OTTAWA 鈥� Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced that four byelections will be held on Nov. 25.
Two of them 鈥� in Toronto Centre and Montreal's Bourassa riding 鈥� are shaping up as an epic battle for opposition supremacy between the Liberals and the NDP.
Both are longstanding Liberal strongholds, left vacant after the resignations of former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and veteran MP Denis Coderre.
The other two byelections are in the Manitoba ridings of Brandon-Souris and Provencher.
The Conservatives are widely expected to hold those ridings, left vacant after the retirement of Tory backbencher Merv Tweed and former Harper cabinet minister Vic Toews.
However, controversy over alleged party interference in the choice of a candidate for Brandon-Souris has angered local Conservatives and given opposition parties some hope for an upset.
