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DANIEL LEBLANC AND JOE FRIESEN
Globe and Mail Update
September 29, 2008 at 9:16 PM EDT
OTTAWA and TORONTO — The Conservative Party has stalled in Quebec, where it hopes to win more seats to build a majority government, after a week of negative news coverage over cuts to the arts and a campaign promise to jail violent teenagers for life, new polls show.
If the Tories fail to win enough seats in Quebec, they will have to make up ground in Ontario and British Columbia, the other two battleground provinces in this election campaign, where other polls show them gaining support against a divided opposition.
“The numbers are disappointing, no doubt about it,” said a Conservative organizer in Quebec, where the Conservatives had hoped for at least 10 to 20 additional seats and are now looking at minor gains.
Pollster Greg Lyle said the Conservatives, 28 seats short of a majority at the start of the campaign, can hope to gain seven or eight seats in B.C. and one or two seats in Manitoba, but must pin their hopes for a majority squarely on big gains in Ontario. “With the rise of the NDP and the Greens in Ontario [splitting the opposition vote] they're getting some good breaks, so they might be able to do it without Quebec,” Mr. Lyle said. “They need 35 seats to make up for the ones they won't hold.
DANIEL LEBLANC AND JOE FRIESEN
Globe and Mail Update
September 29, 2008 at 9:16 PM EDT
OTTAWA and TORONTO — The Conservative Party has stalled in Quebec, where it hopes to win more seats to build a majority government, after a week of negative news coverage over cuts to the arts and a campaign promise to jail violent teenagers for life, new polls show.
If the Tories fail to win enough seats in Quebec, they will have to make up ground in Ontario and British Columbia, the other two battleground provinces in this election campaign, where other polls show them gaining support against a divided opposition.
“The numbers are disappointing, no doubt about it,” said a Conservative organizer in Quebec, where the Conservatives had hoped for at least 10 to 20 additional seats and are now looking at minor gains.
Pollster Greg Lyle said the Conservatives, 28 seats short of a majority at the start of the campaign, can hope to gain seven or eight seats in B.C. and one or two seats in Manitoba, but must pin their hopes for a majority squarely on big gains in Ontario. “With the rise of the NDP and the Greens in Ontario [splitting the opposition vote] they're getting some good breaks, so they might be able to do it without Quebec,” Mr. Lyle said. “They need 35 seats to make up for the ones they won't hold.
