From the Toronto Star:

Some Tory campaign workers say privately that Etobicoke-Lakeshore is one of the party’s best chances at making inroads into the 416 area. In the 2006 federal election Ignatieff defeated his Tory rival by fewer than 5,000 votes.

Boyer, who represented the riding for two terms during the Mulroney years, likes to emphasize his local roots, pointing out that he lives on the lakeshore and runs a publishing house nearby.

Ignatieff, Liberal deputy leader, likes to emphasize that he is often seen on television holding the Tories to account in the House of Commons, but it’s constituency work that he finds rewarding, such as helping a voter with an immigration problem.

Also running are Liam McHugh-Russell for the NDP, Dave Corail for the Green party and Janice Murray for the Marxist-Leninist Party.

While Etobicoke-Lakeshore is a Liberal stronghold, Ignatieff was parachuted in to replace a popular Jean Augustine amidst controversy when others trying to apply for the seat were locked out.  Augustine defended the action, from the same article:

She told The Hill Times that the takeover was orchestrated by “a group of individuals who are from the Ukrainian community” who wanted to ensure that the next MP was Ukrainian. Etobicoke-Lakeshore has one of the largest Ukrainian-Canadian populations in Canada.

Ignatieff has gained heat in his own riding, for starters living in Boston most of his life and currently not even residing in the riding he is to represent.  Also some choice words from his book Blood and Belonging:

My difficulty in taking Ukraine seriously goes deeper than just my cosmopolitan suspicion of nationalists everywhere. Somewhere inside I’m also what Ukrainians would call a great Russian and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these little Russians.

The Liberals are losing their hold on this riding, and I’m glad to see this group is also losing voters.