Voters should try NDP

[I think not]

Layton: voters should try NDP 'just this once'
Updated Mon. Jan. 16 2006 1:16 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Jack Layton is asking frustrated Liberal supporters to vote for his party "just this once."

In a bid to win voters discouraged with the "incoherence and drift and dithering" in Paul Martin's campaign, the NDP leader asked electors outside his usual base for a chance.

"Lend us your vote while the party you've supported in the past cleans itself up. Vote for us just this once in this election" the NDP leader told Centennial College journalism students in Toronto Monday.

"They're going to be busy thinking about themselves, not you."

Layton said a vote for the NDP would send a message that Canadians want actual change, not just speeches about it.

"They have been in office for 12 years and they have already promised everything that they are promising this time, in some cases many times before," said Layton, adding the Liberals' current campaign promises come from the recycling box of campaigns past.

In Toronto, NDP candidates hope to beat out Liberal incumbents in several ridings. But Layton wouldn't say how many seats he expects to win for his party in that city, or in total.

The NDP backed up its leader's message with a new campaign ad released Monday. It features a string of former Liberal voters talking about why they are planning to vote for the NDP on election day.

"I always believed I was a Liberal, until I actually started looking at the issues," a woman from Winnipeg named Amanda says in the ad, which is also posted on the NDP website.

"I think the Liberals have forgotten to speak to real Canadians," says Todd from Vancouver.

During his campaign stop in Toronto, Layton also encouraged Conservative voters to consider his party in the face of a Conservative platform focusing on tax cuts.

"If you voted in the past for prudent, step-by-step progress, there is nothing of that in Stephen Harper's party today," Layton said.

"Canadians know what the Tory record is. Tax cuts mean service cuts. This time, this election, is a good time to vote NDP."

Link

 

[missile]

I just watched Layton do this spiel on CBC, and laughed out loud: That'll be The Day i can't forget who is forcing me to vote this month :evil:

 

[Calberty]

My 78-year-old mother said she chased the NDP candidate off of her doorstep after giving him a tongue lashing about allowing Svend Robinson, a thief, run for the party. This is from my dear-old-mom who is from London, UK and grew up a Marxist Labourite. She's from a generation when a leftist party didn't want 50-thousand-dollar ring thieves as candidates but believed in 'honest' workers'.

 

[missile]

Most labour groups no longer support the NDP because the party has strayed too far afield from its roots as a working class political party. I applaud the lady!

 

[Alberta'sfinest]

There is no such thing as an honest politician. They tell us what they think we want to hear, and then impliment what they want. Elections are a popularity contest because the average Canadian is an idiot, and maybe 1% of us have even read all the platforms, or even researched what the candidates have done so far in their lives. The end result is that people we like get in, and the people who could actually run the country properly don't and we all suffer for our ignorance.

If the federal conservatives are anything like the Alberta conservatives, we don't want them. All we'll see is cut backs and excuses why the poor will get less and how supporting the rich will help the rest, which is total shit.

The liberals obviousely have internal problems, and their platform is ancient, and their steps to success are obviousely flawed, although some of their ideas aren't to bad.

The NDP while meaning well, has a problem balancing the necessity of social programs with available resources. However, they are likely the only person who looks out for the average joe.

There is no good choice for PM, all the parties are a joke, and none of the parties have completely viable ideas. It doesn't matter who wins anymore, and we're better off turning the parliament into a perpetual stalemate of minority governments, then atleast things can't get much worse than they are.

 

[Calberty]

Re: RE: Voters should try NDP

The liberals obviousely have internal problems, and their platform is ancient, and their steps to success are obviousely flawed, although some of their ideas aren't to bad.

The NDP while meaning well, has a problem balancing the necessity of social programs with available resources. However, they are likely the only person who looks out for the average joe.

.

How is having a thief run for the NDP looking out for the average joe? Average joes don't steal 50 thousand dollar rings, go 'boo hoo' and then expect their boss to welcome them back with open arms so they can claim to represent 'the average joe'. Tommy Douglas would have taken Svend the Thief and thrown him off the Lion's Gate bridge. Layton, in contrast, praises Svend the Thief.

 

[Toro]

I sure hope so!

Go Jack!

Drain those Liberal votes.

 

[Alberta'sfinest]

" How is having a thief run for the NDP looking out for the average joe? Average joes don't steal 50 thousand dollar rings, go 'boo hoo' and then expect their boss to welcome them back with open arms so they can claim to represent 'the average joe'. Tommy Douglas would have taken Svend the Thief and thrown him off the Lion's Gate bridge. Layton, in contrast, praises Svend the Thief."

If you had one bad apple in a basket, would you through away them all?
I think it was a poor choice for Mr. Layton to endorse him, and let him run, but it's ever more fallable to punish the whole group. I won't even bother running for politics in my area because of a similar type of thinking. People assuming that because I'm only 21 that I act and think like their dumb ass kid. I can't believe that people can't figure out that maybe parties would quit trying to cover up their criminal actions through the party, if we quit prosecuting the entire party, for one, or a select fews actions. This kind of thinking isn't much different from stereotyping which results in racism and other forms of prejudice.
I don't feel that people should even be voting based on parties, but rather by meeting the candidates and choose them on their merit as a leader and decision maker. I look for the type that are willing to give up their own beliefs in the persuit of doing what is right for society.
I oppose homosexual behaviour, abortion, and a string of other things, but I'd still right the laws to cater for these people because I except others don't all want to live like me, and only see how forcing my view will only tear apart society more than making the changes.

Atleast the Liberals and NDP aren't full of a bunch of right wing religious crazies that would plunge us into the dark ages. Criminals can be caught and dealt with, but you have to live with poor policy, and the effects are rarely short term.

 

[TenPenny]

Re: RE: Voters should try NDP

I oppose homosexual behaviour, abortion, and a string of other things, but I'd still right the laws to cater for these people because I except others don't all want to live like me, and only see how forcing my view will only tear apart society more than making the changes.

Good God. You mean, you actually think that, despite your own personal views, others should be free to live the way they want?

Wow. Are there more like you out there? Can we clone you?

 

[TenPenny]

Re: RE: Voters should try NDP

I oppose homosexual behaviour, abortion, and a string of other things, but I'd still right the laws to cater for these people because I except others don't all want to live like me, and only see how forcing my view will only tear apart society more than making the changes.

Good God. You mean, you actually think that, despite your own personal views, others should be free to live the way they want?

Wow. Are there more like you out there? Can we clone you?

 

[the caracal kid]

"or even researched what the candidates have done so far in their lives"

indeed, if you want a discouraging lesson in who rises to the top take a look at the history of MP's from the lest few years. It is an example of how anybody can rise to the top.

tenpenny, i am of a similar thought on tolorance as alberta's finest. I feel people must find their own paths, and that all paths are valid. Society is not for the promotion of one path over another, but a foundation to allow all paths to be explored. (on specifics though, i am quite different than AF: i do not oppose homosexual behaviour because it is natural, i support a woman's control over her own body and destiny as part of supporting equality for all)