Sorry OJ, but you are talking nonsense. CPoC remains close to the views of the average Canadian, far closer than the NDP. The Liberals are clearly even closer but the L's and C's are fighting over many of the same voters and overall have fairly similar policies. The L's obviously having gotten closer, and in large part voters say they were tired of Harper more than of the party so if anything policy wise CPoC s even closer to the views of Canadians than the election result suggested, but for the leader himself.
Nothing like, say, extremists left wing parties like the greens or a resurgent communist party getting policies enacted happened under CPoC.
It may be that YOU are distant from the views of the average Canadian if you think their policies were unpopular.
I meassure popularity by vote-count, and by that measure CPoC never managed much better than the other day. If by "average voter" you mean some other measure, do clarify, so we can get semantics out of the way. As for the relative popularity of of L's, C's, G's and N's that's for Monday-morning quarterbacking isn't it?
But there's an extremist group not mentioned yet, that's camouflaged within the C's and that's the R's. The radical right that took the reform out of Manning's Reformers and seduced the survivors of the old centre-right Conservatives into bed with them. They promised respect in the morning but instead took over the name and paraded under it as if they were still that conservative sweetie we knew. It made ordinary Canadians give them a chance the CRAP never got, but that still didn't make them average. And that was the centre-right co-opted by its extremist rump, even though you say that doesn't happen with FPTP parties.
In fact, it always happens in all groups trying to figure out what to do; from a few kids in a sandbox right up to a national democracy. The differences lie in how open and obvious or or how secretive and selective.
Had CRAP and the PCs of old actually done their dance without the disguise, in an open coalition as many urged them do do way back then, what became the Harper years might have been different. Or not, who can say? But at least we could have seen who the players were without needing insider's secret programs.
And if we'd had a PR system, then every vote that put them within trying distance would have counted equally. Which is a topic we will have to address.
As for what I think of any party's policies, how on earth is that relevant to FPTP vs PR or any other aspect of electoral reform? And why would I ever care how distant my views were from any average anyway?