Sunday, January 15, 2006

Earnscliffe Joins McKenna

Cyberpresse , whose Google translations from French to English amuse as much as they inform, reports that Frank McKenna has started to launch lines to water as soon as Paul Martin draws his reverence:

"Everyone made of the calls. That splashes much, it is obvious. There are already organizers who have a knife between the teeth and which wait until only on January 24 to show the door with Paul Martin ", a liberal organizer under cover of anonymity entrusted.

....

Of all the candidates, Frank McKenna seems to have a certain length in advance. But several factors play against him. It was one of the grave-diggers of the agreement of the lake Meech, which would have made it possible Quebec to reinstate the constitutional bosom "in the honor and enthusiasm". Moreover, its French is only passable.


What has not been lost in translation is this stunning announcement: after 15 years of faithful service to Paul Martin, the Earnscliffe crew have all but quit on him publicly one week before the election. No Liberal leader has been so completely and cruelly abandoned by his own people this way in living memory. Not even John Turner.

No less stunning: the Liberals have effectively abandoned the practice of alternating between anglophone and francophone leaders. That's how badly the Liberal Party in Quebec has been damaged, and by extension, the party's reputation as the only truly national party capable of dealing with the Quebec question.

No less important: will Frank McKenna do more harm remaining in Washington to undermine a possible Conservative government's plans to rebuild damaged relations, or back in Canada free to campaign full-time for the Liberal leadership?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ha! The Liberals are a sinking ship. They won't get the chance to put the pieces back together -- The CPC is going to change the districts and do a few more things in the next little while (trust me on this) that will make their climb "back" a difficult one. Also, I think the events of the next six months will play nicely into the hands of Conservatives here and abroad.