How many times have people written off the NDP and placed them in the figurative waste basket of history? I admit that I think they have their challenges but it nothing they cannot bounce back from. As I expressed on the Bloggers Hotstove last night if we are to avoid a spring election that means that the NDP supported a revised Clean Air Act, a Conservative budget and did not bring down the government over the end of funding to the provinces for state-run daycare (assuming the Liberals oppose all those measures). I think that this puts the NDP at more risk that the Green Party does.
And speaking of the Green Party check out this.
...Conventional wisdom also suggested the Green party was ready to eat into NDP support given a strong showing by its leader, Elizabeth May, in a recent byelection in London, Ont. Ms. May finished second to the Liberals but ahead of the Conservative party and NDP. And with the environment emerging more and more as a key issue for Canadians, the Greens -- coupled with the environmentally friendly Mr. Dion -- threatened to steal longstanding support from the NDP.
Political and public opinion analysts, however, play down the Green party's potential threat. "You have to wonder how much of the Green party is smoke and how much is fire," Mr. Bricker says, noting one strong showing in a byelection does not make a political trend.
He adds polling indicated Green party supporters -- roughly 4.5% in the last election-- tend to be young, less attached to politics and, most importantly, the least likely to vote. Mr. Jacek is more forthright about the Green party's potential impact.
"The Greens are going nowhere," he says. "Wake me up when they win a seat."
