Liberals confirm they're running against Singh as byelections planned for February

NDP Leader JagmeetSingh will get his chance to enter Parliament in February, when the Liberal government holds byelections to fill the three remaining vacancies in the House of Commons, CBC News has confirmed.

The Liberals recently called a byelection in the Ontario riding of LeedsGrenvilleThousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for Dec. 3, leaving vacancies in three other ridings unfilled. That move wasmet with a chorus of criticism from the Conservatives, New Democrats, Bloc Qubcois and Greens, who demanded that votes also be called to fill the vacancies in the ridings of Outremont, YorkSimcoe and BurnabySouth.

As first reported byThe Hill Timesand confirmed to CBC News by a Liberal source, the Liberals intend to call the byelectionsearly in the new year, with the date to be set for some point in February.

Singh announced he would be the NDP's candidate in Burnaby South in early August, before former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart had officially vacated the seat. Stewart announced earlier in the yearthat he would be resigning to mount what would turn out to be a successful bidfor the mayor's office in Vancouver. The seat has only been officially vacant since mid-September.

The NDPleader is likely to have a tough fight on his hands. While the Greens have decided they will extend the "leader's courtesy" to Singh by not putting up a candidate against him, both the Liberals and Conservatives will contest the seat.

A recent poll by MainstreetResearch suggested the New Democrats were running third in the riding, though the poll showed a considerable number of undecideds and had a relatively high margin of error.

The Montreal riding of Outremont, vacated by former NDP leader Tom Mulcairover the summer, is also expected to be difficult for the New Democrats to hold:the Liberals are riding high in the polls in Quebec and the NDP has suffered a significant drop in support there.

The Liberals have yet to nominate a candidate in Outremont. The New Democrats have nominated Julia Sanchez to try to retain the seat for the party.

The Conservatives have nominated businessman Scot Davidson to hold the Ontario riding of YorkSimcoe for the party, after the resignation of former Conservative cabinet minister Peter Van Loanin September. The riding is not expected to change colours.

The only opposition party leaderthat did not criticize the Liberal decision to hold off on calling the three byelections until next year was Maxime Bernierof the People's Party of Canada. As a newly-formed party, the PPC was not eligible to run candidates in any byelectioncalled within 60 days of his application for registration with Elections Canada in October.

Once the byelections are called and the PPCnominates candidates as Bernier has saidhe will do in all three ridings his party will fulfill the final step tobecome an officially registered party, allowing the PPC to award tax receipts to its donors.

By law, the Liberals have until Jan. 30 to call the byelection in Outremont. The other two contests have to be called by March.