From the Globe and Mail early this morning, news that John Manley is being proposed as a candidate for the role of the UN's Afghanistan super-envoy:

The federal government is floating the name of former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley as the United Nations' new “super envoy” to co-ordinate aid and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Sources have told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Manley is being suggested as a replacement for former British politician Paddy Ashdown, who was originally nominated for the job. Mr. Manley is the recent chair of a panel that recommended Canadian troops remain in Afghanistan, but only if NATO is able to come up with 1,000 more troops, as well as helicopters and unmanned aircraft.

In the rush to get this story to print, John Manley did not provide a response.  Of course, since the story was printed at 2am, it is likely that Manley was asleep.  But the paper reprinted the certainty that Manley was onboard:

Sources said it would be unheard of for the government to have suggested Mr. Manley without the former deputy prime minister's approval.

It was unclear whether the government has broached the idea with the UN. Mr. Manley was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

“He would have to give his nod to have his name floated,” said a source.

Well, apparently the Globe and Mail ought to have waited.  The Ottawa Citizen has gotten in touch with John Manley, and he's pouring cold water all over the story:

Former Canadian deputy prime minister John Manley on Wednesday denied a newspaper report that said he was a candidate to be the United Nations' new "super envoy" for Afghanistan.

The Globe and Mail, citing unspecified sources, said Ottawa was floating Manley's name as a replacement for Britain's Paddy Ashdown, whose appointment was vetoed last month by President Hamid Karzai.

"All I would say is that I am not a candidate and I have not consented to my government advocating for me to take on this responsibility," Manley told Reuters.

Interestingly, John Manley did not say he wouldn't take the job.  All he's saying is that he hasn't given his permission to anyone to suggest him for the job. 

For all we know, he has since been officially asked if he's interested, and he's indicated that he is, and we're back to the story in the Globe and Mail.  Or maybe not.  In any case, that's speculation and not news.

So either the source was dead wrong about the whole thing, or a random thought ("Hey, what about Manley?") was misconstrued as a plan of action, or the story is essentially true but events haven't progressed as far as the Globe and Mail was led to believe, or Manley was approached and then shot down the idea, but the source didn't know that.

We'll know in a few hours, one way or the other.  If it turns out that John Manley is not interested, the Liberals have avoided yet another irritant.  To have a Liberal of John Manley's stature taking appointments on the recommendation of the Conservative government would be yet another embarrassment.

Which makes one wonder if the "sources" talking to the Globe and Mail were Liberals and not Conservatives, having heard of the impending news, and working a plan to derail Manley's appointment before it even happened.

Nah, that's just too nutty.  Still, this sort of leak, that is, an inaccurate leak, seems so uncharacteristic for the highly disciplined communications environment run by the Conservatives.

Nope, still sounds too weird to be true.

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