Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
|
I'll give them another 20 years... but they've already had what, almost 30 years? And they just now elected their very first MP, and only accomplished that by completely giving up on the other 307 ridings to throw everything they had at that one, single riding. In so doing, they actually reduced the number of people that actually voted for them nationally by a significant margin. I think I read somewhere that they will only get their deposit back in 8 ridings out of 308- what do you need to get the deposit back, 1000 votes or something?
Out of curiosity, does anyone know how long it took for, say, the NDP, Reform or BQ party to elect their first MP?
A lot is riding on how Crazy Liz does over the next 4 years. If she does nothing but be a shrill voice in the background screaming, expect them to do even worse 4 years hence. If she can somehow demonstrate an alternative voice that is not only a 1 issue party - something she has been unable to do so far - they might be able to finally start growing their base.
Based on this conversation including Crazy Liz, I'd bet on the former.
edit: responded initially before reading your links. Interestingly, the document you link indicates the Green's polling somewhere north of 11% nationally. However, when it comes to marking their ballots, their actual support is far, far less - something like less than 4%. This could imply a couple of things -
1) it is easy to respond to a pollster saying "sure, I'll vote Green" but when it comes down to actually counting your vote, those folks are much less likely to throw their vote that direction
2) people who would vote Green are too lazy or disinterested to actually get to the polling station
3) when an election campaign actually gets going and people take a hard look at policies, the Greenies lose out on sober second reflection
It is likely a bit of all 3, but none bode particularly well going forward for the Greens.