Wednesday Afternoon Campaign Links

Assorted campaign material.

- Patrick Brethour is right to note that tonight's French debate figures to offer a showdown between the NDP and the Bloc for votes which Gilles Duceppe has taken for granted in the past:

With NDP support continuing to grow in Quebec, Mr. Duceppe is now taking square aim at Mr. Layton – witness the Bloc Québécois Leader’s odd cross-examination of his NDP rival in Tuesday night’s English debates. The days when the Bloc could treat the NDP as a somewhat-sympathetic irrelevancy are gone.
...
(Duceppe's challenge to Layton on Bill 101) does point to an important dynamic in the Quebec campaign: the NDP is a credible – and perhaps lethal – threat to the Bloc.

The polls show historically high support for the NDP in the province. In the latest Nanos Research poll, the NDP is at 17.9 per cent, in third place, with the Bloc at 38.6 per cent. The NDP’s support is up nearly six percentage points from its 2008 results, although that increase is within the regional poll’s margin of error.

Other polls put the NDP in an even stronger position. An April 4-5 Angus Reid poll pegged Bloc support at just 34 per cent, with the NDP in second place, at 24 per cent. Were those numbers to show up on election day, Mr. Duceppe could bid farewell to any ruminations about becoming Quebec premier, not to mention having to worry about keeping his current job.

Whatever the numbers, the Bloc’s worry is clear. There is no obvious line of anti-federalist attack on the NDP.

- Con Ryan Hastman says he's losing in Edmonton-Strathcona. We can only hope he'll be proven right - but it's never a bad time to pitch in for Linda Duncan to help make it so.

- The Cons are after Arab "ethnic costumes" for a photo op in Etobicoke - passing the invitation to (among others) an organization de-funded by Jason Kenney. Presumably plenty of fun is being had in responding; bonus points to whoever passes off the most absurd fake costume as an authentic staple of ethnic culture.

- Finally, Edmonton-Leduc NDP candidate Artem Medvedev earns some ink in the Journal - albeit in a Todd Babiak article that's far less serious than Medvedev's candidacy.