More Polling Foolery

Ok, so yesterday the Telegram said that the results were
NDP23% and Liberals 9%

Now today they're claiming
NDP18% and Liberals 12%

Read the story here...

I'll tell you one thing I expect: 2 NDP seats, and their placing second in about 12 ridings. Second place does not win in our electoral system.

I'm also expecting about 12 Liberals. Because they will come from rural, west-coast and Labrador ridings that don't count in MQO and CRA polls. Just like these rural west-coast and Labrador ridings don't count in the current alliteration of the once beloved party of Brian Peckford.

Opinions will vary!

Polling and other fairytales...

The Telegram ran this news story...

Newfoundland Liberals distant third, Tories leading over NDP in Environics poll

A new opinion poll has found that the Newfoundland and Labrador Tories hold a strong lead over their rivals while the Opposition Liberals are in last place among those surveyed.

Thirty-eight per cent of respondents backed the incumbent Progressive Conservatives, compared to 23 per cent for the NDP and nine per cent for the Liberals.

Thirty per cent were undecided.

The online poll was conducted by Environics Research Group and provided exclusively to The Canadian Press.

Unlike traditional telephone polling, in which respondents are randomly selected, the Environics survey was conducted online from Sept. 29 to Oct. 4 among 708 people.

The respondents were chosen from a larger pool of people who were recruited and compensated for participating.
and get this!!
The non-random nature of online polling makes it impossible to determine the statistical accuracy of how the poll reflects the opinions of the general population.

The provincial election is Tuesday.

I had to respond.

Dear Editorial team (in reply to what 'Harvey' has written),
The bigger question here, is why is this news? If it is unscientific, unverifiable, unreliable then why is it news? I don't think of it as news, I believe it's fiction.

So then, why is the Telegram making news out of it? It hasn't appeared in other online news sources... why s the Tely giving it any space?

Unless there's another agenda here at work. Is it pandering to an audience, per chance? If so, who is the audience and does it read the Telegram on the 8th floor of a certain building?

Curiously yours,
Ward Pike

This Thursday, help make history

I am running for the Liberal Candidacy for the district of Virginia Waters.

We don't have an effective or even present MHA here. We desperately need one.

Let me quote Peter Whittle for a moment...

Just a reminder, Virginia Waters MHA, Kathy Dunderdale allowed this mess to be inflicted on us despite recommendations to close the aging dump. Did I mention, she allowed this without as much as a single consultation with her constituents, who bear the loss of quality of life the most!

I'll say this much, as an MHA, she stinks. Perhaps, she will notice what we are forced to live with when she knocks on doors over the next month looking for votes.

Peter is referring to the stench we endure in this district thanks to Kathy Dunderdale, Premier and MHA extraordinaire!!! (end sarcasm)

And my reply...

Peter, you summed it up perfectly. This is the WHOLE reason I am vying for the nomination as candidate for the Liberals for The VW (Virginia Waters).

KD is a disgrace as an MHA. Totally disconnected and useless. I was out walking with my youngest today on the trails in the VW and met quite a few friends and long-time acquaintances. Not ONE knew that Kathy Dunderdale was their MHA, and that is disgraceful.

It's time for change.

Here's the info from the NL LIberal party:
Details of the Virginia Waters nomination meeting are as follows:



Thursday, September 8, 2011
4pm – 8pm
Salon F (lower level, wheelchair accessible), Holiday Inn, Portugal Cove Road, St. John’s

All persons who reside in the District of Virginia Waters, ages 14 years and older, are eligible to vote.

NOTE: Voters MUST provide photo identification.

Please come out and cast a ballot my way. Let's make history!

Announcement coming soon...

I wish to announce that there will be an announcement coming very very soon! Please stay tuned.

On a side note, barely anyone in Virginia Waters knows who their MHA is or has been for the last 8 years. I hope that changes soon.

Stay tuned, parte deux...

Your humble blogster has collected over 25 names and signatures and filled out forms...

Jack Layton passes away...

Bob Rae

Stay Tuned...

There may be news coming which will change the course of my blogging and commenting future... rumors are rampant about my taking a role in the upcoming Newfoundland and Labrador election, and they are not without merit.

There is an awful lot of smoke, and there is a tiny amount of fire...perhaps a flanker, a cinder or two.

The latest Blogisode from the Blogosphere, brought to you by the blockheads...

Ok, I mean the NDP. When I was a little kid, a friend of mine and I would sit on a hill in Stephenville, just a mile away from where Kevin Aylward lived, and discuss political parties.

We were children of 6 years old, and did not much care for politics and so had names for each of them. The Lie-berals couldn't tell the truth... the Probably Can'ts because they didn't seem to get elected, and the NDP? We called them the National Dirty Pigs. LOL . . . I kid thee not, remember we were 6 year old children.

However, lately I've been noticing something in the NDP that I find most alarming - they are becoming the Liberal party of the past, at its worst. There was a time when the Liberals would stand for nothing and would take anyone who came along, they cared not for principles nor policies... they didn't care about much really, they would take all comers. Today's NL Liberal party is very different to this however...

This is starting to sound like the NDP, as if they are this kind of party and always have been. I guess it kind of rots me when I hear how wonderful certain moves are that bug the crap out of me such as the crass campaigning at Regatta. But it really starts to get questionable when I see Kurtis Coombs running for the NDP in Mt Pearl North... I mean seriously? Didn't the 19 year old almost-successful mayor of Paradise recently (as in just now, moments ago) run for the PC nod in nearby Topsail? Or was that somewhere in Paradise? It's all so confusing!

Speaking of which, take a look at the NDP slate... the source of the pride and braggadocio espoused in recent calls for a minority PC gov in NL. (I mean come on, calling for a minority government? Are you really that defeatist? Doesn't sound like the guy I once hired to run a newspaper I once owned)

It's a curious lot, to put it mildly. Will Craig Westcott take a place amongst them and run for the NDP on the southern shore or in the CBS general area? Who knows!! But he's free now as he takes his early departure from the Liberal party of Newfoundland and Labrador. A party with the best leader out there...

Where are the leaders? Well, Kevin Aylward is the latest official leader, and the only one with true grit and substance, at the moment.