08 04 09	Daniel 156.34.72.252
I really shouldn't feed the flames, but some things said here need to be refuted. Our resident political hydra seems to think that Brantford is 'too urban' and 'too progressive' to ever vote Conservative - an idea that's uproariously laughable, considering a couple of things. First, the Conservatives nearly WON here in 2006, and (if we believe our fellow commenter's assertion) were apparently up against one of the best political machines in southwestern Ontario. If the CPC can nearly defeat such a 'formidable' opponent in a year where they won only a weak minority, then with only marginally better performance, they should be able to take this riding - or at least have a shot at doing so - should they not? Secondly, the Conservatives have already won a number of seats that are FAR more urban than this one (in Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec City, and yes, Calgary and Edmonton), and a large number of seats with a degree of urbanity comparable to this one (Barrie, Oshawa, Burlington, Peterborough, Niagara Falls, and St. Catharines, just to name a few in Ontario alone). With these facts in mind, any notion that a seat like Brant is totally out of reach for the Conservatives is utterly ridiculous. Brant isn't Toronto Centre, people.
	08 03 15	Curley, Larry and Moe 24.244.244.114
Sorry to rain on Daniel's parade but a win in Brant just isn't in the cards for the Conservatives. What you have to know about this riding is that Brant MPP, Dave Levac has one of the best political machines in southwest Ontario. The Levac crew saved St.Amand when the Liberals were going down in 2006 and are currently working to make sure he holds the seat again. The Brant Conservatives just can't come close to matching the Levac machine in Brant. Sure there will be as other have mentioned the redneck vote in Paris and the little bit of vote in Burford but when matched against what St.Amand can generate in the way of support in Brantford, it just doesn't count. The Conservatives need a very strong NDP candidate in order to really go after St.Amand that isn't going to happen in this election. The NDP are dead in Brant so it stays Liberal.
	08 03 13	Doug The Slug 192.30.202.21
When it comes to the riding of Brant, you have to think of the actual voters living there. In the past couple years the current government has done nothing to deal with urban issues in this province. That being the case, why would the Conservatives increase their level of support in Brant? Just doesn't makes sense when a MP like St.Amand clearly demonstrated he has a personal appeal in this riding that allowed him to survive in 2006. Brant will re-elect St. Amand.
	08 03 12	Peg Leg Pete 99.234.197.75
I have no idea where saucy Daniel is from but he knows nothing about the Brant riding. Danny claims that Brant has a ‘significant rural component’ making it possible for the Conservatives to win. If you look at a map of Brant you see a huge rural area including Burford and Paris with Brantford a small dot in the middle. The facts are that Brantford makes up 70 per cent of the population in this riding which is why St.Amand hung on last time. With the Conservatives and the Liberal in a tie (within the margin of error in every poll) there's no reason to think St.Amand won't survive, especially when he doesn't have to worry about the NDP. I stick with my prediction. Sorry Danny.
	08 03 06	Daniel 156.34.77.214
Oooh boy... If we use the three (one?) Liberal predictors' logic below, then the only people who vote Liberal are upper-middle class city dwellers, since rural 'rubes' and 'angry poor people' are apparently too dumb and agitated to support the Liberal party. Thankfully for the Liberals, this isn't the case (if it was, they'd have lost this riding by now). Brantford may be a somewhat 'progressive city', but it's no latté liberal monoculture, that's for sure. As such, I wouldn't write this seat off as a Liberal hold this early - polling results have been as mixed as usual as of late, and seats like this will be high on the CPC hit list. Lloyd St. Amand certainly doesn't seem to be the type to dramatically rise above his party's fortunes, either. Furthermore, the CPC doesn't need to engulf Brantford in a blue tide to flip this seat; they just need to do mildly better than they did last time, which is more than possible. That said, this WAS one of the few seats with a significantly rural component in southwestern Ontario to remain Liberal in the last election, so there's certainly a more resilient Liberal base here than in other nearby seats. My prediction is that, if either the Liberals or Conservatives are doing even marginally better nationally in the the next election than in 2006, that party will win this seat. It's a dull prediction, but the most likely outcome.
	08 02 29	Peg Leg Pete 99.234.197.75
‘Doug the Slug’ is right on the money when he says the hicks in Burford and Paris are right wing. They really are but St.Amand survives this redneck part of his riding by putting together a strong campaign team and dragging every vote possible out of vote-rich Brantford. Lloyd doesn't have the strongest personality in the world so ‘experts’ tend to write him off. The last election victory, under very tough circumstances proved St.Amand is a survivor and there's no reason to think he won't be successful again. I predict St.Amand wins by 1500 votes this time. The hicks in Burford won't be happy!
	08 02 22	Doug the Slug 192.30.202.21
The Brant riding is dominated by the city of Brantford which like Guelph has always been a progressive town without much of a base for the NDP. The Conservatives will get the redneck vote in hick towns like Paris and Burford but that won't make any difference when the results come in from the Brantford polls. St. Amand is well liked in Brantford and will increase his support this time with a bigger win than in 2006. The Conservatives can't find a good candidate in Brant because they know St. Amand can't lose.
	08 02 09	Quick Draw 69.49.33.94
Phil McColeman is running for the CPC again here in Brant. The problem for Phil is that his party now trails the Grits in Ontario by 12 points and the NDP is being eaten up by the Green Party. St.Amand works hard in his riding and is building the same kind of reputation Brant MPP Dave Levac has. Levac will never lose Brant in a provincial election and St.Amand will put an end to McColeman's political career when he beats him bad in the next election. Brant is St. Amand country now.
	08 02 02	A.S. 99.233.96.153
I wouldn't use the Mulroney PCs' failure to take Brant in '84 as a strike against the Tories now. After all, if the incumbent opponent were a Liberal rather than NDP eternal Derek Blackburn, PC probably *would* have won that year...
	08 01 29	R.O. 66.186.79.42
There is 2 strong candidates running against the liberal mp here, so I suspect it will be a close race. Phil Mccoleman is running for conservatives again and he almost won it last election and ndp have former mp running not from brant but Hamilton I want to mention. And well riding didn’t vote anything but liberal recently federally it did elect an Ontario pc mpp back in the 95 election. Well that’s more of a historical fact now it does if nothing else show the riding can at times vote for other parties if right candidate is running and momentum is there.
	08 01 23	seasaw 99.225.19.235
Should be an easy Liberal win. The last time a Tory won this riding was in 1958, '06 it was a close call due to a surge in NDP support, but that was mainly due to sponsorship scandal, it won't happen again this time. The riding's been Liberal with NDP winning here as well, but NDP support plummeted, since Broadbent left and Rae became premier and they haven't regained momentum. If the Tories didn't win it in the massive Mulroney sweep of '84, they're sure not going to this time.
	07 12 14	I'm Always Right 69.49.38.142
St. Amand surprised a lot of people last time when he managed to hang on by 500 votes even though his party was going down. To many so called experts keep talking about a historic base for the NDP in Brant that will split the vote and let the Conservatives take it. Time for people to look at the last couple decades and see the NDP in a steep decline here to the point where it really is just a two way race. There won't be any change here as left leaning voters in Brant know that voting Liberal is the only way to keep the seat from the Tories. Small business is south west Ontario has been hit hard by the rapid rise of the Canadian dollar. The lack of action from the federal government on this crisis won't help them in ridings like this. I say the Liberals win her by 1000 votes this time.
	07 11 15	R.O. 66.186.79.71
well this riding is one of the few in south western ontario where a liberal mp is running in Lloyd st Amand , brant might be near some tory strongholds but this riding will be a much closer race if previous result is any clue, feel its a riding which could go either way depending on election. the city of brantford and the large first nations community will have an affect on the outcome here. prediction will wait till election as all 3 parties likey will focus effort on this riding .
	07 11 11	binriso 156.34.236.173
Well if the CPC can?t pick this one up, they?re in deep trouble. The strong NDP candidate might split the vote with the Liberals too much so that the CPC sneak in.
	07 08 06	A.S. 74.99.222.209
The Tories may be eyeing Brant now the way they eyed something like Northumberland-Quinte West after '04, i.e. the ‘one that got away’. And, perhaps, blame the NDP; while Lynn Bowering lost only 3/4 of a percentage point, the actual number of polls she won plummeted precipitously--because the Liberal vote firmed up in those ‘NDP areas’! (Buzz Hargrove-dictated support-your-Liberal-incumbent, perhaps? That may explain the ‘Ford closure’ argument, then.) Now, for a different reason, it might be fun to watch how the NDP fares now--put it this way, while Ian Deans is no Broadbent, he actually might have a better chance than Ed Schreyer did...
	07 05 12	R.D. 71.240.99.195
Well, this race just got even more interesting with former Hamilton area MP and MPP Ian Deans is attempting to make a comeback for the NDP in Brant. The Brantford Expositor reported that he was acclaimed as the Brant NDP candidate this past Thursday 5/10. http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentID=523533&catname=Local+News Brant was an NDP seat until 1993.
	07 03 22	Dr Bear & Prof Ape 74.15.40.135
In 2006 we were predicting Brant to narrowly fall to the Conservatives. Well the Liberals scraped through with 500 votes and 1 percentage point. We're of the opinion that job cuts at Ford that were announced the day of the election may have had a hand at costing the CPC this riding (all the Canadian jobs lost were at the Brantford plant). As for which way it will go this time, it all depends on who runs the better race when there is actually a campaign. Another riding to watch and see!