Angry in the Great White North

When it was learned that a top secret list of Quebec candidates for the Liberal Party had been leaked to La Presse, Stephane Dion and Celine Hervieux-Payette sprung into action.

A court injunction prevented publication of the names, while the Liberal Party took action to permanently seal the list:

The episode started on Tuesday night when reporters from Montreal's La Presse contacted Liberal officials about a list of potential candidates the paper had obtained. The party sought an injunction to stop publication and the newspaper agreed it would not print the information until a judge could hear arguments yesterday.

The party sought the injunction because it was concerned for the privacy of some of the individuals, arguing their careers could be harmed if it became known that they were considering running for office.

"There is a possibility La Presse would have in their hands the name of personalities who may want to run for us or who have decided to run for us but who do not want that to be known for very legitimate reasons," Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said.

The episode seemed to end when it was realized that the list was one constructed by the journalist, using publicly available information, and not a top secret Liberal Party document after all:

However, Liberal lawyer Frederic Masse told The Globe the party dropped the effort yesterday afternoon after requesting and seeing a copy of the list the paper had.

"The list that they have is not even the list of the party," he said. "It is a document that has no, in our perspective, no importance." He said the party was in no way attempting to prevent journalists from doing their job.

End of story, right?

Not quite.

Apparently, there is going to be an accounting of what happened.  Stephane Dion and Celine Hervieux-Payette are in the cross hairs.

Quebec-wing Liberal Party president Robert Fragasso is convening the the senior leadership of the Quebec wing.  Hervieux-Payette is going to be asked to explain herself:

The president of the Quebec wing of the party (PLCQ), Robert Fragasso, intends to convene members of the board tomorrow.  He wants to get clarification on the request for injunction presented late Tuesday night at the courthouse in Montreal, an initiative of [Celine  Hervieux-Payette].

The episode caused discomfort in the Liberal ranks. Subjected to criticism and ridicule by their political opponents throughout the day, several members expressed their dissatisfaction.

According to sources, the president was furious to learn of the decision of Ms. Hervieux-Payette.

"We are going to ask for explanations. We are going to get them.  The rest is governance," he said.

And Robert Fragasso is also mad at Stephane Dion.  Why?  Because Stephane Dion is trying to put the blame for this fiasco on Fragasso!

"[The] fear of Ms. Hervieux-Payette was that there are names of people who do not want it revealed that they are considering or have decided to campaign for us," [Stephane Dion] said upon leaving the weekly meeting of his party caucus.

When asked who authorized this injunction, Mr. Dion replied, "It is the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party."

Robert Fragrasso did not hesitate to contradict.

"With all due respect to the leader, it is simple to read the action. The plaintiff is clearly the Liberal Party of Canada," he declared.

Nice try on the part of Stephane Dion to shift the blame.  If he commanded any loyalty from Liberals in Quebec, he might have gotten away with it.  Loyal Liberals might be happy to take the blame and protect their leader.

But not these Liberals and not for this leader.

It'll be interesting to see if there are further consequences.  Perhaps another shake-up?