Politicians mark anniversary

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Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged his MPs not to rest on their laurels. (CP)

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Tom Mulcair (CP)

OTTAWA -- A year after the federal election, both the Conservatives and New Democrats are claiming political victory -- while a new poll suggests they are actually in a dead heat.

But the third-place Liberals say neither should get too comfortable.

It was a day of looking back and looking forward as all three major parties marked the first anniversary of the May 2, 2011, election, which returned the Tories with a majority government, saw the New Democrats surge into the official Opposition and reduced the Liberals to a rump third party.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned fellow Tory MPs not to rest on their laurels but to keep working on the party's plans for prosperity.

"A majority mandate cannot change who we are and how we govern. Our values are our values, our commitments to Canadians must be honoured," he said. "But our majority does give us the opportunity to look at the bigger picture and to focus on the longer term."

Harper said the financial crises of the last few years might not be a passing phenomenon for many countries, and there's a historic shift in world economic power and wealth.

"We as Canadians must decide that we will be on the right side of that history," he said.

The NDP would prefer to see the country more on the left.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said for his party, a longer-term focus means getting ready to govern Canada.

"In 2015, Canadians will have the chance to write a new page of history and elect a government that says what it thinks and does what it says," he said.

Mulcair paid tribute to his predecessor, Jack Layton, who died only a few months after leading the New Democrats to their historic win.

"We have a job to do, and Canadians are counting on us to continue the work that Jack started," he said.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae warned both the Tories and the NDP not to get too full of themselves as they revel in last year's electoral success.

"I'd say to both Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Harper, 'Please, don't inhale too much.' I've seen polls go up and down."

A Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey taken in the last week of April showed the Conservatives and the NDP in a statistical tie. In the poll of just over 1,000 people, the NDP had the support of 33 per cent of those surveyed, while the Tories had 30 per cent. With a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, support for the two parties could be equally split.

The poll suggests support for the Tories has dropped since election day, when they received 39.6 per cent of the popular vote. Support is unchanged for the NDP, which became official Opposition with 30.6 per cent of the popular vote. The Liberals sank to third-party status with 18.9 per cent of the vote, and the new poll suggests their support still hovers around that mark.

Rae said Liberals "understand the message" voters sent last year and are being "modest and humble" as a result.

The party used the occasion to officially launch a new category of Liberal "supporters." Anyone willing to register as a supporter can now take part in choosing future Liberal leaders and policy development, without becoming a card-carrying, fee-paying member.

While the NDP has supplanted the Liberals as the official Opposition, the Grits are still No. 2 when it comes to raising money. Financial returns filed with Elections Canada show the Liberals raised $2.3 million in the first three months of this year. The NDP raised just less than $2 million, half pulled in by candidates in the party's leadership contest. The Tories raked in $5 million.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 3, 2012 A8