Despite elements of their platform that are vague, with serious doubt about health care and CPP, Day's predisposition to flaunt his faith, a flat tax, people in West trust Alliance to do the right thing. Others in the country aren't so sure. If Alliance did anything wrong in this campaign it came from being unprepared. If a party running to govern all Canadians doesn't know what their own policies mean you can expect to spend most of your time defending yourself instead of challenging your opponent, and that's what happened. The NDP is entirely predictable.
Social programs take precedence over tax cuts or debt reduction.
Its simplicity is irresponsible. Debt must be paid down or social programs in the long term will suffer. Until the party can overcome a spending mentality and consciously adopt fiscal accountability as a vehicle to support their initiatives they will never have the confidence of voters. Clark had the most to gain. Positioned as a viable alternative to the Liberals with clear policies preserving those social programs that define us as Canadians the PC's failed to go beyond their potential.