It has been said that the Liberals are the urban party and the Conservatives are the rural party and elections are fought over who can capture the suburbs. Jim Coyle sees that the Stephen Harper is winning the Holy Grail that is 905 in this election.
...if the suburbs have no single face, they usually share identifiable values.
And out where the issues, broadly speaking, are anything to do with a household's time, money and security, out where the secular trinity of interests is family, work and leisure, Harper grabbed their attention early and — with promised tax cuts, themes of law and order, even a nod to the kids' activities — seemed to grow on them.
Beyond question, he has spoken the language over the past six weeks of places where life is lived in cars but streets are named for trees, where the minivan should be the staple of local coats of arms, and where the term "soccer mom" was born.
...in those parts of Toronto and the country where increasing numbers of Canadians now dwell, in the ridings on which governments live and die, Stephen Harper looks no more scary than any other guy along the sidelines at your daughter's soccer game.
Call it the Gretzky play. Go where the votes are going, not where they are. The Conservatives have repositioning on this since their policy convention last year. As Canada becomes more suburban this could as important a development as any.
