OTTAWA — Federal Tories are in no rush to call two Ontario by-elections in Liberal-held seats, saying they want to avoid a collision with the coming provincial vote.
The signal comes as Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepares to call a by-election in the Montreal riding of Outremont, for which he must set the date by next Saturday. The Prime Minister must also call a runoff for the riding of Sainte-Hyacinthe-Bagot, which must go ahead by Aug. 25.
But Tories say that two open Toronto ridings might have to wait until November.
“The big problem is the Toronto ones,” said a senior source. “No one wants by-elections in the summer, but wait until Labour Day and we're into the Ontario provincial campaign. So [there's] good reason not [to rush] these ones.”
The Ontario vote is set for Oct. 10.
Some Tories say there are also other reasons to delay the Toronto votes, including the fact that a number of other Liberal-held ridings are about to come open and the government should call them all at once.
Currently, the ridings of former MPs Bill Graham (Toronto Centre) and Jim Peterson (Willowdale) are sitting empty in the wake of those members' resignations.
However, two other Liberal MPs – Saskatchewan's Gary Merasty and Vancouver's Stephen Owen – are also set to resign, on Aug. 31 and July 28 respectively.
Wary Tories believe the Liberals may be staggering their resignations to allow for a series of “good news” elections in friendly ridings, rather than having them held all on one day.
One senior Conservative asked why the government should allow the Liberals to refresh their benches over a number of separate votes, rather than have them done all in one fell swoop.
Other Liberals who have signalled their intention not to run again include Belinda Stronach and former prime minister Paul Martin. Bloc Québécois MP Michel Gauthier has also said he plans to resign.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion officially introduced his party's candidate in Outremont on Friday. Jocelyn Coulon is a former journalist and current political scientist whom Mr. Dion is relying on to rebuild the connection between his party and French-speaking Quebeckers.
Conservative campaign official John Reynolds said Canadians will be disappointed with the resignation of so many Liberals so quickly after the last election. Voters will wonder whether those who are retiring were sincere about representing their constituents or whether they quit because they are no longer in office, he said.
