VANCOUVER – Michael Ignatieff made a desperate plea for voter support Monday during his last town hall in this election campaign.
Speaking to some 600 people at the Vancouver Alpen Club in the riding of Vancouver Kingsway, Ignatieff noted some people are taking a close look at the NDP but, he said, they really "ought to look at the fine print."
"It’s a scary sight. (NDP leader Jack Layton) wants to fund all his programs with a $3.6 billion energy tax, effectively – which he can’t get into operation the first year anyway but he has already booked the money," Ignatieff told the crowd.
"See, if you have been in permanent opposition that’s the kind of funny stuff you can do but if you’ve been in government, you would never dare try that on the Canadian people."
The New Democrats are surging in the polls and some party members quietly worry a potential bandwagon effect could create three-way races in some vulnerable ridings.
One man told Ignatieff he’s concerned the Liberals and the NDP will split the opposition vote and allow Conservative leader Stephen Harper to win with even less than 40 per cent of popular support.
"We don’t know how to vote," he told the Liberal leader.
Ignatieff replied that the Liberals had to persuade Canadians that "this is the alternative that can defeat Stephen Harper."
If you "actually want" early learning and childcare, help for education, a passionate defense of health care and the Canada Pension Plan, "Please vote Liberal," the party leader urged.
"I’m not asking you to vote negatively, I’m not asking you to vote strategically, what I’m saying is please vote positively for the values and allegiances and commitments we both share."
Ignatieff fielded questions about pensions, prisons, patient rights, the closing of the Canadian military base in the United Arab Emirates and concerns about the F-35 purchase, both what cancelling the fighter jet contract would do and why Canada needed new planes in the first place.
He was also asked whether he was prepared to introduce legislation to prevent floor crossings. There is still much anger in this riding that its former MP David Emerson, who was elected as a Liberal, crossed the floor right after the 2006 election to enter Harper’s cabinet.
Ignatieff said he knows a lot of people felt betrayed and he is willing to consider legislation but he believes that MPs should be allowed to change parties to vote with their conscience, such as on gay marriage. Perhaps, those who cross the floor should have to run in another election, Ignatieff suggested.
The Liberal leader was also put on the hot seat when a young man asked him how he could be trusted to follow through on his promises if he had missed 70 per cent of the votes in the House of Commons.
Layton hit Ignatieff hard during the English-language debate when he pointed out the Liberal leader’s attendance record and it’s clear the NDP message has resonated.
Ignatieff said he took his duties in the House of Commons seriously but he also believed he should be talking to Canadians directly and fielding their questions. That’s why, he suggested, he had missed many of the votes.
"I try to show up for the votes. I try to be there. When I’m not there (Saskatchewan Liberal incumbent) Ralph Goodale, the deputy leader is there to lead," he said.
At one point in the evening, a man got up, put his arms in the air and said Ignatieff wasn’t addressing the problems in his household although the Liberals knew about them. He then stormed out.
Ignatieff ended his town hall urging voters who felt a burning sense of anger towards Harper to "rise up." A few people in the crowd cheered and screamed "rise up."
"If it isn’t us who will it be? After the second of May it will be too late," Ignatieff told the audience.
Glenn St.Onge, a Liberal supporter who was so impressed with Ignatieff last week during a town hall in North Vancouver, said he came back to hear the Liberal leader speak Monday.
"I don’t know why Canadians aren’t focusing on him. I think his message and his passion, he is an awesome leader and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this excited about a leader before except maybe . . . (U.S. President Barack) Obama."
St.Onge said he was really concerned about the direction of the country in the last five years and was very worried about what Harper would do with a majority.
"When Michael (Ignatieff) says ‘Rise Up,’ this is the first time that I’ve thought, for me, it’s time to get my friends involved and get on Twitter and get on Facebook."
And although Ignatieff urged against it Monday, St. Onge said he thinks Canadians should vote strategically.
"If I am in a riding where the NDP is going to win, then I’ll vote NDP. I live in Vancouver Centre and Hedy (Fry) is going to win, so I’m voting Liberal," he said.
John Harrison, a Liberal volunteer for former premier Ujjal Dosanjh’s campaign in Vancouver South, said he believes Ignatieff should be reminding Canadians that it was the Liberals who forced the Conservatives to introduce a stimulus packaged that helped temper the effects of the recession.
"I want the Liberals to refute the misunderstandings that Canadians have that Harper is the economic guru that brought us through the recession," he told Postmedia News. "Because the reality is, he had nothing to do with it."
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