Win or lose, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says he's not going anywhere after Tuesday's election.

"I will never quit. I will stay for my country," Dion said Sunday during a last swing through southeastern Ontario before flying off on a frenetic coast-to-coast tarmac tour ahead of Tuesday's vote.

"But I'm working hard now. We're working all of us for a victory, for a progressive government. This is what is at stake."

When pressed on how he would respond if Liberal rivals push to remove him, a chippy Dion raised his voice.

"I'm the leader! I am the leader. And I'm working to win. I'm not a quitter."

It was a label Dion slapped on Prime Minister Stephen Harper early Thanksgiving Sunday in a previous TV interview.

"Yeah, well, he's a quitter. I'm not," Dion said. "I will fight for my country. I love Canada."

He made the remarks when asked about an interview during which Harper said that both he and Dion will lose their jobs unless they win Tuesday.

"I think it's inevitable that the party that loses this election will be looking for a new leader," Harper told Sun Media.

Dion's strident tone may raise eyebrows in Liberal circles where private reaction to his campaign performance has typically ranged from tepid praise to hand wringing. Dion, a political scientist and former professor of public administration, has a reputation for tenacity and a mile-wide stubborn streak.

He is set to face a Liberal party leadership review next spring.

Despite a strong performance in the leaders' debates, Liberal support is well off historic highs and continues to trail the Conservatives. Dion has struggled to sell his Green Shift plan to tax pollution in return for income tax breaks.

His halting English, which has improved over the last five weeks, has not helped.

Dion was borderline combative when asked by two separate television interviewers Sunday about what appears to be a strengthening of Tory support as the election clock winds down.

"Come on! Do you believe in polls?" he asked Ann Rohmer, host of a call-in TV show on Toronto's CP 24.

"They're like tides. They come and they go," he said, using one of his favoured catch phrases.

"Come on!" he again said to Jane Taber, co-host of CTV's Question Period during a pre-taped response to a similar question.

Dion argued there's a much more pressing issue at hand than whether he is destined to stay at the Liberal helm.

"The pressure we have today is to elect a progressive government and to make sure that we'll not only stop Stephen Harper but we will replace him. And this will not happen if we do not pull our vote out together.

"I think I have shown through this election how much I will change not only the orientation of this country, but the tone. I'm here answering every question. Where is Mr. Harper?"

The last remark was a swipe at the prime minister who is not scheduled to speak again with reporters on his campaign tour until after the election.

Harper has lowered the democratic bar and been a more secretive leader than Canada has ever seen, Dion charged.

After a central Ontario tour jam-packed with local interviews and minglers -- including some in ridings already considered Liberal bastions -- Dion heads Sunday night to Fredericton.

Asked why the leader would troll for support in so-called safe zones, one candidate said it's part of a strategy to show appreciation for vital party troops who are heavily relied on to get the Liberal vote out Tuesday.

Plans to spend the last day of campaigning in the Montreal area were suddenly nixed for a coast-to-coast marathon that schedules Dion to arrive back in his Quebec riding of Saint-Laurent--Cartierville on a red-eye flight.

It's reminiscent of a similar cross-country dash that helped former prime minister Paul Martin turn a rocky campaign into a minority victory.

Dion plans to make three or four stops en route to Vancouver where he'll spend Monday night before flying back to vote.

There will be little left to do after that but watch the results roll in.


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