Hold on to your seats.  Stephane Dion is about to be ejected from the Liberal Party:

Federal Liberals from Quebec will move to show Stephane Dion the door if he doesn't give up leadership of the party on his own, Sun Media has learned.

Former Liberal candidate Pierre-Luc Bellerose, who ran for the party in Joliette, northeast of Montreal, said dissatisfied members will begin the process to revoke Dion's party membership if he doesn't quit as Liberal leader.

"The pressure for him to resign is getting increasingly stronger," Bellerose explained. "The means we see to this end are drastic, but we hope that he'll get the message and leave of his own accord."

Should Dion fail to heed this warning, Bellerose has threatened to invoke Article 3.7.1 of the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party's statutes and regulations to force him to resign.

Here is what 3.7.1 of the Liberal Party constitution for the Quebec wing actually says:

3.7.1 Upon a written request setting forth reasons from at least twenty-five (25) members in good standing of a Constituency Association or one hundred (100) members of the General Council, the Board of Directors of the LPC(Q) may suspend or remove a member with justifiable cause, after notice and a hearing, in accordance with the rules of natural justice.

So Bellerose needs to line up 125 Liberals behind him, and not just some rank-and-file Liberals, but ranking Liberals.

Needless to say, Liberal bloggers are, by and large, chortling with dismissive derision.  James Curran, a Liberal blogger for whom I have a lot of respect for, sums it up nicely, if rather bluntly, in a comment he left on another blog:

I'll tell you who [Bellerose] is. A quitter. That's who. He never ran in Joliette. He was a candidate that quit. He's a vile little puke that should be the first of many to be kicked to the curb.

OK, James, but what do you really think?

OK, so maybe Bellerose is an attention-seeking troublemaker.

But that doesn't mean he's not a threat.

In fact, certain people in the party might make use of someone like Bellerose:

[Bellerose] said his strategy is supported by a number of influential members of the party, along with a dozen riding association presidents and a few elected MPs from across Quebec.

Maybe Bellerose is exaggerating, but then if he was, why not say he's got the 125 members already lined up.

Regardless, if I was Stephane Dion or one of his supporters, I would not be so quick to glibly dismiss Bellerose.  He might be exactly the sort of hot-head who loves the spotlight needed by a serious Liberal player working in the shadows.  Someone who needs to test the waters, to see if a proposal to get rid of Dion can get any traction.

Indeed, if it turns out that a nutter like Bellerose is being taken seriously, it would suggest that a lot of people in the Liberal Party are looking for any excuse to get rid of Dion.

In that case, our shadowy figure could step forward, toss Bellerose to the side, and make a move against Dion, knowing he's got a constituency within the party backing him.

On the other hand, if Bellerose is ignored, then only Bellerose takes a hit, and our figure remains in the shadows, biding his time.

I don't know whether Bellerose is credible or not, or if there is some group of senior Liberals using him to further their own agenda, or even if Bellerose knows he is being used.

In fact, it is quite possible that Bellerose really did start this move on his own, and that his actions will be usurped by other Liberals in the party if it turns out that Bellerose's idea takes off in some way.

Hey, for all I know, the NDP is surreptitiously egging Bellerose on.

The point is that this not just about Bellerose.  Supporters of Stephan Dion ought to be careful about focusing on Bellerose exclusively.  In all likelihood, that's exactly what some people want them to do.  For them, Bellerose's job is to be the distraction, giving them cover as they decide what to do next, and furthering their own goals without putting them at risk if their plot falls apart.

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