Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 13, 2017
Liberals’ byelection wins signal problems for Andrew Scheer
Monday’s Conservative loss of South Surrey-White Rock, in a by-election there, combined with the lacklustre NDP scores points to a pattern. The B.C. riding had not elected a Liberal since 1972. And while Trudeau did recruit a popular candidate, the Conservative tasked with holding the riding — Kerri-Lynne Findlay — was a former Harper minister.
Andrew Scheer Gallery
Buoyed by two upset byelections victories over the Conservatives this fall and with a solid shot at winning back Outremont from the NDP if and when Thomas Mulcair retires in the New Year, few in the Liberal backrooms will lose sleep over the fact that overall, the Conservatives increased their vote share in three of four ridings on Monday.
Scheer cannot win the next general election in the face of a Liberal juggernaut in Quebec and B.C. And he won’t have much of a shot at toppling Trudeau unless the NDP reverses its decline.
The two parties to the left of the CPC are communicating vessels. A lost vote for the New Democrats is almost always a vote gained for the Liberals. It usually takes a split in the non-conservative vote for the Conservatives to win government.
Throughout the fall — Trudeau’s most difficult political season to date — the New Democrats and the Conservatives have been telling themselves that buyer’s remorse was about to catch up to the Liberals.
It seems both opposition parties had been inhaling their own question period fumes.
In the end the only seeds of buyer’s remorse that may have been planted in the mid-mandate byelections would pertain to the opposition’s leadership choices. (Source: Toronto Star)