OxBlog

# Posted 9:13 PM by Taylor Owen

THE CANADIAN PRIMARIES, SORT OF...: For Canadian political followers, (count me in!), it's a big weekend. After months of grassroots intra-party campaigning, the Liberal Party is choosing the delegates who will choose their next leader...in two months at the convention. If nothing but thorough, not to mention incomprehensibly complicated, the race is turning into a three way competition between Ignatieff (my horse), Stephen Dion (owlish Quebequoi), and Bob Rae ('reformed' Ontario premierial socialist). While Ignatieff as expected has 30ish% support with about a quarter of the votes in, he may well be faced with a Dion/Rae alliance at the convention, who ironically, need each other's delegates to win their home provinces (ed - what's Ignatieff's "home province" again? Point taken). In any case, the results can be watched in real time here, these three sites are pretty good for regular updates, and it's hard to beat these two guys for snarky leadership commentary...

(5) opinions -- Add your opinion

Comments:

And what's Kennedy, chopped liver? A few minutes ago he was ahead of Dion in delegates and unlike Rae and Ignatieff he doesn't have a lot of enemies.

# posted by

Jacob : 10:56 PM

Legitimate point, I just don't see him as a legitimate leadership contender though, this time anyways - something his 18 delagates in Quebec backs up. That being said, Rae's dismal results in Ontario likely seal his fate as well. Looking more and more like a Dion and Ignatieff final ballot, unless Ignatieff can go over 50 before that.

# posted by

Taylor Owen : 12:40 PM

There can not be a follower of Canadian politics. David J Kenney

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:08 PM

Hi Taylor,

If you've been reading some of the chatter at Liblogs and Progressive Bloggers, it would seem that it's still anyone's game despite Ignatieff's double digit lead. The 'any body but Ignatieff' crowd have come up with all sorts of scenarios, Cherniak included, in which Dion or Rae will win in December. And they might be right.

I think it will come down to Iggy (the controversial intellectual) and Dion (the safe choice left over from the old regime). Hopefully, Iggy will come out on top.

Looking forward to reading more about your thoughts on the Liberal leadership race.

# posted by

Canadian Tar Heel : 9:23 AM

hey cdntarheel,
Certainly agree on both counts- that it will likely be ignatieff and dion on the final ballot, and that there are many scenarios in which Ignatieff could loose. That being said, I tend to think that there are many people, both within the party and outside, that have an interest in making this thing seem closer than it might actually be. Wells assessment on this might be right on. In any case, Ill keep posting canadian pol comments here...although the interested audience may be small! T

# posted by

Taylor Owen : 8:49 PM