For those who missed it, former Trudeau advisor and chair of the renewal commission, Tom Axworthy has endorsed Gerard Kennedy.
“I have just been shocked by what I’ve learned, and therefore the candidate who spoke most convincingly and generally and enthusiastically about revitalizing the party as an institution from top to bottom was Kennedy and that’s why I went for him,” said Axworthy, a Queen’s University political science professor.
”Liberals they decide upon winnability and they decide upon policy issues and so on. My big concern is the future long-term viability of the Liberal party and he’s the candidate in my view who has the best position when it comes to that.”
In Other News…
-“Final” delegate totals are up on Liberal.ca and Dryden has moved ahead of Volpe for 5th place.
-There’s another delegate poll out and it seems to match most of the Ekos numbers from a few months back. Given that twenty questions were asked, this will be another which can be spun in a million directions. Dion does well among the second choice options, although half the delegates are still undecided as to who they pick as number two. Iggy is still seen as the most likely to win an election. Kennedy has passed Rae on the second choice list and the poll showed more delegates oppose Harper’s nation motion than support it which bodes well for him.
-Welcome your newest member of Parliament – Glen Pearson. Elizabeth May made it close and can be proud of her showing while Dianne Haskett…well, the Tories better make sure she’s not heir candidate the next time Londoners go to the polls.
Glen Pearson, Liberal: 13,287 (34.9)
Elizabeth May, Green: 9,864 (25.9)
Dianne Haskett, Conservative: 9,309 (24.4)
Megan Walker, NDP: 5,388 (14.1)
-Ed Stelmach has picked up endorsements from the 4th, 5th and 6th place candidates in the PC leadership race. I probably won’t get a chance to comment on this much over the next few days so I’ll just say: Premier Stelmach – you heard it hear second.
–Peter Van Loan will be taking over Michael Chong’s responsibilities at Intergovernmental Affairs. Presumably these will include buying Stephen Harper’s National Post and Double-Double every morning.
-Gerard Kennedy will be on the Rick Mercer Report Tonight. Presumably he will be fully clothed for the entire duration of the segment.
-The first two rounds of the bloggers roundtable are up on Macleans. In them, we bat around the nation question and foreign policy and I conclude that Gerard rocks, Jason concludes that Dion rocks, Ted conclude that Iggy rocks and John concluds that Rae rocks.