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Monday, March 17, 2008

Liberal Judgement Day

On Monday the Liberals will attempt to reclaim (4) seats in byelections that have been left vacant by retired Liberal MPs. Anything but a clean sweep will put another black mark on the Liberals on Stephane Dion's watch. The other parties have nothing to lose.

The two Toronto ridings should easily be retained by the Liberals. The seat in Saskatchewan has been put at the most risk by Dion's decision to choose a hand picked candidate.

At the beginning of the campaign Vancouver Quadra was considered to be a mostly safe Liberal seat. Some are now declaring this byelection as too close too call. Note on Friday Dion went to Vancouver to announce the Liberal plan to put a price on carbon without calling it a tax. This appeals to the popular carbon tax just announced in British Columbia without scaring the rest of the country by suggesting a tax increase. John Turner (not the former PM) will be running for the neorhino.ca party. It will be interesting to see if he captures any votes by people who think the former PM has returned to his old riding.

The Liberals have shown their opposition to the current government by not showing up for critical votes. Will Liberals supporters show support for their party by not showing up to vote? Will voters be reluctant to send MPs to office in order not to vote? Monday will be an interesting day.

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