Orchard's Poisoned Fruit

According to an informed source of well-known blogging adversary Calgary Grit , David Orchard is discussing a potential candidacy with the Liberals.

The Liberal spin practically writes itself: two-time Progressive Conservative leadership runner-up, staunch defender of the Canadian national identity, further proof that moderates have no place in the Alliance-Conservatives, etc., etc.

Never mind that Orchard's leadership candidacy was a symptom of the decrepitude of the old PC party, or that he will likely embarrass the campaign with intemperate anti-free trade outbursts at inopportune moments.

Never mind, also, that the fact that the Liberals are even talking to him is an indication of the sad state of the party in Saskatchewan.

The real story is that radical anti-American sentiment has moved from the periphery to the centre of the Liberal Party. David Orchard has the potential to be the Liberal Party's version of George Galloway. Worse yet, he might even be put in Cabinet to replace Ralph Goodale as Saskatchewan's man at the table, in a position to cause lasting damage to trade relations and the national economy.

Picture David Orchard as Minister of International Trade discussing the softwood lumber tariff dispute with Robert Zoellick or Condoleeza Rice, shrieking about American conspiracies to annex Canada by looting its natural resources through NAFTA. He could shut down Canadian forestry in an afternoon.

As a former Progressive Conservative, I saw the damage he wrought on the party. As a Liberal, he could do far worse.