Ignatieff after a morning round table with representatives of Quebec’s artistic community in Montreal.
Harper vows not to reopen abortion debate as prime minister
Stephen Harper has vowed that a Conservative government will never endorse anti-abortion legislation while he is in power, but he refused to disclose his personal view on abortion. The Conservatives continued to distance themselves Thursday from remarks by Saskatchewan incumbent MP Brad Trost, who said the Tories have decided to “defund” the International Planned Parenthood Federation, an organization that provides abortions around the world.
What the #!%* will happen after May 3?
Q. The polls suggest Conservative leader Stephen Harper will get a minority. What would happen then?
A. Mr. Harper would get first crack at governing. He would appoint a cabinet and convene Parliament. In all likelihood, he would introduce a Speech from the Throne, which is followed by a vote. That would determine whether he has the confidence of the House of Commons, said Ned Franks, a parliamentary expert at Queen’s University. If he is defeated, Mr. Harper would visit Governor General David Johnston and either resign or ask that Parliament be dissolved for another election. At that point, the GG would approach the leaders of other parties, first and foremost Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, to see if he could glean the confidence of the House — whether via an agreement or an official coalition.
37 Days: They will make constitutional scholars of us yet
Try as the general public might to avoid questions about parliamentary procedure and the rules governing the House of Commons, there’s a good chance that in two weeks’ time our federal leaders will again force us to bone up on things like the Governor-General’s reserve powers of the Crown.
Chris Selley: Not everything Ignatieff says is proof of a coalition conspiracy
After a two-week break to talk halfheartedly about issues, the 41st election campaign now seems ready to revert to its natural state — a slagging match over the legitimacy of coalition governance and whether Michael Ignatieff harbours a secret plan to engineer the defeat of a minority Conservative Throne Speech or budget, no matter what their content, in order to install himself as prime minister.
National Post front page for April 20, 2011
Ignatieff’s minority plan
Violent playoffs, off-ice payoffs
State of emergency lifted,in name only
Follow the leaders: Day 25 on the trail
Now in their fourth week of riding four wheelers, playing with power tools, eating sandwiches…oh, and meeting constituents and making policy announcements, the federal party leaders are still keeping busy on the trail. On Tuesday, the three major parties are hoping to ratchet up support mostly in Ontario, but will also make appearances in next-door provinces Manitoba and Quebec.
Tories hit home stretch with 12-point lead over Liberals: poll
The Conservatives are hitting the home stretch with a 12-point lead over the Liberals, while the NDP enjoys a swell of national support, a new Ekos-iPolitics poll shows. Pollster Frank Graves said the NDP is the only party that has improved its prospects during the campaign. The survey of 2,400 Canadians finds 37.4% would vote Conservative, 24.9% Liberal, and 20% NDP if an election were held today. Another 8.4% plan to vote for the Green Party and 7.8 % for the Bloc Quebecois.
Chris Selley: Jack Layton + nationalist agenda = NDP surge
This year’s Angus Reid poll, released Monday, was conducted within days of the leaders’ debates, where Mr. Layton landed some pretty good shots on his competition. Stephen Harper was mostly running defence, Mr. Ignatieff ran hot and cold, and Mr. Layton had the advantage of being neither leader’s primary target. It’s also true that the New Democrats are increasingly relevant in Quebec. Both the Angus Reid poll and a Nanos Research poll released Monday have the NDP at roughly double their popular vote haul in 2008, which was 12%. If the nationwide NDP surge is real, it’s safe to assume that’s a huge part of what’s driving it.
Kevin Libin: Forget the coalition. Call it a co-opposition. Same result
If Michael Ignatieff plans to try putting together something like a “formal arrangement” or a “co-opposition” or an “accord” after bringing down the Tories just weeks after an election, he has no choice but to be honest with voters about it, as politically perilous as that may be (fairly apprising people of their choices runs the risk that they may not choose the way you’d like). He’d certainly be well within his rights to form such a union. But if he does, after leading Canadians to believe he wouldn’t, this Liberal leader risks destroying for a very long time what credibility both he and his party now have.
Photo: Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff holds an axe during a campaign stop at a hardware store in Gatineau, Quebec, April 14, 2011. (REUTERS/Chris Wattie)
Post-debate poll: Who’s likable, attractive, a prime minister?
While each party always claims victory after a debate, pollsters Ipsos Reid asked potential voters to pick winners and losers of the English debate Tuesday night. The results suggest Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP leader Jack Layton especially impressed people.
Harper the target in both languages
Graeme Hamilton: The Bloc Québécois is the clear front-runner among the federal parties in Quebec, but you wouldn’t have known it from Wednesday night’s French-language debate.
