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Old 10-13-2008, 01:40 PM   #2
Iowa_Flames_Fan
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I'm not saying Gibbons is wrong, but that sounds a little silly to me. The CPC may be built in Alberta, but it's not founded in paranoid fears of Western Alienation as much as the conservative values of many voters in Western Canada. If Harper fails to get a majority (and it looks like he probably will) that simply reflects the difficulty of building a national coalition in Canadian governance, not that the West is specifically being alienated. In fact, the attitude Gibbons invokes is a little childish: vote for our party or we'll feel alienated and sulk.

The fact is, voters aren't dumb: the message is everything. To succeed in Canada, you need to put together a message that has appeal across many regions. Harper had started to do that, but the social conservatives in his party make it hard for him to expand his appeal in places like Quebec and Atlantic Canada. It's just a fact of life.
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