Interesting by-election results. No other way to spin it: bad night for Stéphane Dion.
Bob Rae and Martha Hall Findlay won easily, as expected. But in the two ridings where the Conservatives put in effort, they won one and almost pulled off an incredible upset in Vancouver, losing to the Liberals by a mere 150 votes. This was a riding won by the Liberals' Stephen Owen by 12,000 votes in 2006 -- 18% points ahead of the Tories. For a riding even die-hard Grits call "the safest Liberal riding in B.C.," this is a very bad omen for the next election.
Byelections are supposed to be problematic for the governing party, not the opposition.
So, its a net gain of one seat for the Tories. Not a major change, but still a good result for them.
However, I expect the Liberals' performance in the House of Commons to improve dramatically with Rae and Hall Findlay around. Both are solid performers and will breathe new life into the Grits' Question Period routine, which has been rather lethargic of late and hasn't had a serious refreshing since the Chrétien era.
UPDATE: Also a pretty good night for the Green Party, less so for Jack Layton.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:22 AM
