[LINK] John Ivison in the National Post on the rise of the NDP

[rfmcdonald]

John Ivison writes.

We’re nearly two weeks into the 42nd general election and it’s clear already the ballot question is: “to change or not to change?” Polls suggest people say the economy is the issue that will decide the election. It is a narrative Harper is keen to advance. “Who do you trust on the big issues?” he asked Friday as he extolled his “proven experience in keeping Canadians safe and the economy strong.”

Yet other polls suggest nearly half of all Canadians approve of Conservative management of the economy. If that really were the lone theme of the election, Harper would be sitting around his swimming pool, rather than being asked when he stopped lying to the Canadian public.

The real barometer of public opinion is the question of whether it is time for another party to take over in Ottawa. A poll by Ipsos Reid suggested that two in three voters think it is. That change voter is split but, ominously for Harper, most of those people think the two main opposition parties should gang up on the Tories, if they win a minority (86 per cent of NDP supporters and 84 per cent of Liberal voters support the parties co-operating to form a government to prevent the Conservatives taking power again, according to Ipsos).

Tom Mulcair appears to have digested that he doesn’t need to be the greatest — just the most ready to deliver change.