[killer_carlson]

it would not surprise me at all to see harper lose another seat in edmonton after the pulled support for the expo bid.

The city rallied some of its most impressive citizens (i.e. recently retired ceo of stantec, etc) at the request of the Feds to put a bid together. Then the rug was pulled without consultation on the alleged comment of "security costs", but then it was leaked by Ottawa bureaucrats that the feds would never have supported canada's 150th year in "Edmonton" and that the Edmonton cabinet minister (Rona Ambrose) did not go to bat for the city.

High profile small c conservatives went ballistic and are openly advocating that citizens respond with their vote. Most troubling to the Conservatives is that the popular Edmonton mayor and open conservative Stephen Mandell is leading the charge. Mandell came out and said that the city was better served in terms of Federal Gov't support under Anne McLellan than it has been under 100% tory support even in a Tory gov't. That really resonated around the water coolers here.

Peter Goldring's seat in Edmonton East and Laurie Hawn's seat are both at risk (Goldring from NDP and Hawn Liberal). Linda Duncan took Rahim Jaffer's seat last election and will be in a dogfight again, but has seen her public profile as a critic skyrocket after the leaked Jason Kenny memo regarding immigration and voter strategy. Rumour has it that Brian Mason, leader of the provincial NDP will run against Goldring in Edmonton East, which is where Mason's provincial riding is.

When it comes to counting on one's fingers and toes, Harper better hope that the money diverted to Quebec more than makes up for the lost seat (or two) in Edmonton.