Francis Chartrand runs two blogs related to his candidacy, once in English and one in French.

On his blog, immediately after he was dumped as a candidate, he posted an entry about how he was treated shabbily by an undemocratic NDP.  He took issue with the reason he was dropped, and that was that he had made comments inconsistent with the NDP message.  He promised to reveal more at a press conference.

Then the blog went under a wild series of gyrations.  A new post appeared in which Chartrand said that he himself had decided to quit as candidate, everything was fine, and he wanted to help the wonderful NDP in other ways.

Then both posts disappeared, then one post, then the other, re-appeared.  Then disappeared.  Then the angry post re-appeared, followed by two entirely new posts declaring that the blog had been hijacked.

You can follow the wild ride in this series on Francis Chartrand.

Well, things have changed yet again.  And in a direction I would not have expected.

A reader from Francis Chartrand's home town sent me a link to an online article.  Apparently the weird story of Francis Chartrand is the subject of a great deal of debate in the area, and many people are quite upset. 

Well, Chartrand has not done anything to settle things.  According to this article, Francis Chartrand all but accuses the NDP of hacking his blog. 

Here is the original French text:

M. Chartrand affirme que ses deux blogues ont été piratés; sa déclaration ayant été retirée contre son gré et remplacée par une autre dont il n’est pas l’auteur. «Je ne peux plus y avoir accès. Je n’ai pas démissionné, j’ai réellement appris par les médias que le parti m’avait tassé», soutient-il.

À savoir si cette mésentente nuira au NPD lors des prochaines élections, c’est à voir. «Je ne sais pas si toute cette histoire nous nuira ou nous aidera lors de la prochaine élection, mais il est de notre devoir de présenter quelque chose de cohérent, croit M. Guardia. Ce sera à l’électorat de décider.»

And now the English translation:

Mr. Chartrand says that his two blogs were hijacked; his statement had been removed against his will and replaced by another which he is not the author.  "I can no longer have access to it.  I have not resigned, I really learned from the media that the party packed me," he says.

Whether this disagreement hurt the NDP in the upcoming elections remains to be seen.  "I do not know if this story hurt us or help us in the next election, but it is our duty to present something coherent," said [Quebec election NDP planning committee co-chair Raymond Guardia].  "It will be up to the electorate to decide."

OK, so according to Francis Chartrand, he was dumped by the NDP.  He did not quit.  Moreover, he says he was not party to the decision, nor was he told ahead of time.  Instead, the NDP made the decision, announced it to the press, and Chartrand only learned of it when the press contacted him for a reaction.

Just as described in the "angry" post.  So the angry post was accurate. 

So what about the post that stated that Chartrand quit of his own accord and that everything was fine?  Chartrand is suggesting that someone else posted that entry.  Presumably someone who did not want the NDP to suffer bad press.

If that second version was the hacked version, does that mean the hacker is working for the NDP?

Recall that the blog ends with these three posts:

• The angry "I was dumped" post
• A post with the title "Merry Christmas, Raymond Guardia"
• A post with the title "This blog has been hijacked.  Merry Christmas, Mr Chartrand."

I originally thought the two "hacker posts" were posted by Francis Chartrand as a way of providing plausible deniability, laying the groundwork for a denial for posting anything on the blog that could have gotten him in trouble.

But now I see them in an entirely different light.  If Chartrand is sticking to his angry version, then he posted the two hacker posts.  Those two appeared at the same time as the angry post was re-posted.  Only Chartrand is interested in sticking to the angry version of events.

So Francis Chartrand takes control back of his blog.  He removes the NDP-friendly version of the story of the end of his candidacy (a fabrication posted by the hacker), then re-posts the angry (and presumably truthful) version.  Then he sends a message to the hacker, NDP committee chair Raymond Guardia, to tell Guardia that Chartrand knows (or suspects) who was behind the changes.  Finally, he poisons the blog by announcing that it has been hacked in an attempt to keep it from being used by the NDP hacker in the future, and to tell readers that the confusion was due to the hacker, and that the record has now been set straight.

This is just supposition, but this addition to the story shows just how dysfunctional the NDP has become in this one part of Quebec.

Check out other entries from the Francis Chartrand category
Results will open in a new window.