Things got very ugly in Quebec last week for Stephane Dion.  Senior Liberals were complaining that the party had not nominated nearly enough candidates, and that potential star candidates were being lost because of inaction.

Not so, said Stephane Dion and his Quebec lietenant, Celine Hervieux-Payette:

Federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion on Friday dismissed the notion his troops are not ready for a spring election, confirming the party has nearly completed its roster of candidates.

With Conservative MP Lawrence Cannon announcing the Tories have already chosen 68 candidates for the province - out of 75 ridings - the Liberals said they have 50 identified candidates and another 12 waiting in the wings for an election call.

The 12 have not been announced because they are working in other jobs and wish to remain discreet for now.

"We are well advanced," Dion said one day after re-asserting his leadership by calling on the party to show more discipline. "We have excellent candidates in many regions of Quebec. If an election was to happen, we would be ready."

"There are only a few ridings to fill and often it is because we have three or four candidates on the list," added his Quebec lieutenant, Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette, on hand for a Dion news conference following a meeting with cultural groups.

Fifty, eh?  Then how do you explain this?

The federal Liberals went to court Wednesday in a bid to block a Montreal newspaper from publishing a list of party candidates lined up to run in Quebec.

The party fears some of its star candidates won't run in the next election if their names are prematurely disclosed by Montreal's La Presse.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Wednesday that some candidates don't want their names revealed until an election is actually called. He noted that all parties hold back some candidates' names until the election writ is dropped.

His Quebec lieutenant, Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette, said some would-be candidates are professionals and public office holders who can't announce their candidacies without jeopardizing their current jobs And she said some have told her they won't run if their names are prematurely leaked.

"I spoke to some of them this morning. Yes, I am worried and they are worried and I had to reassure them," said Hervieux-Payette.

The list of candidates has been closely guarded and Hervieux-Payette did not hide her annoyance that someone, presumably at a senior level of the party, has leaked it to the media. She stopped short, however, of calling it sabotage.

Last week, Hervieux-Payette said the Liberals have nominated candidates in about 50 of Quebec's 75 ridings and another 12 are ready to go once an election is called.

However, the list obtained by La Presse, dated March 26, reportedly shows the party has candidates in only about half the ridings in the province.

Half?  That doesn't sound right at all.  Well, the Liberals have decided not to fight La Presse on this:

The federal Liberals have suddenly dropped a bid to block a Montreal newspaper from publishing a list of party candidates lined up to run in Quebec.

After a brief meeting with lawyers for Montreal La Presse, lawyer Frederic Masse announced in court the Liberals were dropping the matter.

"This list was officially prepared for the Liberal Party of Canada," Mr. Masse said in court Wednesday.

The Liberals left it up to La Presse whether to publish the list.

Former Liberal cabinet minister Jean Lapierre, who watched the court hearing, said the episode illustrates the level of distrust within Liberal ranks.

The party went to court saying it feared some of its star candidates would not run in the next election if their names were prematurely disclosed by Montreal's La Presse.

Clearly the Liberals did not want this list published or else they would not have been so overly dramatic.  And there might be some surprises on the list, either in the names that appear or with the size of the list.

But what is really interesting is that the list was leaked in the first place. It is a slap in the face of Stephane Dion.  Consider what happened over the last week.  Right after the Quebec Liberals explode with public criticisms of Stephane Dion, Dion tells the press that the Quebec wing of the party is united.  He tells Quebec Liberals that they need the "will to win".  He slaps down Quebec Liberal (and Michael Ignatieff supporter) Denis Coderre by shuffling him down the shadow cabinet, seen by most as a veiled warning to other malcontents.

And what happens?

Someone senior in the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party sends a sensitive list of candidates to the media, a list that could potentially prove to be a serious embarrassment to Stephane Dion, as well as damage efforts by the Quebec Liberals to organize a successful campaign.

Liberals have to consider this carefully.  Stephane Dion comes in, throws his weight around, does his best to act like a leader, and this is what he gets for his trouble -- a deliberate and intentional act by someone with access to the most sensitive material designed to undercut everything he had done.

Maybe it's not fair.  Maybe it's not Stephane Dion's fault.  But does anyone seriously believe Stephane Dion can do anything to turn things around?

As it turns out, the list was not a leaked document after all:

The federal Liberals have suddenly dropped a bid to block a Montreal newspaper from publishing a list of party candidates lined up to run in Quebec.

After a brief meeting with lawyers for Montreal La Presse, lawyer Frederic Masse announced in court the Liberals were dropping the matter.

"This list was not officially prepared for the Liberal Party of Canada," Mr. Masse said in court Wednesday.

The Liberals left it up to La Presse whether to publish the list.

Former Liberal cabinet minister Jean Lapierre, who watched the court hearing, said the episode illustrates the level of distrust within Liberal ranks.

Clearly when the Liberal Party was asked for comment about the candidate list, the accuracy of the list was such that officials assumed that it must have come from within the office.

And so the Liberals went nuts.  Perhaps understandably so.  I mean, it certainly looked like a leak, right?

But the source of the leak had to be at the most senior levels of the Quebec wing.  Wouldn't that have been reason enough to keep calm? 

Apparently not.  With the Liberal Party in the state it is, there is no betrayal that seems unlikely or unthinkable. 

That's rather sad.

Addendum: Amusingly, La Presse could have fudged up the contents of the list in order to protect itself.  Or more likely, the Liberal mole could have.  In other words, slip in a mistake or two, and so make it seem that the list was not sourced from within Liberal party headquarters.

Not that I'm trying to wind up the Liberals or anything like that.

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