I've got a secret

There is one Liberal politician in the whole of Canada--exactly one--who has been courageous and perceptive enough to recognize the real nature of Adscam. He has chosen not to dismiss it as the work of a handful of rogues; he acknowledged, and at a time when it still might have been useful tactical information for Paul Martin's Liberals, that the entire party came to fatally confuse its own interests with those of Canadian federalism. It is true that he did not object in 1996 when a Liberal committee dared to asked a cabinet meeting for "a substantial strengthening of the Liberal Party of Quebec"; but in response to the Gomery report, he at least had the sense to express retrospective "astonishment" that such a blasphemous thing had taken place.

He is Stephane Dion, and--why, look! He's a bilingual Quebecker! I wouldn't dream of proposing him as a leading candidate for the Liberal succession, but editors and columnists might find it unexpectedly rewarding if they decided to, say, take him 20% as seriously as Michael bleedin' Ignatieff.

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Posted by Colby Cosh at 02:51:06 January 24, 2006