New Democratic Party: Immigration

English Leaders Dept: The electoral weight of visible minorities has increased substantially in the last few decades as the number of ridings where they represent more than 30 per cent of the population has doubled between 1997 and 2004, from 26 to 53, according to Montreal Gazette. But since 2000, Liberal support among visible minorities has begun to fade. The New Democratic Party first challenged the Liberals' dominance in visibleminority ridings in the 2004 election, winning five seats; the NDP increased its total to seven in 2006. As for the Conservatives, the breakthrough materialized in the 2008 election, when they succeeded in winning an additional five visible-minority seats, including two in Ontario for the first time and immigration is typically a non-issue in federal elections. However, this election seems to be different, as immigration has already been discussed in both the English leaders' debate and in the precampaign leak concerning the Conservatives' ethnicoutreach strategy. But the issue is not really immigration; rather, it is the voting habits of new Canadians. Here is why: new Canadians, especially those of a visibleminority background, could hold the key to a Conservative majority government. Up until the 2000 election, the Liberals were the prime beneficiaries of the support from these new Canadians. They held almost all "visibleminority" ridings - and with very large voting majorities, as well. The old Progressive Conservative Party and the old Canadian Alliance together only held seven of 38 visible-minority seats in the 2000 election - all of them in Alberta and B.C. The door to Ontario's visible-minority support was firmly shut to conservative parties. As reported in the news.
@t progressive conservative party, visible minorities