Byelection Results Scare Liberals Off Spring Election

You know, I'm starting to think Stephen Harper will make it through his entire four-year term. The Hill Times reports that senior Liberals are backing off their push for a spring election after the Libs lost a by-election seat and came thisclose to losing Vancouver Quadra:

Liberals previously held the four ridings where the byelections took place last week and prior to the Easter break, it was widely expected that the Liberals would win at least three or all four of the ridings with comfortable margins. Liberal MPs and top staffers before March 17 were publicly dropping strong hints in interviews and private conversations that after the byelections, they will most likely trigger an election in April.

But last week, Liberals lost the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, where party leader Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.) appointed former Saskatchewan NDP Cabinet minister Joan Beatty as the Liberal candidate. The Liberals also almost lost the B.C. urban seat and safe Liberal riding of Vancouver Quadra, won on March 17 by Joyce Murray by 151 votes. The Liberals have held the riding since 1984 and in the 2006 federal election they won by a margin of more than 11,000 votes. Last week's close Liberal finish in B.C. is significant because it's in the same city where Mark Marissen, national campaign co-chair for the Liberal Party, resides. Liberals did, however, win the two Toronto ridings handily.

"It's a real concern, that [Vancouver Quadra, B.C.] should not have been this close," said the source, pointing out that this is a safe, urban, Liberal riding that the party was expected to win easily.

The source said that the Liberal Party's close margin of victory in Vancouver-Quadra caused them to reconsider their options, because if they're having a hard time in ridings such as this, they should review first why this riding ended up this close before they make a decision to trigger an election.