Hampton: Voters have just begun to tune into campaign

So maybe Tory's change of position allowing a free vote on faith-based school funding will help him somewhat. Actually Hampton had better hope that Tory does not do too badly or the result will be a Liberal majority and the NDP will not have much power. This is from this site.
Oct 1, 2007 4:20:00 PM MST

NDP leader Hampton says voters have just begun tuning into election campaign (Elxn-Ont-NDP)



TORONTO _ Many voters still haven‘t tuned into the Ontario election campaign, so it‘s not yet necessary to school the public on the merits of a minority government, New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said Monday.

For the first three weeks of the campaign, nearly every poll suggested that neither the Liberals nor the Progressive Conservatives had enough support for a majority government, meaning the New Democrats could end up holding the balance of power in the legislature.

But then one poll suggested Liberal support was hovering in the range of a majority, and on Monday the Conservatives retooled their stance on funding for faith-based schools after facing a voter backlash.

Hampton said he‘s sticking to his strategy and declined to discuss the implications of a minority government.

While talk of funding for faith-based schools has dominated the campaign thus far, many voters are still oblivious to the debate, Hampton said.

“Sometimes the sad reality of elections today is many people do not tune in until the last five or six days, and so for some folks they may completely disregard this and everything that happened before it.‘‘

Opposition to Conservative Leader John Tory‘s faith-based school policy might translate into some votes for the NDP, Hampton said, although he didn‘t sound overly optimistic about a groundswell of crossover support.

“In certain parts of rural Ontario, people have said, `I can‘t go where John Tory‘s going to go (with faith-based funding), so I‘m voting NDP,‘‘‘ Hampton said.

“In other places it will be different. It‘s too early to tell right now.‘‘

But if Hampton is worried about the Liberals riding a Conservative collapse to a majority government, he‘s not showing it yet.

Hampton said he has no plans to start highlighting the benefits of strategic voting to bring in a minority government.

“I‘m going to continue to campaign on the issues that I think are the most important for the vast majority of people, because that‘s what I think is really at stake here,‘‘ Hampton said.

“I think in the last few days people will start making assessments for themselves (about strategic voting), but right now, I think it‘s doubly important to raise the issues that actually make a practical, workable difference in peoples‘ day-to-day lives.‘‘

Hampton also said he doesn‘t anticipate many NDP votes being lost to the Green party, and suggested the two parties share less in common than people might think.

The Green party is campaigning on privatizing services _ not the kind of policy that will sway traditional New Democrat supporters, Hampton said while campaigning in the Davenport riding in Toronto where Green Leader Frank de Jong is running for office.

Hampton also said the results of the last few byelections have suggested voters concerned with environmental issues have turned to the NDP.

“People who are looking for someone who‘s responsible on environmental issues and can be counted on to raise environmental issues are voting for New Democrats, and that‘s going to be the same result here,‘‘ he said.