Layton dismissing speculation the NDP could help Harper win a majority
Posted April 25, 2011 5:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jack Layton is dismissing the idea that his parties growing popularity could help the Conservatives win a majority on May 2.
Recent polls show the New Democrats are in a statistical tie with the Liberals while the Conservatives enjoy a healthy lead of more than 10 per cent.
Some now suggest that the vote splitting could lead to a Conservative majority government, but that notion is not going over well with NDP Leader Jack Layton.
Layton told 680News he is dismissing the thought of his party is helping to give a stronger mandate to the Conservatives.
“This is the absurd proposal that somehow you don’t really have a choice but to vote for one or other of the two old line parties.” said Layton.
The NDP leader says he is showing Canadians they have a choice in this election.
“That’s what we do in elections. We put our candidates forward and we ask people to vote for us. So we can defeat Conservatives so that we can form an NDP government.” Layton told 680News.
He says he wonders how Canadians think they can stop Stephen Harper by voting Liberal, since they have propped up the Tories more than a hundred times in the last three years.
The Liberals are trying to regain support by targeting the NDP and the Conservatives in recent advertisements, saying the two leaders are career politicians and two sides of the same coin.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff told 680News government is not just about a leader.
“You have to have people who balance budgets. You have to have people who know how to run a country in tough times, to get that deficit down,” said Ignatieff.
The NDP have been increasing in popularity in Quebec where they have been eating into support for the Bloc Quebecois.
To try and turn the tide, Leader Gilles Duceppe campaigned with former Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau, Monday, who was in power during the 1995 referendum.
