Yeah, Garth Turner.  What can you say that hasn't been said already.

The Liberal MP who represents the people of Halton.  And how are they being represented?  To put it in the simplest terms possible, badly.

Very, very badly.  On their behalf, as their MP, he has insulted the people of Quebec and Alberta.

But let Garth Turner, alleged communications guru, explain it himself:

In case you missed it, I’m in trouble again. On Friday afternoon I began receiving lots of emails in French from folks in Quebec telling me what I could do with myself, and what they’d like to do to my sister. That co-mingled with messages from Albertans reminding me that they have the oil and we have the problem. I did some battle on the radio, on Charles Adler’s rant, with people in the oilpatch who think this climate change talk is crap. And, just to cap things off, Stephane Dion called and chewed me out.

Yeah, it's hard to spot, but there is an apology in there.  I know, a proper apology does not include veiled insults at the people you've insulted, but this comes back to just what an ass Garth Turner is.

The issue is a single sentence in my last post in which I drew comparisons between those who wish to separate from Canada, whether they live in Quebec or Alberta. I called such separatists, who put regional and self-interest ahead of the national cause, “self-aggrandizing, hostile, me-first, greedy, macho, selfish and balkanizing.”

OK, let's be clear.  The actual sentence includes a word that he missed in this ersatz apology.  That word is loser:

As for Dion, he will move from Calgary to Edmonton, where he’s to have an open, Town Hall meeting on his climate change plan. You might not agree with everything the man says, but you have to admire this about him. He stood up once to the self-aggrandizing, hostile, me-first, greedy, macho, selfish and balkanizing separatist losers in Quebec. I guess he can do it again in Alberta.

Right.  Just to be clear.  Garth Turner also called them losers. 

Separatists?  Well, not just sovereigntists who want to dismember the country.  In his apology, he lumps these with anyone who puts regional issues ahead of national ones. 

Funny, but I thought that's they way the federal government worked.  MPs representing local interests at the federal level, with the combination and compromise making national policy.  Indeed, local interests keeping the federal government from acting in extremes.

In fact, perhaps Garth Turner doesn't understand this point.  There is no such thing as a national government in Canada.  There is a federal government in which regional representatives and blocs of representatives work together and at odds to drive federal actions.  The federal government emerges out of the regional level. 

But Garth Turner seems to think he works for a national government, like this was France or something.  Honestly, sometimes it's so hard to understand exactly what he's saying.

[Additional Context: In the Canadian context, the phrase "national government" has been used to describe all-party coalitions that attempted to govern during both world wars.  No serious discussion of Canadian politics would see the use of the phrase "national government" to describe the federal government.  The terms are not interchangeable.]

This is a communications guru?

So, why should I even try to justify my words? My attempt to show the Liberal leader has the stones to face down those who think of themselves first, and the country second – no matter where they hail from – succeeded only in making his task more difficult. That was not my intention.

Not his intention?  What did he think was going to happen?  This wasn't a slip of a tongue during an interview.  This was a deliberate choice of words in an article that he could have easily considered, reconsidered, and then rewritten.

I ask again.  This is a communications guru?

Nor do I have anything but respect for my fellow citizens in Quebec and Alberta.

Funny way to show respect.  You know.  The "loser" thing. 

But you know who the real loser is? 

It isn't Garth Turner, though he comes in a close second.

It's his boss, Stephane Dion.  Why?

Stephane Dion's decision to take Garth Turner in as an MP has come back to haunt him exactly the way people warned him it would.

Stephane Dion's choice of Garth Turner as his communications guru has turned into a disaster.  A communicator is supposed to deliver the news, not be the news.

Stephane Dion is about to face Albertans at the Calgary Stampede to sell them on the idea of a carbon tax that will likely hobble their provincial economy, and his communication guru just called them losers.  Way to prep the audience!

Finally, and this is a big one.  Garth Turner still has his blog!  I can't emphasize this enough.  If Stephane Dion wanted to impress people as a leader, he could do worse than tell Garth Turner to shut down his blog or leave the Liberal caucus.  Stephen Harper had the guts and the foresight to do just that, and the Conservatives seemed to have avoided a lot of grief.  Stephane Dion seems to think that...well...I have no idea what he's thinking.

But I know what I'm thinking.  Garth Turner has turned the attention to who the losers are.

The biggest loser?  Stephane Dion.  And Stephane Dion has Garth Turner to thank for that.

Addendum: Do you think Stephane Dion is afraid of Garth Turner?  I mean, why else put up with this nonsense and let Garth Turner repeatedly embarrass Dion and the Liberal Party with the blog?  Like you can imagine that Dion broaches the subject of shutting down the blog, Turner throws a fit, and Dion backs down.