Liberals are pretty excited this evening. Not only is there a new poll out that shows that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have miscalculated that Canadians don't care much about Parliament being prorogued — EKOS Research says a 15 point lead the Conservatives had a few weeks ago is now a lead within the statistical margin of error — but, this afternoon at the University of British Columbia, 200 people had to be turned away from the hall Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was speaking in because 800 had already filled it up. Those numbers, by the way, are provided to us by Ignatieff aides and we do not have independent verification.
“Waiting for Michael Ignatieff's arrival at the UBC town hall, line-ups around the building. Anticipation is high!,” Vancouver-Quadra MP Joyce Murray posted on Twitter.
Still, the Libs did send along a pic (left). Still, as Vancouver Sun columnist notes, the Liberals still have a lot of work cut out for them despite this bump in the polls. And EKOS main man Frank Graves reminds Libs that, “The Liberals continue to be stuck in the sub-30% zone. They are well within reach of the Conservatives now, but the movements in public opinion seem to be driven more by repulsion to Conservative tactics than attraction to Mr. Ignatieff and the Liberal Party.”