As the clock ticks down to the first ballot in the Liberal leadership race, there is word of hushed backroom deals at the Montreal convention.

Rumours were swirling on the convention floor Thursday of a pact between leadership rivals Gerard Kennedy and Stephane Dion after they met Wednesday night.

Kennedy admitted he met with his political foe and said he had plans to sit down with the others.

"This will be a close race,'' Kennedy told The Canadian Press.

"Delegates are going to be making tough decisions and some of my fellow candidates may have to make difficult decisions. I want to make sure that they know what I have to offer.

"There are eight candidates, so there could be seven ballots.''

Dion's camp also downplayed the significance of the meeting.

"Yes, Mr. Dion did meet with Mr. Kennedy, as he's met and spoken to all of the other candidates throughout this process, and to many delegates, as well,'' said his spokeswoman, Orli Namian.

"Certainly, meetings and conversations will continue throughout.''

Possible Rae-Volpe pact

There were more rumours of a possible deal between second-place Bob Rae and bottom-tier candidate Joe Volpe.

During a session in which Rae took questions from delegates, one Liberal member asked if he thought Volpe was getting a tougher time during the race than he deserved.

"I've known Joe for a long time, and he's one of the most practiced, seasoned parliamentarians and politicians in the country,'' Rae said.

"And I believe he's somebody that has a lot to contribute to this race, and somebody who continues to have a lot to contribute to political life in Canada.''

According to CP, some party insiders were suggesting the dialogue had been pre-written by both camps.

There were also suggestions that an effort was underway to keep Dion out of the top three after the first ballot.

As a result, strategists from other camps have predicted that Michael Ignatieff and Rae will shift support to Kennedy to keep him in third place. Kennedy poses less of a threat than Dion to leapfrog the two frontrunners and steal the victory.

Although voting for the new leader of the Liberal Party at the convention in Montreal won't begin until late Friday, buzz is already building about what will happen when the second vote takes place Saturday.

The first ballot results from Friday night are all but guaranteed because most delegates are obligated to vote for a specific candidate.

The race will get interesting on the following ballots, however, when candidates begin to be eliminated and delegate support begins to shift to different candidates.

There are eight candidates and roughly 5,000 delegates gathered at Montreal's Palais de Congres for the massive convention.

When asked whether Ignatieff was being courted to enter into pacts of his own, he admitted that there was "lots of knocking" at his door.

"Lots of candidates. Discussions are good but they are positive," Ignatieff said on CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Thursday night.

Delegates vote on leadership process

Meanwhile, the first significant decision to come out of the Liberal leadership convention was made Thursday.

Delegates have rejected moving the party to a one-member, one-vote system for selecting the leaders.

They voted to keep the current delegate selection and convention process, which means this weekend's eight-horse leadership race may not mark the last such delegated convention after all.

Naysayers argued the one-member, one-vote system, which is used by the Conservative party and the New Democrats, leaves the leadership process open to takeover by special interest groups.

The Liberals have also agreed to adopt a new party constitution, which for the first time creates a single federal party organization and national membership list.

Up to now, the national party consisted of provincial and territorial wings.

Poll results

As delegates prepared to vote, a new national poll shed light on the beliefs of Canadians of every federalist party persuasion.

The Nov. 24-26 Decima Research survey found that Rae was perceived to be a more electable option as Liberal leader than his top rival Ignatieff.

Rae topped Ignatieff by a significant margin in every region of the country except Quebec.

In a final-ballot showdown between front-runner Ignatieff and Rae, respondents were asked who they felt had the best chance to win for the Liberals in the next election.

Under this scenario, 37 per cent chose Rae and 25 per cent picked Ignatieff.

Meanwhile, a poll of 500 Quebecers found that Liberal supporters consider Ignatieff to be the candidate who would make the best prime minister, and the most likely to win the next federal election against Harper.

The poll, which was conducted Nov. 25 to 26 by the Survey Centre at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication, was released on Thursday.

The poll found that 42 per cent felt Ignatieff would make the best PM, ahead  ofRae at 34 per cent,  Dion at 17 per cent and Kennedy at three per cent.

About 4 per cent were undecided.

And 38 per cent said Ignatieff was most likely to win the next election, while 35 per cent said Rae, 17 per cent Dion, and 3 per cent Kennedy. About 7 per cent were undecided.

"Let's be clear. Bob has fought for the distinct society clause at Meech," said Ignatieff, referring to the Meech Lake Accord, which proposed to recognize the province of Quebec as a "distinct society."

"He has spoken of la nation Quebecoise like I have. We have a challenge as a party to give a vision of national unity," Ignatieff added, during Mike Duffy Live.

His own vision, Ignatieff added, is a federal government with the capacity to strengthen the spine of citizenship from one coast to the other.

"The real issue here is not this stuff, the real issue here is what Harper wants to do. What Harper wants to do is to weaken the federal government, to re-provincialize Canada."

Much of what actually does happen will depend on the strength of the four frontrunners' Friday speeches.

Dion will address delegates on Friday, followed by Kennedy, then Rae and, finally, Ignatieff. Each candidate will speak for about 30 minutes.

With files from The Canadian Press