Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A look back

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With Parliament in the middle of a week off, and with no polls in the past few days, this is an excellent chance to take a look back.

Below is a chart showing our poll-based projections since the end of January of this year.



While the Liberals enjoyed a stint in first place during the summer, for most of the period, Harper's Tories have lead. The only dramatic swing has taken place within the last month. The chart mostly speaks for itself.


Sorry, no extra data today!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Polls

<- Click here to see the full post

All environics polls from the late 70's to 2006, below.



Sunday, September 20, 2009

Upcoming elections

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updated information

Federal - November 9 2009 (We expect it on this date, but it is not certain)
New Brunswick - September 27 2010 (Fixed election dates)
Yukon - unknown 2010 (no interest in fixed dates)
Manitoba - unknown 2011 (proposed fixed: June 14 2011)
Prince Edward Island - October 3 2011 (Fixed election dates)
Ontario - October 6 2011 (Fixed election dates)
Newfoundland - October 11 2011 (Fixed election dates)
Saskatchewan - November 7 2011 (Fixed election dates)
Alberta - unknown 2012 (has rejected the idea of fixed dates)
Quebec - unknown 2012 (no interest in fixed dates)
British Columbia - May 14 2013 (Fixed election dates)
Nova Scotia - unknown 2013 (possibly looking towards fixed dates)



Sorry, no extra data today!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Daily Updates

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If its not clear already, then I will make it so. I've decided to do daily updates from now to the election (assuming it is in November 9th) with the proviso that in slow news weeks I might knock it back to 36 or 48 hours.


Sorry, no extra data today!

Friday, September 18, 2009

ADQ leadership race

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Over in Quebec, the right-wing ADQ is having a leadership race to replace Mario Dumont. The two front runners have recently been caught in a spat that was rather ugly. Gilles Taillon, former #2 in the party, announced he has cancer and will remain in the race while seeking treatment. Taillon purposefully parachuted himself in 2008 into a riding that was unwinnable for his party, and promptly lost his seat. That prompted Éric Caire, his main challenger, to ask if the party leader should be in "intensive care".

Insensitive as it may be, Caire has a point, and other leaders with cancer have tried to lead their parties and not done an amazing job, the latest case being the Yukon NDP's Todd Hardy, who spent half the campaign in hospitals in BC.

While Caire does raise a valid concern, he's clearly done it in an invalid way. This has brought attention to the ADQ race that it does not need.

In fact, what we now have is two candidates, one who loses on purpose and another who cant keep his foot out of his mouth, who want to lead a party that needs to rebuild. All of this is very bad news for the ADQ.



Sorry, no extra data today!

Tories reaching majority territory

<- Click here to see the full post

The Tories are on a roll, storming ahead at the expense of the Liberals. As they steal percentages and half of percentages from the Liberal vote, we find the NDP is benefiting despite heading in a downward direction. The only place the Tories are heading down is in BC, while they are picking up speed in Ontario. Our projection is closing in on our trendline, at this rate we expect the Tories to be at 143 by the end of next week (Note, however, that trendlines can change rapidly, and they could easily find themselves at 124)




Now that we have a "below the fold" option (IE the "READ MORE!" button) I am able to add extra images of the ElectoMatic to the post. Click to see riding by riding projections in certain areas.





Final St.Paul's results

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Lib - 47.60 - (+0.17%)
PC - 28.33 - (+1.79%)
NDP - 16.88% - (+1.14%)

The real winners tonight are the Liberals, Dalton McGunity, and the HST. The two anti-HST parties, the Tories and the NDP, only managed to take votes away from the Greens who have remained ambiguous on the issue. Clearly not only is the HST not the volitile issue that people make it out to be, but the Liberals even gained votes on their 2007 results, where a star cabinet minister was the candidate. The Tories meanwhile could not increase their vote significantly even with their own star running.



Sorry, no extra data today!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

St.Paul's

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Liberal - 47.51% (+0.08%)
PC - 26.87% (+0.33%)
NDP - 18.35% (+2.61%)
Grn - 5.51% (-2.83%)
86 of 238 polls

Next update will come when all polls are in


Sorry, no extra data today!

Live Blogging (not really)

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Currently in St.Pauls
Liberal - 48%
PC - 27%
NDP - 18%
Grn - 5%


Sorry, no extra data today!

Harper on the up and up (and up and up)

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As news hits that the NDP may support the government though the fall, the polls say that the Tories are doing ever better. Our current projection is as follows

CPC - 133
Lib - 96
BQ - 47
NDP - 32


Sorry, no extra data today!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

St. Paul's By-Election

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We are projecting a 80% chance of a Liberal win here with a 20% chance of a PC win. The PC Party has just not been visible enough to take the riding based on the campaign, it will depend on an HST revolt to win them the riding, and with the Anti-HST vote split, the chances are low but not impossible.


Sorry, no extra data today!

UK election projection

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We've made our first projection for the coming UK election. This is a rough projection and should not be treated as "official".

Con - 365 (Majority of 82)
Lab - 215
L-D - 40
Oth - 30


Sorry, no extra data today!

No election this week

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I posted this on a few other blogs as commentary

"I'm enjoying this really. For years, literally, the NDP and Bloc have been crying Election! Election! Election!

Finally, they have their first real attempt to force one (Remember, Harper called the 2008 election), thats right their first real chance to force an election now that the Liberals want one too, and BOTH the NDP and Bloc change their mind!

I LOLed."


Sorry, no extra data today!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Projection Update

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CPC - 129 (Trending up)
Lib - 103 (Stable)
BQ - 47 (Stable)
NDP - 29 (Trending down)


No Commentary

Hinman wins seat in provincial by-election

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Paul Hinman, outgoing leader of the right-wing Wildrose Alliance party has won a provincial by-election in Calgary. Hinman was elected in 2004 for the Alberta Alliance, and became it's only MLA. Hinman later ran for and won the leadership of that party, which merged with the Wildrose Alliance prior to the 2008 election. Hinman narrowly lost his seat in that election and has stepped down as leader, but now finds himself back in the legislature as his party's only representative. This is viewed as a bad sign for Alberta Pramier Ed Stelmach


Sorry, no extra data today!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Interesting facts

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I found out two interesting facts today. The closest embassy to the US Capitol building is the Canadian embassy. The closest embassy to the Canadian Parliament buildings, is the US embassy. The only embassy between both countries leaders residences (24 Sussex and the White House) and their legislatures (Parliament and Congress) are each other's embassies.


Sorry, no extra data today!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Minimax for each riding!

<- Click here to see the full post

I've re-applied the Minimax idea (IE the maximum and minimum we can expect the parties to take in this election to each and every riding. I've used the ElectoMatic to help me put in on a pretty table. The text is small, but this was necessary in order to fit all 308 ridings in. Tables below the fold.



CLICK EACH TABLE TO MAGNIFY!





Saturday, September 12, 2009

And over in the provinces

<- Click here to see the full post

As always, we try to keep track of news from the provinces as well. Below the fold (IE read more) I've put the current political status (seat standings, party leaders, by-election data) of each province. I've decided to post the 'notes' above. Counter-intuitive, perhaps, but it fits better.

I've noticed that the new Saskatchewan Liberal and BC Liberal logos look an awful lot like the 1980 Ontario Liberal logo. The word Liberal, in red, with a raising sun over the letters ERA - much similar to the 2004 federal logo only with a sun in place of the Maple Leaf.

The Green Party is banned in Alberta. It's nothing political, the party failed to file its financial returns on time, and due to the law, will be unable to run in the next election. There is nothing preventing them from setting up a front party, so long as they are not caught, but their official plan is to run a non-party organization to keep all Greens together until the following election. The party in the province has been bitterly divided, and hopefully during their time off, they can get their act together.

The only major change is in the Yukon, where the government has lost its majority.



Ontario
71 - Liberal - Dalton McGunity
25 - PC - Tim Hudak
10 - NDP - Andrea Horwath
1 - Vacant - St.Paul's (Lib/PC tossup) Sept 17
0 - Green - Frank de Jong - New leader picked Nov 15 2009

Quebec
67 - Liberal - Jean Charest
50 - Parti Quebecois - Pauline Marois
6 - Action Democratique - Sylvie Roy (Interim) New Leader picked Feb 2010
1 - Quebec Solidarie - Amir Khadir
1 - Vacant - Rosseau (Leans PQ)
0 - Parti Vert - Guy Rainville

British Columbia
49 - Liberal - Gordon Campbell
35 - New Democrats - Carole James
1 - Independent - Vicki Huntington (Leans right)
0 - Green Party - Jane Sterk

Alberta
70 - PC - Ed Stelmach
9 - Liberal - David Swann
2 - New Democrats - Brian Mason
1 - Independent - Guy Boutilier (Leans right)
1 - Vacant - Calgary Glenmore (Strong PC) Sept 14
0 - Wildrose Alliance - Paul Hinman - New leader picked October 17 2009

Manitoba
34 - New Democrats - Gary Doer - New leader picked October 17 2009
19 - PC - Hugh McFadyen
2 - Liberal - John Gerrard
0 - Green - James Beddome
1 - Vacant - Concordia (Doer's riding, solid NDP)

Saskatchewan
38 - Saskatchewan Party - Brad Wall
18 - New Democrats - Dwain Lingenfelter
2 - Vacant - Saskatoon Riversdale, Regina Douglas Park (Both solid NDP) Sept 21
0 - Liberals - Ryan Bater
0 - Greens - Larissa Shasko

Nova Scotia
31 - New Democrats - Darryl Dexter
11 - Liberal - Stephen McNeil
8 - PC - Karen Casey (Interim) New leader picked 2010
0 - Greens - Ryan Watson
2 - Vacant - Antogonish and Inverness (3-way toss ups)

New Brunswick
33 - Liberal - Shawn Graham
22 - PC - David Alward
0 - New Democrats - Roger Duguay
0 - Greens - Mike Milligan (Interim) New Leader picked 2009/2010

Newfoundland and Labrador
44 - PC - Danny Williams
3 - Liberal - Yvonne Jones (Interim) New Leader picked 2009/2010
1 - New Democrats - Lorraine Micheal

Prince Edward Island
24 - Liberal - Robert Ghiz
3 - PC - Olive Craine (Interim) New leader picked 2010
0 - Green Party - Sharon Labchuck
0 - New Democrats - James Rodd

Yukon
9 - Yukon Party - Dennis Fentie
5 - Liberal Party - Arthur Mitchell
2 - New Democrats - Todd Hardy - New Leader Elizabeth Hanson to be confirmed sept 26
2 - Independent - John Edzerza (Leans NDP) - Brad Cathers (Leans Yukon Party)

Solid Ridings

<- Click here to see the full post

Using our new "read more" feature, I've included a full list of "solid" ridings below. These are seats that we are, at this time, 100% certain will be won by the party in question.

NDP: 6
BQ: 27
Lib: 34
CPC: 59 (This means we are nearly 100% certain the Tories will not be knocked into third place or worse)




NDP
Sackville - NS
Acadie - NB
Windsor West - ON
Hamilton Centre - ON
Timmins - ON
Winnipeg North - MB


BQ:
Quebec
Argenteuil
Berthier
Joliette
Montcalm
Repentigny
Riviere-des-Mille-Iles
Rivere-du-Nord
Terrebonne-Blainville
Trois-Rivieres
Abitibi-Temiscamingue
Montmorency
Chicoutimi
Manicouagan
Montmagny
Beauharnois
Chambly
Chateauguay
Bas Richelieu
Richmond
Saint-Hyacinthe
Saint-Jean
Sherbrooke
Vercheres
Hochelaga
La Pointe-de-L'Ilse
Laurier
Rosemont


Liberal:
Bonavista - NL
Humber - NL
Labrador - NL
Hull - QC
Bourassa - QC (Montreal)
Honore - QC (Mtl)
Lac-Saint-Louis - QC (Mtl)
LaSalle - QC (Mtl)
Laval-Les Iles - QC (Mtl)
Notre-Dame - QC (Mtl)
Pierrefonds - QC (Mtl)
Saint-Laurent - QC (Mtl)
Saint-Leonard - QC (Mtl)
Westmount - QC (Mtl)
Mississauga East - ON (Greater Toronto Area)
Mississauga-Brampton - ON (GTA)
Don Valley East - ON (Toronto)
Etobicoke North - ON (To)
Pickehring Scarborough - ON (To)
Scarborough Centre - ON (To)
Scarborough Agincourt - ON (To)
Scarborough Guildwood - ON (To)
Scarborough Rouge River - ON (To)
St. Pauls - ON (To)
Toronto Centre - ON (To)
Willowdale - ON (To)
York West - ON (To)
Markham - ON (GTA)
Vaughan - ON (GTA)
Ottawa South - ON
Ottawa Vanier - ON
Vancouver Quadra - BC


Conservative:
Fundy - NB
New Brunswick Southwest - NB
Tobique - NB
Beauce - QC
Elgin - ON
Lambton - ON
Oxford - ON
Perth - ON
Sarnia - ON
Cambridge - ON
Niagara West - ON
Wellington - ON
Barrie - ON
Durham - ON
Dufferin - ON
Simcoe-Grey - ON
York-Simcoe - ON
Carleton - ON
Haliburton - ON
Lanark - ON
Leeds - ON
Nepean - ON
Renfrew - ON
Stormont - ON
Dauphin - MB
Pirtage - MB
Provencher - MB
Cypress Hills - SK
Souris - SK
Yorkton - SK
Calgary East - AB
Calgary North Centre - AB
Calgary Nose Hill - AB
Calgary Southeast - AB
Calgary Southwest - AB
Edmonton-Beaumont - AB
Edmonton-Leduc - AB
Edmonton-St.Albert - AB
Edmonton-Sherwood Park - AB
Edmonton-Spruce Grove - AB
Athabasca - AB
Crowfoot - AB
Lethbridge - AB
Macleod - AB
Medicine Hat - AB
Peace River - AB
Red Deer - AB
Vegerville - AB
Westlock - AB
Wetaskiwin - AB
Wild Rose - AB
Yellowhead - AB
Abbotsford - BC
Langley - BC
Port Moody - BC
Chilliwack - BC
Kootenay - BC
Okanagan-Coquihalla - BC
Prince George-Peace River - BC

New feature

We are experimenting on adding a new "read more" feature to the blog Looks like it works.

Minimax

As recently reported by fellow projection blog, Three Hundred Eight, it is possible to take recent polls and show maximum and minimum levels of support. We've decided to take that one step further and go for broke, by expanding this and throwing it into the ElectoMatic.

First, we start with the Green Party. If every other party had their worst election projectable at this time, the Greens would walk away with 14 seats and 18.3% of the vote. This is, of course, a radical extreme, but still worth discussing. Which 14 ridings would they win? Central Nova, Fredericton, Owen Sound, Guelph, Brandon-Souris, Winnipeg Centre, and 8 seat from BC; Vancouver Centre, Kelowna, Nanaimo, the other Nanaimo, North Okanagan, Saanich, Victoria, and West Vancouver. Of course that's not going to happen unless we see some kind of unexplaniable change.

What about the Bloc, what if they maxed out? They would win a whopping 61 seats, and take over half the vote in the province. The Tories would be left with Beauce, and the Liberals would only take Hull and 12 Montreal ridings.

What if the NDP maxed out? They could displace the Bloc, but would fail to take the official opposition. They would take 66 seats. They'd gain only one seat in Newfoundland, but would sweep all 11 Nova Scotia ridings; take 19 in Ontario, 5 in Manitoba, 7 in Saskatchewan, 2 in Edmonton, and 16 in BC.

What if the Liberals maxed out, would they win a majority? Yes, with 165 seats.

And the Tories? 188 seats.

I will be using some of these numbers and our trendlines and baselines in application with riding results to project ridings that we already know at this time are "solid" for one or another party. Expect these results in the not too distant future.

The Senate, and The Election

The question on everyone's mind is how will this election change the party standings in the Senate... or rather, it should be.

Anyone with a list of Senator's birthdays, their party standings, and some math skills will know that on May 13 2011, a Liberal senator from Newfoundland will retire, and at this time, Stephen Harper, assuming he is still Prime Minister, could appoint enough Conservatives to fill the vacancies in the upper chamber to give his Conservative Party a majority. What most don't know is that a far more important date is January 2nd 2010. On this date, Jerry Grafstein, Liberal Senator for Ontario will retire. This will be the point in time where the Liberals will lose their majority in the Senate. More importantly, should Harper invoke the so-called "Mulroney Senate rule" and appoint 8 extra Senators, this is also the date when the Conservatives could count on a majority of their own. With Senate Reform being an issue for the government, we could concievabally see the Senate stacked in this way on such a date and have it quickly pass a Senate Reform bill.

Some wonder what the current party standings are in the Senate. I've outlined that below.

Lib - 53
CPC - 46
Ind - 6

Ters
CPC - 2
Lib - 1

BC
CPC - 4
Lib - 2

AB
Lib - 4
CPC - 1
Ind - 1

SK
CPC - 3
Lib - 3

MB
CPC - 3
Lib - 3

ON
Lib - 11
CPC - 10
Ind - 3

QC
Lib - 12
CPC - 10
Ind - 2

NB
Lib - 6
CPC - 4

NS
CPC - 6
Lib - 4

PE
Lib - 3
CPC - 1

NL
Lib - 4
CPC - 2


Note that 2 of the Independent Senators sit as "Progressive Conservatives". One was appointed by Joe Clark, while the other was appointed by Paul Martin. One of the Independent Senators is a former Liberal who is also now a former Conservative. The other three lean Liberal

Between now and January 2 2010, 1 Liberal from NL, 1 Ind from QC, and 2 Lib from ON will retire. Between then and May 13 2011, we add another Lib from ON, a Lib from QC, a CPC from QC, and a Lib from NL.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Tories heading into election with advantage

As we head into a (potential) election, Harper's Tories increase their lead on Ignatieff's Liberals.



The NDP is just edged out of Outremont. This us due to Liberal Weakness more than NDP strength, as the Liberal average in the province has dropped from 35% to 30% in the past two weeks.

The Tories are also projected, for the first time since the 2008 election, to win seats in Newfoundland. In this case, Avalon and St.John's South.

Projection Update

Please note I've adjusted the matrix to reflect new poll results showing the NDP over-performing in Montreal. If this is indeed true and holds, they will hold Outremont. I have them holding it in the current projection.

CPC - 120
Lib - 110
BQ - 44
NDP - 34

The Tories currently have an ever strengthening trendline, a few more polls in their favour, and we could see a dozen extra seats fall their way.