Good point. Jim, I put up a post, related to this subject, just to flesh out my thoughts. If you’re interested:

http://farnwide.blogspot.com/2008/05/appealing-to-greens.html

I agree that this latest move by Dion gets back to playing his strong suit and could win a few pragmatic, small-g greens. One thing you may not be considering is that part the GPC’s popularity is among people who don’t usually vote. Some voters who would like to vote for “none of the above” are drawn to the GPC as a protest party. They’ll be a tough bunch to win to an old, established party like the Lib’s.

Strategic voters trying to prevent a Con win could be a factor. In some tight races, this might be effective. I’m not sure how many ridings are so close that a 5% Green-to-Liberal move will make the difference.

I’ve cited that myself, when people claim the Green polling numbers aren’t real, Ontario proved that the vote will manifest at the polls. What I meant by soft, is that there is a segment of that vote that the Liberals could appeal too, if they look progressive on the environment. There could be a situation where we fight for the same constituent, and what I meant by “arrogance”, I don’t just assume we could win them, just that we are part of that conversation, in a more substantive way than prior.

Arrogant? I would never think such a thing. In fact, in convincing people to vote Green, one argument I use is that when the old parties see our support level, they’ll adopt Green policies ion an attempt to win those votes. This is particularly true in the era of a relatively strong BQ and a good possibility that we’ll have minority governments well into the future.

The idea that GPC pre-election poll support is soft and will slip away on election day was challenged in the most recent Ontario election. We got almost exactly the same percentage at the ballot box as we were getting in the opinion polls.

Elizabeth has stated the the best outcome we can hope for is a Liberal minority with a smattering of Greens to keep them honest. I agree. I think there may be some strategic votes moving from the GPC to the LPC in a few tight races. I also know that the GPC is attracting not only a lot of popular support but also a lot of high caliber candidates.

In the next election, I’d like to see the Greens identify the handful of ridings where we have a chance of winning and go all out in those ridings. With the Red-Green deal, Central Nova is one such riding. I think my own Haldimand-Norfolk is another. Diane Finley is unelectable and the NDP can’t even find a candidate (Last time, they imported one from Hamilton). We’ve got an extremely strong GPC candidate here. So do you in Dr. Hoskins, I’ll grant.

Everyone, and every party, has to target their appeal, and all I’m saying is the Liberals should target people who currently say they will vote Green. What becomes of that is another matter, but faced with the prospects of Harper, May’s own comments on vote splitting, I think you could present a powerful argument, particularly if you are supported a main tenet for the Greens. It’s a strategy, and one I think you could see as necessary, if the Liberals are to form the government.

Why is there a stoney silence on the abuse of taxpayers?

Does anyone approve, (outside of the CCRA), of taxing people out of their homes and/or life savings?

I wont hold my breath waiting for an answer.

Ken