CP reports of massive Liberal infighting over Jamie Carroll's Chinese joke
The Jamie Carroll story continues to spiral out of control. The list of Liberals publicly demanding that Stephane Dion take action grows by the hour. That Stephane Dion's leadership has taken another huge body blow is no longer in question.
The Canadian Press has shot this story over the wire. Expect it on Canadian news sites soon, if it's not up already:
Liberal rift erupts over calls for dismissal of Dion aide (Dion-Liberal-Infighti)
By Isabelle Rodrigue
OTTAWA Stephane Dion's palace guard was under seige Thursday by members of his own party calling on the Liberal leader to dismiss one of his closest aides over alleged remarks about Quebec.
Several MPs and senators from the province have been pleading privately for him to fire Jamie Carroll, the Liberals' national director and one of the key players in Dion's leadership victory.
They are now making their demands public.
Witnesses at a closed-door meeting this week say Carroll was dismissive when some Quebec Liberals suggested their leader's entourage needed more people who were bilingual and from the province.
According to witnesses Carroll remarked that if he hired more Quebecers, then he'd have to hire more Chinese.
Carroll says the conversation has been mischaracterized and twisted out of context.
But some of his outraged colleagues still want him gone.
"I called party headquarters to tell them we can't tolerate that in this party,'' Montreal MP Pablo Rodriguez said in an interview.
"I don't see how Mr. Carroll could remain in his role with comments like that.''
If Dion didn't have enough headaches with his party's woeful fundraising, poor recent byelection results, and a possible federal election approaching, he now has to deal with a public war between members of his party and one of his top organizers.
Carroll said in a statement he never meant to insult Quebecers, or Chinese-Canadians.
He said he agrees with increasing the number of francophone Quebecers working in the national office, but also believes the party must reflect Canada's growing diversity.
But the head of the Liberals' Quebec wing also wants Carroll gone.
Robert Fragasso says party members support Dion, but adds that the leader is not a populist and he needs more contact with ground-level organizers from his home province.
Fragasso was at the meeting with Carroll where the exchange on the subject came up. The remarks from the national director, he said, will divide the party and pit francophone Quebecers against anglophones.
"I informed our party president [Marie] Poulin that very night that I would demand his resignation,'' he said.
"We can't ask a national director who holds such a scornful attitude and who has such retrograde ideas toward Quebec to be the person who unites everyone leading toward the next election. Come on.''
Party president Marie Poulin was also quoted by the Journal de Montreal newspaper saying Carroll made a joke at the meeting and she didn't find it funny.
Another senior Quebec Liberal says party stalwart Denis Coderre was livid and also asked national headquarters to remove Carroll. Coderre refused to be interviewed.
But that senior Liberal says that the one-line crack about hiring Quebecers is only the latest cause for annoyance with Carroll, and that several key Liberals have already tried urging Dion to dump him.
He questioned Carroll's understanding of the Elections Act and bemoaned the party's woeful fundraising record.
Party sources last May said deputy leader Michael Ignatieff tried urging Dion to dump Carroll.
Although displeased with Carroll's public musings, sources said Dion indicated that he would not fire his hand-picked choice for the party's top administrative post.
Ignatieff was incensed by comments from Carroll in a new book, "Against the Current.''
In it, Carroll expressed doubts about Dion's decision to extend an olive branch to his former leadership rivals and said he loses sleep at night worrying about how they might undermine the leader.
The Tories wasted little time in joining the flock criticizing one of Dion's top lieutenants.
"Carroll made some really bizarre, eye-raising remarks. Apparently Liberals themselves find them, at best, distasteful,'' said Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney.
"He seems to be insulting two different groups at the same time, showing terribly bad judgment.
"This doesn't reflect well on Stephane Dion, who should hold this guy accountable.''
What else can you say? Michael Ignatieff, Denis Coderre, Robert Fragasso, Marie Poulin, Pablo Rodriguez -- all openly attacking Stephane Dion's judgment in allowing Jamie Carroll to remain in his role as national director.
What was that about pulling together and teamwork?
Update: An expanded version of the story of the anti-Dion revolt has been published. A new element to the story has been added:
[A] candidate who was set to run for the party called The Canadian Press without any prompting - saying he was asked to do so by a well-known Liberal - and announced he was no longer interested.
Paul Leduc, a three-term mayor of a large Montreal suburb, says that he's changed his mind about running for the Liberals and that one of the party's household names provided him with phone numbers for journalists and urged him to go public with his story.
The former Brossard mayor had been endorsed in April by the Liberals' provincial election commission to run without a contested nomination - but he said Dion kept him cooling his heels all summer.
"I never heard any news from Mr. Dion or his entourage," Leduc said.
"A leader who doesn't follow a recommendation, I call that inaction and indecision and it's a lack of respect not only for me, but also for the commission, and for members of my riding."
Leduc's decision not to run follows a similar one from astronaut Marc Garneau.
So a senior Liberal is looking for reasons to humiliate Stephane Dion, and is actively pursuing a course of action to make sure that happens.
Stephane Dion has clearly failed to unite the party. His enemies, old ones and people who have only recently decided that Stephane Dion is a liability, are trying to take him down, and are making little effort to hide that fact. Indeed, their openness exacerbates the problem for Dion. What can Stephane Dion do? A wholesale purge? Can Stephane Dion pull it off? Would he even try?
If he tries, he'll have to do it quickly, while Jamie Carroll is still the national director. It might be a matter of hours before Stephane Dion loses this key ally.
Update: Add Liberal blogger Antonio DiDomizio to the list of people demanding that Jamie Carroll be fired.
Update: Add federal Liberal National Vice-President (French) Brigitte Legault to the list of people demanding that Jamie Carroll be fired:
Brigitte Legault, the party's francophone vice-president, said she can't see how Carroll can remain the party's top manager.
"I find it inconceivable for someone to think like that," she said.
Add former Liberal cabinet minister Liza Frulla to the list of people demanding that Jamie Carroll be fired:
Liberals like former Heritage minister Liza Frulla said Dion has no choice but to fire Carroll.
"It is not only shocking, it is revolting," she said.
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Comments
yawn
Posted by: yawn at September 27, 2007 06:22 PM
Dion needs to take some serious action to stem the bleeding.
Take one of the renegade MP's, either Coderre, or Rodriguez, and then nominate someone else for their riding. Voila - you are no longer running for the Liberals. I am not sure if he is able to do that to a sitting MP, but whatever he does, the message needs to be powerful.
His detractors keep raising the stakes because there are no apparent consequences for attacking the leader.
I think the Liberals have still not fully atoned for Adscam, thus I am hardly sympathetic. Still, this is getting painful to watch.
Posted by: Concerned Torontonian at September 27, 2007 06:47 PM
Liberal are exploding, self-destructing in front of the nation. This is incredible and awesome!
Posted by: Ravinder at September 27, 2007 07:05 PM
Of course Dion could round up all his enemies and get them to agree to shut up by appointing them all to the senate....Oh what am I thinking they're not in power anymore.
Posted by: David at September 27, 2007 07:32 PM
We need an election NOW! Harper needs to come up with a Throne Speech the opposition will vote against no matter what or that will cause the Liberal MPs to revolt against Dion and vote against it.
Posted by: Ryan at September 27, 2007 07:33 PM
The infighting in the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party has to be the most entertaining soap opera of all time. It blows away the infighting of the old days of the PC Party. Even the late Dalton Camp could not have thought of this type of infighting to get rid of a leader!
If Dion wants to have a chance of saving his feeble leadership he needs to find some stones and trim the fat in the Quebec office of the party. Those plotting against him should be fired and the MPs and Senators calling him out should be suspended from caucus or at the very least removed from their critic portfolios and replaced with MP's loyal to Dion (if there are still any). He has to do this publicly and quickly or he can kiss whatever control of the party he has left goodbye, as well as any hope of not being labeled a weak leader by his opponents. Oh wait, that is already his image.
I am curious to know how the Liberal Party in the rest of Canada feels about this brewing Civil War. It can not do much to encourage them to want to fight a potential election after the Harper Government's upcoming Throne Speech that will now likely include some form of real tax break for Canadians.
Posted by: Kelly at September 27, 2007 07:36 PM
Bob Rae will be Liberal Leader by December.
Posted by: Dion ite at September 27, 2007 07:39 PM
Oh for Pete's sake -- I agree, no atonement for Adscam, I'm not sympathetic, but this is getting ridiculous. Are these people joking that they want to run the country?
Posted by: JBG at September 27, 2007 07:48 PM
Say HELLO to Iggy
Posted by: zilla at September 27, 2007 07:51 PM
Where are Kinsella and Raymaker on this ? I'm not making my mind up on this until they make it up for me.
Posted by: Gargle with salt at September 27, 2007 08:06 PM
This is ridiculous - not that I'm surprised Janke is pumping this story but lets look at motives. I personally believe there are those in LPCQ who are trying to shift blame for themselves for what happened in the by-election. Taking Carroll's commnet out of context provided them a perfect scapegoat. My rule of thumb - never trust people connected to Jean Lapierre.
What is so sad is the only thing hurt by this crap is the Liberal Party. Janke should be happy.
There are so many more important story's out here:
Monte Solberg admitting the Tories can't deliver the promised Day Care spaces and blaming the provinces even though the provinces agreed to the previous governments plan;
Stockwell Day's plan to arm border guards is going to cost a billion dollars according to Greg Weston even though there hasn't been an incident at a border crossing where a guard has needed a gun for decades;
Tom Flanagan admitting that a Tory majoriy will get rid of supply management (lets see Harper talk about this in rural Quebec);
The Tory plan to funnell advertising through candidates to bypass Elections Canada laws which allowed them to overspend in the last campaign by $1million;
Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper never accounting for their desire for Canada to be part of the Iraq war;
The complete disrespect for Climate Change science from the Tory government and Harper's siding with the world's biggest polluters against the UN;
The list goes on and this list affects my daily life. Instead everyone is wrapped up in a story that if anyone actually looked at Stephane Dion's record they would see francophone communities outside Quebec call the commitment of the federal government to bilingualism, 'The Dion Plan'.
It's time to debate issues and put the personal shit behind us. Janke is a great defender of Tory policy and I respect him for that but lets leave the personal bullshit for Frank Magazine.
Posted by: calmdown at September 27, 2007 08:10 PM
Finally, someone who can criticize me in a coherent, fact-based manner, without calling me names or threatening to sue (indeed slipping in a couple of kind words). Thanks, calmdown. Please come by again.
Posted by: Steve Janke at September 27, 2007 08:20 PM
Calmdown, you need to actually calm down. This story was broken by the Canadian Press, not Janke. The story was run because the reporter got a phone call from a "Potential Liberal Candidate in Quebec", not Janke. The root of the story resulted from 4 people who attended the meeting calling the press, not Janke. It is newsworthy because the press loves to see blood being spilled in a political party. When the MSM was raking the Conservatives over the coals a few years back you would not have been complaining.
The other things you talk about are also being reported, but have no legs because your party's infighting is far more interesting to the general public and most certainly to Bloggers.
Posted by: Kelly at September 27, 2007 08:25 PM
I don't get what the entire hubub is about (from the Liberal side)... the comment seems pretty innocuous. Why are the members in such a state of frenzy?
Guess some things I'll never quite get
Posted by: Ivan at September 27, 2007 08:28 PM
Uh, thanks for the propaganda, c-d, but no thanks. If we wanted to hear tripe we'd join one of your fiberal websites!! OK?
Oh, and get a dictionary-
"There are so many more important story's out here:"
We LIKE to discuss your troubles!!!
Posted by: Larry at September 27, 2007 08:30 PM
The dangerous part about this insurrection within the Liberal sewer is that, when these sewer rats succeed in dumping(pun intended) Dion, they will then trumpet that all the slime has been cleansed from the Liberal Party and they are shiny clean again--a new Party that is safe to vote for yadayadayada.
We all know that the party is corrupt and Dion is only a small part of it. As long as there is one of them left it will be ever thus.
Posted by: George at September 27, 2007 08:36 PM
I'm afraid Larry is right calmdown, we do like hearing about the LPC imploding, in fact it makes my day! If you don't like it, well there's lots of other news out there. Why doncha just buy some beer and popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show?
Posted by: kelly at September 27, 2007 09:33 PM
“Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper never accounting for their desire for Canada to be part of the Iraq war …”
Who wrote the following?:
«A year ago, I was a reluctant yet convinced supporter of the war in Iraq. A year later, the weapons of mass destruction haven't turned up, Iraqis are being blown up on their way to the mosque, democracy is postponed till next year and my friends are all asking me if I have second thoughts. Who wouldn't have? …
... We seem not even to recognize freedom when we see it: Shiites by the hundreds of thousands walking barefoot to celebrate in the holy city of Karbala, Iraqis turning up at town meetings and trying out democracy for the first time, newspapers and free media sprouting everywhere, daily demonstrations in the streets. If freedom is the only goal that redeems all the dying, there is more real freedom in Iraq than at any time in its history. And why should we suppose that freedom will be anything other than messy, chaotic, even frightening? Why should we be surprised that Iraqis are using their freedom to tell us to go home? Wouldn't we do just the same?»
Michael Ignatieff, in a NYT article in March 2004.
After he became a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party, Mr. Ignatieff tried to distance himself from his previous support of the Iraq war in another NYT Aug. 2007 article entitled "Getting Iraq Wrong."
Day, Harper, AND Ignatieff made their decisions with the information they had AT THE TIME. Like the proverbial Monday morning QB, the three of them might have made different decisions knowing what they know now.
Posted by: Gabby in QC at September 27, 2007 10:13 PM
They seek him here, they seek him there
They seek him everywhere
Is he in Heaven?
Is he in Hell?
That damned elusive Pimp…er…Lieberal
Posted by: Bernie at September 27, 2007 10:42 PM
Shall we start a DION DEATH WATCH thread, because what we are witnessing is the pathetic attempts by some in the Liberal party to rid themselves of Dion's leadersnip.
Will Dion fight because those detractors in the Liberal party underestimate him ... or will Dion roll over and flee the country, perhaps retiring to France to join pal Pettigrew..??
Ah .. as the worm turns .. LOL
Posted by: Observer at September 27, 2007 11:17 PM
Calmdown has a long wishlist of what he would like to see the Tories do,but that ain't happenin' buddy! We're not that stupid. Take your lumps and what for the election!
Posted by: Louise at September 28, 2007 12:46 AM
Okay okay guys, everyone calm down. As Steve said, calmdown should be respected because he came here and made his point without ad hominen attacks or otherwise insulting anyone.
That being said, I disagree on the border issue. Having lived in a major border town for several years there wasn't a month that went by when we weren't reminded in terrible ways the dangers of lax border enforcement. Knowing several border guards as I do, (both professional and the students that they hire) the issue of arming the guards is incredibly common-sense.
Guards currently do not 'need' guns because their rule of thumb is 'if you think the traveler is packing, let them through'. Most security at the border is ridiculous anyways, I've crossed without even been required to show ID!
While arming the guards may not solve all these problems it is a necessary first step in order to empower security at the border to be able to defend themselves if necessary and be willing to enforce the laws without fear of finding themselves outgunned. At the very least, it removes this excuse for their inaction.
Posted by: southernontarioan at September 28, 2007 02:01 AM
I love every second of it. To so the Liberals self-destroy is a Christmas gift three months ahead of time. It does look like 1988 again when liberals were revolting against John Turner. Being a Quebecker, I never understood the logic behind the selection of Dion as a leader. Whatever he does, he will never be liked either in Quebec or anywhere else for that matter. I agree with the others, the PM should call an election before the liberals kick Dion off.
Posted by: Martin at September 28, 2007 05:27 AM
Geez Calmdown, you had me at "hello", but then you lost me when you cited the Tory's alleged 'complete disrespect for Climate Change science.' You claim to wish to debate the issues, but according to your post, on climate change it's a done deal, the science is settled, no more debate required. Sorry, ain't gonna happen. But the gist of your post is well taken.
Posted by: Phil in Ottawa at September 28, 2007 07:06 AM
Any poop that gets out to air from within the Liberal Den is always billed as someone else's fault, the scapegoat principle. Never could Coderre, Rodriguez, Kinsilly or anyone else attack another in the fold, ya, right.
The Liberals are imploding and it's difficult to ignore, we're dealing with the brutality of politics here, it's not for the weak-kneed wimps.
The Liberals are good at begging for mercy and civility but don't practice it themselves.
Posted by: Libby at September 28, 2007 08:02 AM
Chinese-Quebeckers, sure...as long as they're ALSO female, pregnant, lesbian, handicapped and speak Cree as a third language.
Posted by: Feldwebel Wolfenstool at September 28, 2007 08:56 AM
Let the border guards borrow a single-shot .410, from a locker at work, and make them buy their own bird licences and shells...there, I just saved a billion dollars...
Posted by: Feldwebel Wolfenstool at September 28, 2007 09:05 AM
desert sand...cacti dotting the landscape...a scorpion scurries under a rock...vultures circling in the sky above...the silhouette of a thin, little man on his knees pathetically crying with an annoying accent "It's not my fault!"
Posted by: PlaidShirt at September 28, 2007 11:15 AM
Watching Dion's leadership unravel is like watching a car wreck in slow motion as it is happening.
Posted by: Brian in Calgary at September 28, 2007 11:37 AM
Wonder how His Largeness,Sir Michael of Duffy will spin this? One of his favorites, Denis Coderre will be involved no doubt, Duffy apologized to Coderre for something he said.
Posted by: Libby at September 28, 2007 02:50 PM
These comments are fairly innocuous. The media devises their product through 'blood in the water' reporting maintained by iterative feeding frenzies. It is interesting to see that frenzy pointed in a leftward direction. That's a rare event anywhere in the North America.
Posted by: iowavette at September 28, 2007 04:36 PM
Wouldn't it just be easier to make a list of people NOT asking for Jamie Carroll to be fired? Just a suggestion.
Posted by: Paul MacPhail at October 1, 2007 03:39 AM
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