Krahn is pretty good at this stuff. How does he explain his degree in science and religion from Trinity Western.
Maybe the Conservatives can put this candidate up for adoption.

And awayeeee we go!

As predicted by yours truly, if Harper does not get the party brass to keep the soCons in check, you can kiss the majority good-bye.

This guy Krahn measn you can stick a fork in North Van for the Tories. They're done.

There's no way Andy can match the membership firepower of the abortion nutbars, and Mackay-Dunn, while also credible, may lose to these whackjobs.

It'll be Don Bell once more.

You'd think the Tory braintrust would learn and kill these kind of candidacies before they even get out of the gate, but no, why would they do that.

What!? A pro-life/pro-marriage candidate like Harper? There is way he is going to get elected, or is there?

Given liberal's present state, tories may well field a monk to run in the riding and still win. It makes me laugh to see people who actually think this is going to matter in a real elections. Might as well well declare Harper as the winner of the next eection.

I am pro-choice as are a majority of people in both Canada and the US. Still, the US Republican party and the Canadian Conservative Party have enjoyed electoral success by appealing to the pro-life minority, because their committed support can be added to that of economic conservatives in many cases.

As long as the pro-life or anti-abortion message is handled in a way that does not stick this issue in the voters' eyes, it tends to become inoperative, and you will get pro-life Republicans or Conservatives being elected with many votes coming from pro-choice voters. Why? Because they were supporting these candidates based on their stands on defence, or taxes, or crime, or some other issue, and were not being actively bothered by that person's pro-life opinions.

I don't know if Kahn is the kind of pro-life Conservative who is able to handle this matter with the deft subtlety needed to extract its hard-core benefits without encountering any of its potential costs in the mainstream. But if he is, then the job of Liberal and NDP strategists switches, and becomes one of making voters take notice of Kahn's viewpoint and persuading them that they have to actually do something about it.

Paul Martin tried this strategy against Harper at the national level, and with apparently very limited results.

Oh great. Here we go again. The Religious Right
never seems to get the message.

Wasn't this bad movie played out before?

Don Bell is an incumbent so watch him board the
Air Canada flight back to Ottawa to start another
term a week after the election.

Let's try this again for all my classmates.....

Krahn wins the nomination, the Tories lose NVan. Very simple calculus.

With all due respect Buddmeister, your review of the abortion issue as it pertains to the next election, while quaint, is inaccurate.

Martin's feeble attempts to paint Harper as "scary" were made against the backdrop of the single most corrupt government in Canadian history. Who else would redirect tax dollars back into their coffers? The Liberals, that's who.

Now, Dion faces a moderately successful Government that is asking for voters to go to the next level. It's not about money, we've seen that, it's not about Confederation, we've seen the Tories deal with that as well. Is it about the war, no, not when you see the front page of the papers with little kids in Tehran and Baghdad holding fake suicide bombs and plastic machine guns aimed at the West.

It's about the Tories making Canadians feel that they are REAL, real Government, that, for all intents and purposes, will not try to redraft the inportance of social mores and ideals, which a majority of Canadians (inculding you and me) hold near and dear.

Your analysis would hold true if this were Harper's first kick at the can.

I recently gave him a pass in trying to deal with these nutters, but he's going to have to earn it the rest of the way.

Holding that abortion is wrong, under any circumstances, is a position I respect but cannot appreciate and only partly understand (for it is bereft of logic). But when that belief becomes part of the bedrock of your candidacy, that's a big problem.

Blah, blah, blah Alex, we’ve heard it a thousand times before, we all know you absolutely despise anybody who holds anything remotely close to a conservative viewpoint on social issues. Last election it was how Cindy was the scary socon, while Teflon Don was the pillar of social liberalism. Yet, they both actively attend the same NV Alliance church! And now, with this new guy, the same tired arguments are being resurrected. Don, to his credit, is a politician’s politician, who can out debate almost anyone who challenges him. However, his affiliation with his conservative alliance church is just one example in a long list of issues that won't stick to the guy, yet will get plastered over any of his challengers.

"Yet, they both actively attend the same NV Alliance church!"

One wants to become a voice print for the Religious Right, and the Religous Right wants him as a voice print for their cause.

The other - and rightly so - keeps his personal religious beliefs at home and focuses on economics and national development issues.

Budd Campbell, you are quite right, the majority of the Canadians vote for conservatives based on economic consequences and their ability to govern. Yes, Canadian Conservative Party is the only party against abortion and gay marriage (which would also appeal to the hard-right voter base), but most of the Canadians dont really care about those issues and those who care wouldnt want to vote for conservatives anyway.

Canadians are not stupid and this scare tactics can only work so much. That is why tories are so effective in their attack ads as they focus on liberal party's fiscal stance and has comepletely moved away these social issues. No matter how many times media brings this time, abortion will never be on the top of the priority for the voters, which is why the support for traditional marriage continues to be much greater among Canadians than among parliamentarians.

I would say let the liberals waste their time scaring Canadians with Harper's "secret agenda" while tories continue to discredit Stephen Dion.

"No matter how many times media brings this time, abortion will never be on the top of the priority for the voters, which is why the support for traditional marriage continues to be much greater among Canadians than among parliamentarians."

How long is this cassette tape going to be kept playing in the stereo over and over until the tape wears out and breaks?

Seymour,

Take a pill and relax...

Don Bell has never come out and made the insane comments that Krahn has, period.

Ever read some of Cindy's stuff? The excuse was she was an advocate and those were positions papers.

Reading obviously isn;t your strong suit. I do not, in any way, despise soCons. Many of them are very good friends. What I despise, frankly, is someone who comes out to represent the public interest and starts harping on one issue; attaches himself to one issue; placates people who are attached to one issue for votes...then what? your wild reaction to what you misperceive as my position accepted, does the PM want to win a bog one or not? Simple question.

Krahn appears to be a soCon dressed in a green suit. Cindy Silver is backing his campaign, he's pandering to the church crowd and has made (as you can read above) bizarre comments about issues which are at the forefront of his agenda, but not at the forefront of the country's agenda...anything else you need spoonfed to you Seymour?

North Van Dan's comments are right on the money. Bell maybe a social conservative, but has never been stupid enough to spout off about any related issues, in fact concentrating, appropriately, on the business of the people. You remember that Seymour old boy? The economy, the environment, healthcare, and the like.....