[LINK] "Tories change target to aim at NDP, Greens"

[rfmcdonald]

The Ottawa Citizen reports that the Conservative Party--expected to form the next government and unconcerned with the Liberal Party--is starting to become concerned about the growing popularity of the second-tier New Democratic Party and the Green Party.

The Conservatives said Sunday they are refocusing their primary aim on the NDP and the Green Party, citing them as a bigger threat to their reelection than the Liberals.

The Tories explained their dramatic shift in strategy, coming as the second week of the federal election begins, as being due to NDP Leader Jack Layton's rising popularity over that of Liberal Leader Stephane Dion - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's main target last week.

But the Conservatives also said that the NDP and Green Party are making significant inroads, not only in British Columbia and parts of the Prairies but in northern and southwestern Ontario.

"They're beginning to challenge the Liberals as our primary opponent in a number of key areas," a senior Conservative campaign source said Sunday. "Not just during the campaign but in the lead-up to the campaign, the NDP has played the role of the principal opposition to the government while the Liberals were abstaining from votes and retreated in a number of issues, the NDP were standing firm and opposing the government vigorously."

[. . .]

[Green Party Leader Elizabeth] May said the Greens are drawing support from disaffected Conservatives, and she cited the Ontario riding of Guelph, where she said the Green candidate was polling double the support of the Conservative candidate in the Sept. 8 byelection that was pre-empted by the federal election call.

"The Green Party is attracting enormous support from former Progressive Conservatives and from early supporters of (Canadian) Alliance and Reform who thought their party would be about grassroots democracy and ending the top-down rule in the old Conservative party," May said. "The Greens are actually eating into Mr. Harper's base. He does not want to admit it but that's what's happening.

But the senior Conservative official was willing to admit the growing strength of the Greens and NDP in a conference call Sunday with journalists.

"Splits can work for you in some place but they can also work against you," said the Conservative official, but noted that his party is seeing many disaffected Liberals gravitating toward the NDP and Greens.

"The changing landscape on the opposition side changes the splits. In some cases that's good for us, in some cases it's not."

This blogger expects that the New Democrats will slide and gives the Green part a 50:50 chance of getting a member elected, but we'll see. If May performs well in the leaders' debate, very interesting things could happen for her party.