Quote:
Originally Posted by whatnext
And they narrowly rejected an attempt to reopen the abortion debate. Same old Tories.
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This is why I think Bernier is going to do more damage to the Tories than the Conservatives are {publicly and privately} willing to admit. Bernier is more of a libertarian than Conservative in the classic sense. He believes government should get out of both business and people`s lives and the latter being just as important. He does not feel that the government has any duty or right to interfere with people`s personal choices or lifestyles unlike social conservatives who feel the exact opposite.
This difference is very significant because a more pro-business and socially progressive stance is much more in line with Tory supporters in Quebec, Atlantic, and Ontario. The social conservative caucus is overwhelmingly from the West which is like preaching to the converted. Those Eastern votes however are crucial for the Tories and a splitting of the Conservative vote in PQ/Ont/Atl would decimate the Tories and sweep the Liberals back into a majority possibly bigger than they have now. The Tories are a rather odd mixture of social conservatives and libertarians often with very conflicting views but united by the fact that they want to defeat the Liberals but often little else. A split in either those constituencies will be their undoing in Central/East and this is made even better by highly incompetent Singh heading the NDP.
A split in the Ont/PQ/Atl vote could bring us back to the days of the 1970s where the Liberals sweep that vote rich region and the election is decided before Manitoban polls even close.