With an influx of new members and a new leader in Ottawa, the federal Dufferin-Caledon Liberal riding association emerged from its annual meeting last week in an optimistic mood.

"Everyone seems to be in high spirits," said Rebecca Finch, the Liberal candidate in the October election. "With the new members, it looks like people are feeling a need to get involved. I also think (Liberal leader) Michael Ignatieff is making a positive impact."

The meeting, held last Thursday in Mono Mills, saw the selection of a new executive that includes new riding president Jeff May.

"One of our first priorities is to prepare for the next election," says Mr. May. "We will be looking at broadening our membership base. We will also be reaching out to make connections with the various municipal councils in the riding."

With the governing Conservatives set to present a budget on Tuesday, Mr. Ignatieff has said he may oppose Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plans for income tax cuts, stating they are not conducive to dealing with the current recession and its projected massive deficits.

Mr. May says the Liberals are not against tax cuts but now is not the time to be enacting them. Mr. Ignatieff's statement "is a caution that, during a recession, it is not a good time to be focusing on tax-cut measures. We need to be able to avoid a long-term structural deficit."

The local Liberal association also came away from the meeting with a renewed confidence that the Conservative stranglehold on Dufferin-Caledon can be broken, noting that one of the new members is a former Conservative.

"We've been hearing more complaints about the Tories at the national level," Ms. Finch said. "We've also been hearing that (incumbent Tory MP) David Tilson doesn't interact with the people. His attitude is turning people off."

Jason Gracey, the riding association's new policy chair, feels the Conservatives "have a weak bench. They are not negotiating a lot of their own policy. They mocked [Stéphane] Dion when he came up with his plan and, two months later, they are doing the same thing," such as producing economic stimulus packages.

"Their ideology is to do as little as possible."