oh certainly, the Conservatives were very close to a minority government in the last election, just a few seats away, the scaremongering of the Liberals worked to get enough Canadians who weren't going to vote Liberal to switch their votes from NDP to prevent a Conservative government
this is the problem with polls, personally I would ban all polls at least one week before an election, I would ban all exit polling, I would ban all TV election coverage or at least on numbers or predictions until all the voting stations were closed or I would have all voting stations close at exactly the same time, make it staggered, harder for the US with Hawaii
the problem we have is like the US is results are coming in as others are still voting which influences their vote, if they see a party they don't like is winning, they may change their vote to a strategic one......
the chances in the next election, I don't know, Harper has not capitalized on issues as well as he should have, Ontario is going to be the key....the Liberals will lose big in Quebec, what few seats they took last election, but those seats go to the Bloc Quebecois, our own federal separatist party....only in Canada you say? so civilized aren't we?
but you see Harper is from the old Alliance wing of the party if the Conservatives had chosen an old PC party guy, or an Easterner, Ontario voters would be less reluctant, John Tory, the leader of the Ontario Conservative Party would get a majority if he was running, I have no doubt, the Alliance is seen as right wingers and many in Ontario, believe it or not, still say they would prefer the Liberal thieves than the social conservatives......now if the Gomery inquiry gets worse and worse for Liberals and Martin gets implicated deeper and deeper, he already was implicated yesterday in testimony and the Conservatives can come up with a solid platform, they can do it but the Fiberals are master of this thing and they've got our money to run on and give away as bribes......
I personally think the best result would be a Conservative minority but it could just as easily go Liberal majority, oh Canada indeed.......
actually with the way the Liberals will lose even bigger in Quebec this time, I think a majority government for the Libs might be almost impossible