The New Democrats are preparing for a fall election, saying they are plotting a strategy based on the Liberals being in a "freefall" since 2004 and the NDP being able to stand up to the Harper government in Ottawa.
At a recent meeting of the party's "Campaign Core Team," strategists (no MPs attended) revealed their plans - a map showing Canada as a battleground and the key areas where they believe Michael Ignatieff's Liberals and Stephen Harper's Conservatives are vulnerable.
It is called "Taking Aim: NDP region-by-region plan to send Harper packing."
"An election in the fall is in the cards and we are preparing for it," says a senior Layton official. "We never know when Ignatieff and the Liberals will have had enough of supporting the Conservatives' confidence votes after confidence votes. Who would have thought the Liberals would prop up Harper a hundred times (and counting!)?"
Indeed, leader Jack Layton and his NDP MPs never miss an opportunity to point out the constant propping up of the government by the Liberals.
The map, meanwhile, is to try to demonstrate that "the NDP is better positioned to take on Harper's Conservatives and how the Liberals have been in freefall since 2004."
Every province is highlighted by text, emphasizing NDP strength. For example, it is noted on the map that the NDP is in second place in 72 per cent of the Conservative ridings in British Columbia. There are 36 ridings in B.C., of which the Conservatives represent 22; the NDP have nine.
Still, the NDP is bullish in the province, saying that "B.C. is shaping up to be at the forefront of an NDP breakthrough," crediting anger over the HST and Prime Minister Harper's "unwillingness to take on the big polluters" as reasons for the optimism.
Under "Battleground Ontario," it also notes that concerns with the HST tax hike and "inaction on Ontario's manufacturing jobs have opened up opportunities to defeat Conservatives in key ridings like Oshawa."
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty represents an Oshawa riding, although so did former NDP leader Ed Broadbent.
The map also contains charts, crediting an Angus Reid poll from March, 2010, showing that Mr. Layton has a 32 per cent approval rating compared to 29 per cent for Mr. Harper and 16 per cent for Mr. Ignatieff.
Meanwhile, the map was initially intended for "key local strategists across the country," says the Layton official. Apparently, it has proven so popular - the faithful are putting it on their refrigerators - that it is now in wider distribution.