Earlier this week, the federal New Democrats leaked a memo the party's campaign director, Brad Lavigne, wrote to leader Jack Layton as talk of a federal election heated up. As Conservatives and Liberals aired television ads to show the world they were ready for all comers, should a federal election happen this spring, this amounts to the NDP equivalent from a “chest-thumping” “bring-it-on” point-of-view. That said: The NDP memo is way more interesting than the TV ads of either of the other two parties.
NDP State of Election Readiness (January 2011)
You can scroll through the whole thing but here's my highlights:
- “…the Party is prepared to wage an aggressive federal election campaign at any time. I have given the staff team here the readiness date of mid-‐February to be ready to go on your signal…”
- “Financing has been secured that will allow the Party to spend the central legal maximum, estimated at approximately $23 million, in the next campaign.”
- “Of the next tier of seats for us, 2/3rds are currently held by the Conservative Party. In these ridings Liberal voters, particularly women and young people, want to defeat the Conservatives but do not like Mr. Ignatieff. They do like you and are very willing to vote NDP. The research suggests that our base has solidified behind your leadership, while the Liberal base is very unimpressed with Mr. Ignatieff and volatile.”