Air Wars: Can BC NDP MLA's intercept a Harper Majority?

Give or take a phantom poll by Ekos which has Liberals clinging to it for dear life, the last week of the campaign has the race in British Columbia boiling down the New Democrats and the Conservatives. If the NDP didn't have the momentum, why would the Conservatives be running attack ads making fun of Jack Layton's mustache? This page is not making anything up, I saw this CPC spot during Saturday's Seahawks-Redskins NFL playoff game* on Global. Somebody not directly connected with Gordon Campbell or the Vancouver Board of Trade actually attacked the NDP.

British Columbia could turn out to be a double-edged sword for the Conservatives. While the party stands to gain a few seats, our unique political culture could deny Stephen Harper his cherished majority in the House. Unlike other provinces, BC only has two major parties: the NDP, and whatever right-wing, pro-big business, anti-union party of convenience (formerly Social Credit, currently the BC 'Liberals') that rallies Liberals and Conservatives to stop the socialist hordes. Once again, to keep everybody happy under his big deluded tent, Generalismo Campbell has applied a gag order to his troops, and will bide his time to make nice with whoever the new regime in Ottawa turns out to be. Kevin Falcon can't go stumping for Stephen Harper, and Carole Taylor can't knock on doors for Paul Martin.

Provincial New Democrats, unlike their 'Liberal' counterparts, will not be sitting out the last week of the campaign. Popular MLAs like Jenny Kwan and Jagrup Brar have been enlisted for the federal party's air attack. Last year's dramatic comeback from a dynamic duo of MLAs to 33 seats in Victoria bought a lot of credibility for the federal campaign in BC. It also doesn't hurt Jack Layton's chances either that many of the ads will be in Punjabi and Cantonese. Kwan may be Fairchild Radio's phone-in punching bag, but she speaks the language better than Layton.

Had the NDP made more effective use of its resources in BC earlier in the campaign, nobody today would be talking about a majority for anyone. Time does remain, however, for Jack Layton to tune into BC's frequency and stop a Harper majority.

*Seahawks 20, Redskins 10