Martin or Harper - who cares?

Want to stop the Tories?

Don't think the Liberals deserve another term?

The majority of Canadians do not want the Conservatives or dread the thought of Stephen Harper adding Prime Minister in front of his name. That looks more and more possible as the election comes down to the final days. Of course most of us think the same of Paul Martin.

Paul Martin and the Liberals are in a mess and they are losing what connection they had with voters. Martin and the Liberals will join the Conservatives in negative advertising in an effort likely to be the nastiest stuff we will have seen in Canada. Desperation does that to those on the ropes.

It was the same in the 2004 election, but the Liberals caught a break when a few of Harper's folks spoke too loudly about their feeling of two men getting married. All of a sudden Martin was the defender of the Charter of Rights and Freedom, captain Canada. This time out Harper got a purchase order at Wal-Mart for duct tape and candidate handlers across the country refill it as needed.

Captain Canada (thankfully he did not don the happy apparel of one Stockwell Day) attacked Harper and then appealed to anyone that wanted to protect the Charter to vote Liberal. It worked. NDP supporters in many ridings held their noses and voted liberal to stop Harper.

The strategy gave Martin more Liberal seats but also pulled votes for NDP candidates that finished second to the Conservatives.

This time people people can make a difference. NDP supporters are growing as the latest polls show. They are coming home from the Liberals and Conservatives. Voting NDP this time is the best way here in BC to stopping Harper.

As Harper cozies up to Bay Street and old time Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservatives to appease Ontario, he is driving people, especially in rural BC, back to the NDP. The cost of votes in Ontario for the Conservatives will be paid in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Its no surprise to us that Harper or Martin will have the most seats. Neither will have enough to govern on their own. A larger NDP contingent of MPs will be able to moderate the policies of either the Liberals or Conservatives.

For the first time since Ed Broadbent was leader in 1988, the NDP are about to take another step up. Jack Layton and his group managed to stay focused in the last Parliament, while the Liberals and Conservatives played silly games, Layton and the NDP managed to redirect money from a Liberal tax cut for corporations to ...

$1.6 billion for affordable housing
$1.5 billion in reducing tuition fees
$900 million for the environment including energy efficiency
$500 million for foreign aid
$100 million to protect wages in the event of bankruptcy

Those additions to the budget would not have happened if the NDP had not been there to make them. So let the Liberals and Conservatives play silly games. If you have enough NDP MPs, Parliament will work despite the games.

This time out voting NDP will be a message to the Liberals that their ethics and rewarding of friends and insiders, is not acceptable. Voting NDP will also be a message to Harper should he wins the most seats, be moderate, leave the Charter alone or you won't last any longer than Joe Clark.