Report: Canada's Liberals expect to lose

OTTAWA, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The former president of Canada's Liberal party predicted in a newspaper article that the party faces "a drubbing" in the Oct. 14 federal election.

Writing in the National Post, Stephen LeDrew slammed party leader Stephane Dion.

"Barring a miracle ... the Liberals are going to take a drubbing in this election," LeDrew wrote. "The immediate causes of the Liberals' campaign trouble are myriad: a leader who doesn't resonate with the public; a platform that is, depending on whom you talk to, either incomprehensible or just plain dumb; a team that seems to have all its oars pulling on the same side of the boat -- the list goes on."

The Wednesday article put Dion on the defensive in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as reporters repeatedly asked for his response, the Globe and Mail reported. Dion said his only message to fellow Liberals about critics was, "Ignore them."

Meanwhile, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's began new tactics Wednesday by attacking the leader of the socialist New Democratic Party, which the Globe said suggests "Conservatives now view the NDP leader as the man to beat in parts of the country."