Invigorated Liberals prepare to rev up the big red machine;

Invigorated Liberals prepare to rev up the big red machine;
Promising polls, dwindling debt mean Grit groove is back: party
The Ottawa Citizen Monday, April 27, 2009
Page: A5
Section: News
Byline: Juliet O'Neill
Source: Canwest News Service

Buoyed by positive polls and poised to pay off the last of the party's campaign debt, Liberals are claiming momentum as they head to a national convention in Vancouver this week.

There will only be about 1,500 delegates, no suspenseful leadership contest and a policy debate that may pale from the past; but resurgent Liberals will have plenty to celebrate, having shaken off a serious case of the political doldrums in the last few months.

National party director Rocco Rossi says the Liberals were "adrift," but are back on course, determined to show they are "people who have their act together, who can govern themselves and, therefore, are earning the right to govern Canada."

Michael Ignatieff has also said he feels "the party has rallied pretty magnificently" since he succeeded Stéphane Dion in December, when MPs Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc stepped aside so caucus could acclaim him interim leader.

"Stephen Harper set in train a set of consequences he never envisaged, never expected," Ignatieff said, "and I think he underestimated the party's capacity to come together in a moment of crisis."

After Harper convinced Gov. Gen. Michaël Jean to suspend Parliament in December, Liberals rallied behind Ignatieff, halting Dion's plan to stay on as leader until a convention was held and backing out of his coalition agreement with the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois.

Morale among Liberals -- bruised by years of factionalism, irked by Dion's unpopularity and weakened by a poor showing in the Oct. 14 election -- has improved since they named a leader with more of a winning aura than Dion.

The Liberals have steadily risen in the polls, gaining a narrow lead over the minority Conservatives in one survey last week.

The rate of fundraising has picked up to the point where Rossi forecasts repayment by the end of May of the party's $2-million debt from the October campaign.