Since last week's federal by-election, there has been a deluge of commentary on the results. In the end, it is indisputable that the Conservatives should be happy with the outcome of the by-elections. Voters in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River elected a new Conservative MP to the House of Commons, opening a 16-point margin of victory. Meanwhile, Vancouver Quadra turned out a surprisingly successful result for the Conservatives. In a riding that had once been a securely safe seat with a 20-point margin of support, Liberal Joyce Murray squeaked into the House of Commons by a hair, winning by only 151 votes.
By-elections are usually a time where voters punish the current government if they are unsatisfied, as it's usually harder to motivate satisfied voters to go to the polls. This, combined with recent negative media coverage of the Conservatives over such events as the Cadman affair and the so-called 'NAFTA-gate' scandal, would have led one to believe that Harper was being set up for a massive rebuke. But it never happened-and everyone has an opinion as to why. It wasn't Stéphane Dion's incompetent leadership or his inability to communicate with Canadians that was to blame. The results also cannot be explained by assertions that Stephen Harper's government has impressed Canadians. Instead, the answer can be, plain and simple, tied to the reactions of grassroots party members.
There are two clear messages present in the statistics from last Monday. First, don't mess with the people on the ground if you don't want your campaign to be severely disadvantaged. Second, if you allow your party members to campaign freely in a nomination process, they will flourish. Let's look at each of these points, in turn. In Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Stéphane Dion snubbed local party members by ignoring the strong grassroots support of prairie activist David Orchard in order to appoint his personal choice (one who went on to lose).
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Alex
posted 3/26/08 @ 9:03 PM EST
"Stop ignoring the grassroots for the sake of party discipline"
That's pretty rich, coming from a Harper advocate. Mr. Mak, these musings may one day come back to haunt you should your ambition ever grow from columnist to candidate. (Continued…)
Post a Comment