Voters just don't like Harper, Zed says
Published Monday October 13th, 2008
SAINT JOHN - Liberal candidate Paul Zed, who is contesting his sixth federal election, says he will be getting out and meeting the voters right up until the final hour.
On Saturday morning, he campaigned at a number of area Tim Hortons, shaking hands and getting the message out.
"I'm a Tim Hortons guy, always have been," says Zed.
At one point in the campaign, Conservative leader Stephen Harper said Zed's crowd was the more uppity Starbucks type.
"I have a 65th wedding anniversary mass to attend and a function and a Sea Dogs game, so there's no rest for me," Zed said about his schedule for Saturday.
Over the last few days of the federal election campaign, which will wrap up Tuesday at the ballot boxes, Zed said he has been hearing comments about the personal attacks being launched against his party leader, Stéphane Dion.
"People don't like this negativity. I was kind of surprised because I didn't think that the negative ads were having that kind of effect," said Zed.
"I think that negativity is rebounding and backfiring on them."
In Atlantic Canada, said Zed, people have a sense of humour but not for mean-spirited attacks.
With three general elections in four years, said Zed, the electorate may be ballot weary but it also also "hypersensitive" to the issues because of the numerous election calls.
"What I have found is that this minority government, while it's hard on your politicians, in the sense that this is the third time in four years that I'm going door-to-door, it keeps you hypersensitive to the real issues," said Zed.
"You're constantly listening. There's constantly a dialogue and I feel really connected and engaged with what I feel the issues are for the citizens of the community."
Zed has served in parliaments governed by three different prime ministers - Harper, Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien.
"I'm not going to try and spin you and say they love my guy," Zed said of the voters that he's spoken to while on the hustings. "But they just don't like Stephen Harper."
Zed will keep pushing the Team Saint John approach that he said has been successful with such things as harbour cleanup, affordable housing, the restoration of the Lily Lake Pavilion, a new medical school and teen resource centre.
He said the Liberal party has a plan to reduce poverty by one-third and to reduce child poverty by more than one-half.
Poverty is a topic that hits home in Saint John, a city that has one of the highest child-poverty rates in the country.
On Sunday, Zed celebrated Thanksgiving with his family and spoke to 600 people at UNBSJ during Muslim celebrations of Eid al-Adha. This morning, he'll meet with Dion in Fredericton and then be back on the hustings in Saint John.
"We'll be back in Saint John at 10 a.m. - just in time to stop into all the Tim Hortons on the west side," said Zed.
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We know all about Stephen Harper. We are not voting for him though. I am really disappointed that at this date I still don't know anything about 'what's his name'.
Why would anyone want to vote from someone they don't know anything about and who doesn't have any desire to fix that problem?
Was the reason he ran for saint john when he didn't live in solely because he would never again win the fundy royal riding as a liberal.
And the only reason he won it in 1993 was because of the promise of scrapping the GST, which never happended. Unlike Saint John fundy Royal learned from their mistakes of voting Liberal.
But in Paul Zed's defence. Taking credit for somebody elses work is a trait of the Liberal party. Jean Chretian and Paul martin did it for 13 years. It wasn't Liberal management that turned those surpluses, but rather that evil tory tax that they supposedly hated so much.