John Turley-ewart evaluates the Wajid Khan defection and wonders why the Liberal party made no efforts to retain its MP:

My own view is that Mr. Khan is the wrong kind of Muslim for Mr. Dion's Liberal party: a self-made businessman and politician who supports the Afghan mission when many Muslims in Canada do not. In recent decades, the Liberal party has expanded its ranks in large part by indulging the parochial concerns of ethnic groups concentrated in strategic urban ridings --from Jews to Sikhs to Arabs. But Mr. Khan is a free thinker who eschews the anti-Israeli, anti-American stance that many Muslims embrace. He is therefore regarded by the Liberals as the Democratic party in the United States would view a black pol who opposes affirmative action -- that is to say, insufficently "authentic."

And quite possibly, no longer a magnet for ethnic voters. It is now up to Harper and the Conservatives to repackage this indulgence of parochial concerns in order to get as many votes as the Liberals once did, but without compromising the core values that separate them from Dion's party. A tall order maybe, but Harper is building a decent record of accomplishments that many thought were impossible when he assumed the office of prime-minister now almost a year ago.