Game over

While PMPM would like Canadians to pretend otherwise, Buzz Hargrove doesn't speak for all unions in the election campaign. And according to a poll commissioned by the SEIU, that's for the best, as Hargrove's voice has ultimately helped the Cons at the expense of both the Libs and the NDP:

While 80 per cent of respondents said Hargrove's endorsement of the Liberals has made no difference to their voting preference, 15 per cent of respondents who identify themselves as traditional Conservative voters say that they were less likely to vote Liberal as an alternative to their traditional party of choice since Hargrove supported 'voting strategically' for the Liberals.

"For some conservative voters, Hargrove's support of the Liberals has been good enough reason to discount voting Liberal all together," says Stewart.

The poll also shows the CAW's advice did not produce the hoped-for momentum of NDP voters toward the Liberals. Only seven per cent of traditional NDP voters said they were more likely to vote Liberal.

"Workers expect clear leadership and guidance from their labour unions, and that is why SEIU has supported the NDP throughout this election. The stakes are too high to play political games, and Buzz Hargrove's ill-advised announcement proved it," Stewart says.

And it looks like the poll was conducted even before Hargrove went off the deep end today. (Sorry to Dr. Dawg in response to the comment to this post, but Hargrove finds no sympathy here: nothing forced him to encourage a vote for either the Cons or the Bloc, as surely somebody with his experience in the public eye should know enough to promote his own party/parties of choice rather than biting on a trap question.) We'll see how long it takes PMPM to shed Hargrove from his entourage now that there's clear evidence to suggest that the Cons have benefited from the affiliation - or whether Martin cares little enough about his supposed progressive coalition to ignore the evidence.