There is plenty of talk in the media about what the by-elections mean for Dion and the Liberal party but what do these results mean for PC, NDP & Greens?

Conservatives:

PCs haven’t been able deliver a knock out punch to Dion and force him to retire. They will try to dismiss these results as trivial and non-important.

Winning in Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River (Saskatchewan) and coming within a tiny margin of votes in Vancouver Quadra (British Columbia) is certainly an indication that they will be competitive in a lot more ridings if an election where to happen now.

Harper has been good at tactically practicing his left jab at Dion but his right hand hasn’t delivered the knockout.

Further, PCs haven’t made any significant gains in popularity since the start of their term and have wobbled in the same ranges as Bush’s approval rating. This should be an alarming sign that their aggressive strategy is also doing damage to them.

It isn’t just policy, Harper has a serious image problem and needs more “kissing babies” type media outreach. Right now, I doubt Harper would end up at the top of the anyone’s list of inspirational leaders.
NDP:

No significant gains have been made. NDP hasn’t been able to connect to the people in those 4 ridings and present themselves as a realistic alternative. They are also getting close to loosing their 3rd place to the Greens in more than a few ridings.

NDP just isn’t connecting in any significant way to “working families”, left leaning Liberals and independents.

Some of that can be fixed with better organizing at the riding level. More fund raising would certainly help. However, most of the problem is with the message. They need to pull an Obama and attract new voters but thats easier said then done because it would require a complete overhaul lead by its leader.

In Ontario, NDP still hasn’t recovered from Bob Rae and his switch to the Liberals after an unpopular term as Ontario’s Premier. I think many NDPers secretly hope Bob Rae will do the same damage to the Liberals.

Green Party:

The Greens are building their party and are looking more and more likely to overtake NDP candidates for the title of 3rd place (for example, Willowdale) as they continue to present them selves as the anti-establishment party and attract protest voters.

The party is still in the building stages but if they focus their energy on one or two ridings they will be in the race to finally winning their first seat in parliament.