I noticed this interesting blog post.  Apparently, Joan Beatty was preparing to jump ship to the federal Liberal Party even as the provincial NDP was footing the bill for her successful campaign to sit in the Saskatchewan legislature:

During my last post, I spoke about how I usually don't talk about rumours, and as a result, I had not spoken about the rumours of Saskatchewan NDP MLA Joan Beatty running for the Liberals in the current by-election in that province. Well, now it's official, and now is the time to comment. First of all, this news didn't come as a shock to me, as I had been told by two very well placed Saskatchewan New Democrats back at the beginning of December that not only was Ms. Beatty going to run for the Liberals, but that some of her staffers were actually working on Liberal campaigns during the Saskatchewan Provincial Election that just happened. Given what I already knew, I had time to gather myself and collect my thoughts over this.

Assume that Peterborough Politics has accurate information.  He's an NDP blogger, so he's more likely to get accurate information than me.

That means even as Joan Beatty was using the NDP to get a nice cushy seat in the Saskatchewan legislature, she was scoring points with the federal Liberals by showing herself to be a potential asset for the Grits.

That would be the most negative interpretation, of course, but then right now Joan Beatty is surrounded by negatives.

But if what this blogger has posted is true, it suggests not only that Stephane Dion and Ralph Goodale were working to get Joan Beatty to run for the Liberals, which is no surprise, but that Joan Beatty herself was working towards that end nearly three months ago.

It would seem like David Orchard and John Dorion, the two Liberals who were doggedly signing up members for a nomination contest, were wasting their time.

Stephane Dion, Ralph Goodale, and Joan Beatty were actively engaged in preparing for her jump to the federal Liberals even as she pretended to be a loyal candidate for the provincial NDP.

Meanwhile, some Liberals have formally called for Joan Beatty to be removed as a candidate:

The head of a Saskatchewan Liberal party riding association yesterday called for the appointment of Joan Beatty as a candidate to be rescinded. Federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion named Ms. Beatty, the first aboriginal female elected to the Saskatchewan legislature and appointed to Cabinet, to the riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River about two weeks ago. In a letter to Mr. Dion, Marcel Head, chief of Shoal Lake First Nation, called for respect "toward a democratic process."

Head has nothing against Joan Beatty running for the Liberal nomination.  But having a nomination contest is now more important than ever.  As a potential Liberal Party candidate, Joan Beatty is likely to have to answer some questions about just how committed she is to the Liberal Party, as opposed to being committed to Joan Beatty.

These are questions Stephane Dion and Ralph Goodale desperately do not want asked.  Because if a suspicion evolves that Joan Beatty has loyalty issues, issues that ultimately ruin her nomination hopes in a fair race, then questions would be raised about the judgment they exercised in this whole mess.

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