The Liberals and the Green party on Friday confirmed a deal to work together to oust Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay from his riding in the next federal election.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and Green party Leader Elizabeth May held a joint news conference in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova.
Dion said the Liberals will not run a candidate in the riding, where May intends to run for her party's first seat in the House of Commons.
In exchange, the Greens have agreed not to run a candidate in Dion's Montreal riding.
I've already written about some of the implications of this decision.
But here's another. The Liberal Party is still running a page looking for donations from people in Central Nova:
Your riding is currently not held by a Liberal Member of Parliament. Please Donate Now to help us win back this riding.
You know, if I were a Liberal supporter in Central Nova who donated to the Liberals to "win back this riding", I'd be asking for my money back. Any and all donations collected since the last election. There is nothing illegal in Stephane Dion's decision to not run a Liberal candidate in a riding. But there is definitely something wrong with asking for money from Liberals on the pretense that it would be used to elect a Liberal MP in this riding at the next election, and then not running a candidate. The money was collected to "win back this riding", not to merely kick the Conservatives out.
I'd like to see this idea seriously considered by Liberals in Central Nova. If you know folks from that part of Canada, ask them their opinion.
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