Interesting steps toward election time. The recent flurry of Quebec by-elections adds more complexity to the landscape. Generally, it looks like bad news for the Liberals, good news for the Conservatives and NDP and worst news for the Bloc.
After Gilles Duceppe did his spectacular flip flop (I quit see ya - oh wait, no I don't) I figured they were finished, and the election backs that up. Three ridings were up for grabs Outremont, Roberval and Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot. They went NDP, Conservative and Bloc. The latter was a very thin win where it should have been a big margin. The Roberval thing is noteable to see, but a right wing reactionary vote as a fall-back isn't too surprising.
The NDP getting a seat in Quebec is a surprising, but Outrement, I can kind of understand. It's trendy and left-bank feeling, so it's not a stretch from that point of view. Hmmm how did the greens do there I wonder... Whew - down in the weeds!
It was Bloc and Conservative at 2k a piece, liberals at 7k and NDP at just over 11k. Greens: 529.
Yikes.
Anyway, my point is that this doesn't say much for Liberal leader Dionne's future - which makes me think, election soon. Liberals must be thinking, "how can we dump this guy?" Conservatives must be just waiting for some indication that it's bubbling a bit more, and they'll drop the writ.
Speculation I've also heard is that the Ignatief camp is holding back to help the stumble along. They'll look better with their guy having been around for a few weeks now at least. He doesn't look so much like he's just stepped off the plane.
The bottom line is that our leadership is pretty marginal. There is no real choice out there - anything would be better than Harper, but I wouldn't want a majority on any of them.
The waiting for the Election signals continues, but I'm guessing we'll see it happen during the winter - I suspect the pending Ontario Election means it won't happen before Christmas though.
