Today is a big day

Whenever this day would come around (and it never came around very often), I would sit by my TVand watch every minute of the live footage streaming off CBC. To me, this day is more importantthan election day in Canada, and it hurts me to say that no more than 20,000 people get inovlvedin this day, and the decision made on it, only to influence the future of my country for atleastfour years or possibly, even more.

Today is Leadership Race day for the Liberal Party of Canada. I support the Liberals, but this isnot why the day is important. Its infact just as important when the Conservative race was on. Theseraces are the cornerstone of democracy these days. Most people vote for whom they have voted for inthe past. Yet, the leader can change some of those votes. He can influence other voters to come into the party's side, or he/she can even alienate some voters. Its a tightrope game, and the backstabbing, empty promises, the gleaming prospects and the hope that goes along with the dramaof such races is intoxicating- it is in word, politics.

Lets do a round up of three candidates, one of whom I feel will come out on top by the end of the night:

Michael Ignatieff (Professor, author, MP since 2006)

Michael Ignatieff is an oddity when it comes to a Liberal leadership hopeful. He is possibly better known outside our borders than within. Despite his short stint in federal politics, which he entered in January 2006, he has been considered the man to watch. ....
But his decision to move back to Canada in the summer of 2005 was greeted with breathless profiles in national publications, with his future as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada taken for granted.

During the campaign, he has shown that he has a grasp of national issues, and he hasn't shied away from the spotlight and controversial issues. For example, on Quebec, Ignatieff said he would consider reopening the Constitution to try to include Quebec, an idea that has been widely criticized by the other candidates.

Bob Rae (Ontario premier, Air India inquiry commissioner)

Bob Rae is a curious candidate, a man who has a lot of credentials and a political record that is both his strength and weakness.

Many in Ontario may not look fondly back at his five-year term as NDP premier. As a former New Democrat — federally and provincially — he is not always seen as a natural Liberal....
Rae could be seen as the candidate who could help the Liberals crowd out the NDP and grab back votes lost to them in the Jan. 23, 2006, election...

Rae has also acquired a reputation as a statesman, handling high-profile files for the Liberals such as an inquiry into the Air India bombing. He was considered one of the front-runners to succeed Adrienne Clarkson as governor general in 2005.

Gerrard Kennedy (Food bank executive, Ontario education minister)

Pollsters consider him to be the dark horse in the Liberal leadership race, but former Ontario minister of education has proven himself an able contender who belongs among the front-runners.

Unlike his rivals, Kennedy, 45, has a clean slate and none of their political baggage. By almost all accounts, he handled a tough portfolio as education minister deftly, gaining the trust of teachers' unions after he cancelled a proposal that would have made it a requirement for teachers to pass re-certification tests. In return for labour peace, he also inked a four-year deal in 2005 to give teachers raises and increased prep time...

However, his big challenge will be to amplify some very quiet support in Quebec, where it seems his questionable command of French eclipses his charisma.


Even though it seems that Ignatieff and Rae are the front-runners, I have a feeling that the final ballot will not come down to them. I think that Kennedy might play a big role by the end of the day, and his clean slate might actually garner him quite a few votes keeping in mind past candidates have been bogged by political debacles and scandals. Lets wait and see who the next leader of the Liberals will be, because whoever it is, I want them to be able to do a bang on job in the election run-up, Canada cannot afford to lose another election to the Conservatives. That would be a disaster.

For more details on all the candidates, please visit CBC.