Darrell Bricker of Ipsos-Reid has a brief opinion in the National Post wherein he provides some advice to Stephen Harper.
...The Conservatives need to keep in mind one fundamental truth. Only 34% of Canadians believe that the Liberal party deserves to be re-elected under the leadership of Paul Martin. That means voters want change. But, unless Harper can convince 40% of the voters in Ontario that a vote for the Tories is a vote for "safe change" the next election will be won by the Libeals.
What Stephn Harper's Tories need to offer voters is hope, not revenge against the incumbent. And, it's on hope that the Liberals are truly vulnerbale. Just look at the litany of apparently intractable issues confronting Canada today. Broken trade relations with the U.S., a healthcare system that's been hijacked by the courts, federal-provincial relations marked by a patchwork of political deals, the recrudescence of Quebec nationalism, shocking revelations about conditions in aboriginal communities and a fiscal agenda driven by the whims of Jack Layton. This list goes on and on. And, this list constitutes the substance of a very appealing election platform for the Tories.
I agree up to a point. The Liberals will get as nasty as they have ever been. The Conservatives need to ready for it and counter attack ad with attack ad. But that can't be all that the Conservatives - they need to balance the attacks against the Liberals with a vision of hope for the future of Canada. This can be done be stealing the prosperity agenda right from under the Liberals and package a more coherent middle-class tax-cut and economic stimulus tax-cut as a key election platform.
