In a display of arrogance that beggars the imagination, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, being pushed and prodded by Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale, caved into pressure and made the decision that the Liberals of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River could not be trusted to select their own candidate.

In order to make sure the correct candidate would run for the Liberals in the riding, Stephane Dion cancelled the nomination contest, and appointed Joan Beatty to be the candidate.  Joan Beatty is not even a Liberal, but an NDP MLA who was elected to represent a provincial riding that overlaps Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River for the provincial NDP two months ago.

The NDP in Saskatchewan form the opposition, and Beatty has said that she would run for any party who might get her power, instead of representing the interests of the people who actually cast votes for her if it means languishing in the useless role of an opposition MLA under the losing banner of the NDP.

I'm paraphrasing a bit.

In doing so, Stephane Dion has insulted the NDP, the Liberals, the people of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, and David Orchard.  Orchard is the populist who brought 150 delegates to Stephane Dion in the leadership convention, a move that gave Dion the momentum he needed to win the leadership of the party.

All those insults have added up, and local Liberals in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River have decided to ignore Stephane Dion and trust their own people to decide what it best for them:

Some Saskatchewan Liberals say they're insulted by party leader Stephane Dion's appointment of an NDP defector to run in the upcoming federal byelection so they're planning to elect their own candidate.

Jimmy Durocher, a past president of the Metis Association of Saskatchewan, is helping to organize an "emergency meeting" Saturday to choose a new Liberal executive in the riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River and to set a date for a democratic nomination meeting.

He said Dion's decision to appoint former provincial MLA Joan Beatty is undemocratic.

"The concern is they're short-circuiting the democratic process that we hold so very dearly as people from northern Saskatchewan," he said.

The response from Stephane Dion?  You can't do that!

A spokesperson for Dion said there is no legal means to create an alternative Liberal association in the riding and pointed out that the leader, under the Liberal constitution, is empowered to appoint candidates if he so chooses.

I'm no sure that Stephane Dion and Ralph Goodale actually get it.  David Orchard is a populist.  That means he and his people have no time for constitutions and powers attributed to leaders and other members of the elite.  By definition, populists live to fight against exactly this sort of thing.  David Orchard has no love for the Liberal Party.  He says as much on his website:

Following his split with the Reform Conservatives, Orchard says he was courted by the other political parties, but concluded that the one best situated to defeat the Conservatives and form a government in Canada was the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party is a means to an end.  That end is to defeat the Conservatives.  If David Orchard believes that under Stephane Dion's leadership, the Liberals will fail in that mission, then David Orchard will work to defeat Stephane Dion so that someone else can take over who can get the job done.

If Stephane Dion has managed to get himself on David Orchard's bad side, then talking about the powers of the leader is just a way of further infuriating Orchard and his people. 

David Orchard would have no qualms about cleaving the Liberal Party into two -- the elites versus the people -- and then leading the fight of the people against the elite.

Or perhaps Orchard will lead the people somewhere else.  Maybe to the NDP?  There would be some poetic justice in that, leaving ex-NDP Joan Beatty behind with her new elite Liberal friends.

This is turning uglier by the hour.

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