Abortion, gay marriage could be next on chopping block in Canada, Chrétien warns

[Ken Burch]

15. The only reason the Liberals have made small gains and the NDP has had small losses

in the post-election polls(most of which are now being reversed) is that the NDP is in the midst of a leadership contest, and its interim leader, Nycole Turmel, is not in that contest, and therefore not being as flashy as interim Liberal leader(and potential actual leadership candidate)Bob Rae.

Once the NDP has a new leader, (most likely the Montreal-area M.P. Thomas Mulcair)the NDP's poll numbers will likely increase, since the short-term advantages the current situation gives to the Liberals will be erased.

And, in practical terms, it's going to be much easier to try to elect a party that starts the election in second place than it will to try to elect a party that starts the election in third place.

Finally, while the NDP made massive gains in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois, the sovereigntist party that was reduced to only four seats, there is no possible chance that people who voted Bloc and then switched to the NDP would ever switch their votes to the Liberals, since the Liberals have nothing whatsoever to offer those voters.

Also, the NDP has great potential to make gains in the Prairies and in B.C.(areas where the Tory vote has been disproportionately strong in the last three elections)while the Liberals remain hated by the voters in those areas.