It is one of those oddball situations that makes you wonder is Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is even remotely qualified to be prime minister.

It is also the second time potential women candidates have been treated rather dismissively by the Liberal Party.

In Saskatchewan, there is a nomination controversy brewing.  David Orchard is poised to win the nomination for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, but the word is that Stephane Dion is going to appoint a woman nominee, Joan Beatty, in keeping with his goal of fielding a slate of 33% women candidates.

The problem is that Joan Beatty is a member of the Saskatchewan NDP, and has said she is not committed to switching parties:

Stéphane Dion's hope of appointing a provincial NDP politician as the Liberal candidate for an expected federal by-election in Saskatchewan is angering supporters of one of his key leadership organizers, David Orchard.

The battle over who will carry the Liberal banner in a vast northern Saskatchewan riding has developed into a power struggle pitting MP Ralph Goodale, the party's strong man in the province, against Mr. Orchard, the prominent farm activist who twice ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives.

Mr. Orchard has been campaigning heavily for the Liberal nomination in the riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, but Mr. Dion is seriously considering overriding the nomination race to appoint NDP MLA Joan Beatty as the candidate, Liberal sources said.

However, Ms. Beatty said yesterday that she has not decided whether she will run in the by-election, and even if she does, she hasn't yet chosen between the Liberals and the NDP.

She might still switch, of course, and perhaps that decision will be made easier if Stephane Dion bribes her with a nomination.

But to have this confusion publicized?  That puts Beatty in a difficult position, since there is now little doubt that she knows she could avoid a nomination battle by going with the Liberals.  Not quite a bribe, but certainly an enticement, and the sort of thing that could haunt Beatty during an election campaign.  Switching to the Liberals from the NDP is baggage enough.

It is the sort of thing an angry David Orchard could use against her if he decided to act as spoiler in order to exact some revenge for having been denied the chance to run as a candidate.

This suggests that the chaos that beset the Liberals in October continues to be a problem.  In October, the Liberals recommended that Liza Frulla be the candidate in LaSalle-Emard in Quebec.  The problem was that no one had checked with Liza Frulla:

Adding to the chaos, the Quebec wing 's electoral commission, worried about losing key ridings, decided this week to recommend the party name former heritage minister Liza Frulla as the Liberal candidate for LaSalle-Emard, Marc Bruneau as the candidate for Westmount-Ville Marie and Brigitte Garceau as the candidate for the Verdun-area riding of Jeanne LeBer.

However, Ms. Frulla says nobody asked her first and she says she has no intention of being a candidate at this time.

"I almost died," said Ms. Frulla, adding the first she heard of it was on the radio yesterday morning.

That's two occasions when women were essentially announced as candidates for Stephane Dion's Liberals, and twice Liberals have been tripped up as a result.

Stephane Dion thinks reserving 33% of the Liberal Party slate for women is a gesture of respect.  Perhaps actually talking to these women before telling everyone else where they'll be running would be more respectful.

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