Angry in the Great White North

With Stephane Dion's leadership in question after the disastrous Liberal performance (coupled with a very strong Conservative result) in this week's Quebec by-election, advisors from the Liberal Party glory days are coming out the woodwork to explain what needs to be done.

David Herle, a long-time [Paul Martin] loyalist and Liberal campaign chief in the past two campaigns, heaps this resounding praise up Jean Chretien's man, Stephane Dion:

"The truth of the matter is that Mr. Dion is going to be the party leader in the next election. He's not leaving. There's no mechanism for removal. And frankly there's no compelling evidence at the moment that anybody would be particularly better."

No one else particularly better? I bet Stephane Dion's cheeks were red with embarrassment at this compliment.

We can't get rid of him, and no one else sucks less, as far as we can tell.

David Herle gives some profound advice to the Liberal Party:

David Herle...said Liberals should focus on the Tories as the real opponent.

"What Liberals really, really need to be careful about at this juncture is entering into a situation where the party starts to feed on itself as we've seen in the past," Herle said.

Ah yes, the past.

David Herle knows a bit about Liberal Party history of feeding on itself:

[Paul] Martin's personal team, a tight-knit family of political operatives, have worked for nearly 15 years to make sure every aspect of Martin's political career is carefully orchestrated. They are mostly housed in the Earnscliffe Group, an Ottawa lobby firm that includes Martin promoters David Herle, Scott Reid and former CBC Ottawa bureau chief Ellie Alboim. Their labouring on behalf of Martin didn't stop at enhancing his stature in the party. The relentless pursuit of power saw the finance ministry and Martin's personal political agenda blended into a single, seamless project.

The single-mindedness of Martin's team has created new standards in political secrecy, loyalty and punishment for transgressors. That new standard is profoundly anti-democratic, not only in terms of party politics but also as it affects democratic governance. It is an entrenched part of the political subculture around Paul Martin.

Martin's accession to the position of finance minister in 1993 is revealing of just how different our new prime minister is from his predecessor. The leadership fight in 1990 was an extremely nasty affair, with Martin attacking Jean Chretien in a particularly vicious manner long after it was clear that Chretien was going to win. Martin's actions, then as now, were considered by many Liberals to be damaging to the party.

I have to wonder if David Herle would be giving the same calming advice if he was actually advising Stephane Dion or one of his rivals, instead of being on the outside looking in with no stake in who is leader. Still, it's good advice. I doubt too many Liberals will be listening though.

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