It’s interesting to note that the Liberals and Tories are in a virtual tie according to the latest polls. This, a mere two weeks after Stephen Harper put the Conservative Party on election alert. My colleagues at the CBC, listening to usually reliable political insiders, were calling the election, for sure, near the end of this month. Clearly, Prime Minister Harper has postponed the vote until more balmy times – for him of course.

I don’t believe that any one factor accounts for this. The Afghanistan issue certainly counted as the Defense Minister fell all over himself delivering different answers to the same question. This issue does not play well in Quebec which is far more dovish that the rest of Canada.

It’s hard to imagine that the Liberals have done anything to hurt the Tories as they have stumbled around the “environment” issue. The deal between Stephane Dion and Elizabeth May leader of the Greens is bizarre. Moreover, Mr. Dion, a far better intellectual than leader of a political party, has had an uneven start, to put the best face on it, as leader.

It doesn’t really seem that the Liberals have gone up as the Tories going down and I’m wondering if Canadians, after thinking it over, are frightened of the right wing religious influence within the Tories. Does, perhaps, the muddled mess in Quebec politics loosen up some votes that normally would go Bloc Quebecois but will now vote Liberal?

It is trite to observe that the only poll that matters is the election vote and it’s also true that given the regional differences, polls often show support for a party but for conflicting reasons.

What this poll has said, however, that Mr. Dion has been given some time to get his act, and that of his party, together.