Reply #38: It's possible, I've asked for examples from my NDP friends but none have been able to provide any [View All]

[Very_Boring_Name]

I haven't had time to sift through the results, but the NDP vote share went up significantly, and in virtually every single LPC riding that turned blue, that was the sole reason. Now, you might be asking yourself "Well heck, you can't really be blaming a political party for going after votes, can you?" Very early on in this campaign, an NDP candidate who was running in a doomed riding with no hope of winning voluntarily resigned, saying that he knew he wasn't going to win and he wasn't going to split the left in his riding and allow harper to get his majority. Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, was reportedly livid, and came out strongly AGAINST strategic voting to stop Harper.

It's a little hard for American DUers to understand this. Every pre-election post on DU outside of the Canada forum about the NDP surge was met by cheers of jubilation, how happy they were a pro-union, socialist party was finally replacing the "corporatist" liberals (which I always found particularly amusing, considering big unions in Canada traditionally endorse the Liberal party). It's a little bit difficult to understand if you're not familiar with Canadian politics, but the degree of difference between the LPC and the NDP is so miniscule. On every single major issue, their views are virtually identical. Yes, the LPC has had to veer to the center occasionally, but thats what happens when you go from campaigning to governing. The NDP has always had the luxory of not being in government, they could make any promise they wanted and not have to deal with the realities of actually having to implement those promises. This similarity between the parties means that the main NDP gains *always* comes from the Liberal party. That's why every election they run more attack ads against the Liberals than they do the conservatives. Their goal is not to defeat the conservatives, it's the elimination of the Liberal party.

They will -NEVER- openly admit it, but every single hardcore NDPer in Canada sees this an election victory. To them, the elevation of their party is more important than Canada's best interests.