Battleground St. John's for NDP Leader Earle McCurdy in waning days of campaign
NDP Leader Earle McCurdy acknowledged Wednesday that the battlefield, at least as far as he is concerned, will be in the St. John's area in the final days of the 2015 election campaign.
McCurdy said he will focus on winning his own seat in St. John's West, supporting the re-election bids of incumbents Lorraine Michael (St. John's East-Quidi Vidi) and Gerry Rogers (St. John's Centre), and the handful of other candidates the party believes have a fighting chance during Monday's election.
Meanwhile, PC Leader Paul Davis told reporters Wednesday he too will remain in his district for the remainder of the campaign.
"I want to stay in my own district," Davis said. "I have not had time to do that, and I am reminded by a close friend of mine frequently — he says never forget where you came from and never forget the people who supported you to get where you are."
Last week, an Abacus Data poll, commissioned by VOCM News, surveyed 500 eligible voters in the district of Topsail-Paradise with 56 per cent of decided voters saying they would vote for Rex Hillier. Davis had 35 per cent support of the decided voters.
McCurdy's strategy follows a recent poll showing the NDP leader trailing in St. John's West, and a series of polls that puts the party in third place across the province, with some observers saying the NDP is in real danger of being wiped off the political map.
"I think the work I can do here is the best way to support all our candidates because this is the media centre of the province, this is a big chunk of the population, and to a large extent this is where the action is for the last few days of the campaign," McCurdy said during a campaign event Wednesday morning.
Momentum from leaders' debates
But McCurdy said the party is not letting up. He believes the NDP has gained momentum from the recent leaders' debates.
He added that voters are also having second thoughts about the front-running Liberals and their leader, Dwight Ball, following the release this past weekend of the party platform.
Both McCurdy and PC Leader Paul Davis have repeatedly hammered the Liberals over the financial projections in the plan, including a commitment to trim nearly $400 million in government spending over the next four years.
"I think what that shows is that the game's afoot," McCurdy said.
McCurdy continued to rail against the Liberal plan on Wednesday, saying the party's projections for new revenue generation through economic diversification are unrealistic, and the plans to cut spending cannot be accomplished without massive job cuts.
"I thought it should have been nominated for perhaps a Giller Prize for creative fiction or something," said McCurdy.
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