Will Dion Meet His Waterloo in Outremount?

Hi All!

Much has been said regarding the most recent polls in the Quebec by-elections. Steve Janke of Angry in the Great White North was one of the first to speculate on the possible machinations going on behind the scenes in the LPoC. Some of the most insightful text:

In my last post, I considered the possibility that enemies of Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion from within the party would like to see their own party lose the by-election in the riding of Outremont. A Liberal stronghold, the Liberal candidate is Jocelyn Coulon, an academic cut from the same cloth as Stephane Dion himself, a candidate that was not nominated by the Liberals in the riding but appointed to be their nominee directly by Stephane Dion. A loss would reflect poorly on Stephane Dion on a number of levels -- weakness in Quebec, poor decision-making skills, etc -- and might accelerate his departure as leader of the Liberal Party.

And this:

We don't know whether the allegations are true (Ignatieff supporters like Denis Coderre are adamant that these allegations are groundless) but the fact that Dion's people are going public is very telling.

Think about it.

Stephane Dion and his people see a resounding loss shaping up in Outremont, and not a single win in any three of the Quebec by-elections being held on Monday. The Conservatives, on the other hand, are likely to pick up a seat in Quebec, suggesting that Tory strength in Quebec is not an anomaly that will disappear as memory of the Sponsorship Scandal recedes, but a growing threat based on real shifts in Quebec political thought.

And a real threat to Stephane Dion's future.

The knives are out and in the backrooms operatives are being dispatched to plant the seeds of doubt. I think I may have witnessed one of these Johny Appleseed operatives in action. This clip from Garth Turner's recent Lost Tory Tour's stop in Calgary.







So there are some lifelong Liberals wondering out loud about the time lines of another leadership convention. Hhhhmmmmmm. What was this tour really about?

What struck me most about the whole Garth Turner experience was the obvious scripted nature of the questions posed by lib operatives.

Make your own conclusions.

Syncro