I wouldn't say the contemary Liberals are equidistant from the Dippers and Tories though, they seem to be closer to the lefties than the Conservatives who have largely jettisoned their Reds.
And therein lies the problem for Red Tories voting in federal elections. The Conservative Party continues to shoot itself in the foot in the eyes of these voters. The party's MPs and leadership have spat in the face of democracy on multiple occasions, discourage dissent and critical thinking among its ranks, turn a blind eye to facts, and have gone pretty far right in a number of areas ("fair" elections, union financial disclosure, income splitting, etc.).
The problem is, the Liberal Party of late doesn't seem to realize the potential it has to attract these centrist/right-of-centre votes. I have seen very little genuine interest from Trudeau to attract disaffected Tories. It's all about pushing to the left, crowding out the NDP, and winning the progressive vote. When Trudeau realized it wasn't working, his boldfaced political calculation with C-51 looked like overly-transparent pandering (newsflash: It was!).
So while the CPC is doing everything it can to send Red Tories away, I really don't think there's a home for them anywhere else. The Liberals don't want them... and even if they did, why would a Red Tory who arguably values strong, pragmatic leadership feel comfortable abandoning the competent evil they know in Stephen Harper for the incompetent evil they see in Justin? The NDP isn't an option for these folks either.
So as a Red Tory myself, even though I desperately
wish I could vote for a competent centrist government, I can't vote for the Liberal Party. The Conservatives, who've at least done a decent job holding down the country's economic fort, just sort of win by default. And I
hate that.
Anyway, I'm ranting.
