STEVE LAMBERT
SYDNEY, N.S. — The Canadian Press Published on Saturday, Oct. 04, 2008 8:29PM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 8:55PM EDT
Buoyed by new poll numbers, NDP Leader Jack Layton dropped in on a couple of Liberal ridings in Atlantic Canada on Saturday, pushing to bring Grit supporters under his seemingly growing tent.
“I want you to invite them to our home here, invite them to our kitchen table ... open up that door,” Mr. Layton told NDP supporters in Cape Breton – a region where the Liberals held both seats before the election was called.
Mr. Layton delivered the same message at a pit stop in Prince Edward Island, where the Liberals held all four seats.
With a new opinion poll suggesting that Liberal support has taken a hit, Mr. Layton said Mr. Dion is incapable of victory.
He urged voters who want to prevent another Conservative government to come together under his party's orange banner.
The NDP even handed out new signs Saturday for supporters to wave at rallies. The placards bear the slogan “United with Layton.”
The New Democrats' swagger drew a rebuke Saturday from the Liberal war room, which in a written release accused the NDP of “being able to say whatever comes into their minds ... because they never form government. It is part of their fourth-party DNA.”
But Mr. Layton's attempts to woo Liberal supporters to the NDP has started to look more plausible, as opinion polls suggest the parties are in a tight race.
A Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll released Saturday suggests the NDP are breathing down the Liberals' necks, with 20 per cent support compared to the Liberals' 22. The Conservatives remained out in front at 35 per cent.
The survey represents 1,247 interviews conducted Tuesday through Friday and is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Mr. Layton was to spend most of the weekend in Atlantic Canada, where the NDP held only three of the region's 32 seats when the election was called.
He criticized the Conservative government for not preventing the closure of the Air Canada flight attendant centre in Halifax, and for allowing coast guard ships to be built overseas.
“We've got shipyards here in Halifax or in B.C. or in Quebec that can get the job done right, but Stephen Harper clearly doesn't care” he told a rally in a Halifax riding once held by former NDP leader Alexa McDonough.
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