Dion may have saved his job but we aren’t about to head into an election anytime soon based on these results.

Preliminary result:

• Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River (Saskatchewan) - Conservative Rob Clarke
• Toronto Centre (Ontario) - Liberal Bob Rae
• Vancouver Quadra (British Columbia) - Liberal Joyce Murray
• Willowdale (Ontario) - Liberal Martha Hall Findlay

Martha & Rae have been campaigning since November building the database and knocking on doors. Martha even had her personal bus parked overlooking a major Willowdale traffic artery. Campaigns that are built from the ground up have once again been proven effective. The liberals comfortably won Toronto Centre and Willowdale ridings, traditionally liberal strong holds, and are looking like they might squeeze out a victory in Vancouver Quadra. These results mean 3 things:

• Dion will continue to be the Leader of the Liberal party.
• The Liberal brand is still incredibly strong.
• These results aren’t decisive enough in either direction to encourage a federal election

Here is why, lets look beyond the spin:

The race in Vancouver Quadra is very close (preliminary results as of 2:08 AM):

Conservative

Deborah Meredith

10,004

35.5

Liberal

Joyce Murray

10,155

36.1

Compare that to the 2006 Federal elections:

Currently, this riding could go either way if the federal election were to take place although you can see that in the 2006 elections the Liberals have taken this riding with a comfortable margin. Today, it could go either way.

The same can be said for Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River, except Conservatives look likely to take back this riding:

By-Elections (preliminary results as of 2:08 AM)

Liberal

Joan Beatty

3,287

31.4

Conservative

Rob Clarke

4,996

47.8

2006

2000

In year 2000, this riding was decisively liberal. Today, it can go either way with the Conservatives as the slight favorites.