Michael Ignatieff's strategists are preparing a national campaign for a fall election. Their platform is written, buses are rented and an airplane is in place, senior Liberal Party strategists told MPs at their closed-door caucus meeting yesterday afternoon.
The meeting took place just after the Liberal Leader delivered a rousing speech, announcing his party would no longer support the Harper minority government.
Liberal MPs also were presented with new polling numbers, by party pollster Michael Marzolini, that suggest the party is at fighting strength in some key battleground regions.
Internal Liberal polling has the Conservatives at 36-per-cent support nationally, compared to 36 per cent for the Liberals, insiders say. Mr. Marzolini told caucus that this represents a 10-per-cent increase from the last election. Nationally, he has the NDP at 16-per-cent support, the Bloc at 8 per cent and the Green Party at 3 per cent, Liberal sources say.
According to insiders, Mr. Marzolini said the Liberals are showing strength in Quebec - with he has them at 38-per-cent support, compared to the Bloc Québécois at 31 per cent, the Conservatives at 20 per cent and the NDP at 10 per cent.
In Toronto, he puts the Grits at 56 per cent, the Conservatives at 29 per cent, the NDP at 11 per cent and the Greens at 3 per cent.
The top issue, according to Mr. Marzolini, is the economy, followed by health care, the environment and employment.
Campaign manager Gordon Ashworth and national campaign co-chair, Senator David Smith, laid out the campaign organization to the MPs, saying about 138 candidates are in place (including 44 women), with 163 more nomination meetings scheduled to take place. There are 308 federal seats. The Liberals have 77.
Mr. Marzolini also told the Liberals that Canadians were not paying attention to politics this summer because of a fatigue with politics.
"They took the summer off," he said, according to an insider. But he said that he expects Canadians to become re-engaged after Labour Day.
In the lead-up to a vote, the Liberals are expected to begin running negative advertisements attacking the Harper government in Quebec, with ads portraying Mr. Ignatieff as a statesman in the rest of Canada.