Angry in the Great White North

Blair Wilson was a Liberal MP who has been sitting as an independent since allegations of election misspending and of personal lawsuits were made public last October:

Media reports in October quoted Liberal insiders who worked for Mr. Wilson as saying he failed to report all his spending and made election purchases with cash, leaving no paper trail.

In October, Mr. Wilson stepped down from his position as revenue critic for the Liberal Party over financial allegations by his father-in-law Bill Lougheed.

Elections Canada has found him guilty of three violations, but a letter of compliance means there won't be any prosecution.

Blair Wilson was spinning this as an exoneration, and also making statements to the effect that he was the driving force behind the Elections Canada investigation:

He added that there was a list of allegations and the Elections Canada findings clear him of most of them.

“I definitely agree [to accept the three charges]. Honest mistakes were made; it was a long campaign and campaigns are complex,” said Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Wilson said he had himself initially approached Elections Canada to launch a review of his campaign expenses, contrary to reports that it had stemmed from an anonymous complaint.

Now that's news to me.  Here is the timeline regarding the anonymous complaint and the investigation.

October 24: Date on the anonymous complaint addressed to Elections Canada:

Letter of Complaint

October 28: Blair Wilson says he has not heard from Elections Canada:

Last week, a citizen in the riding filed an Elections Canada challenge to Commissioner William Corbett to have Wilson's campaign expenditures investigated. "The election result was very close and had Mr. Wilson actually only spent what he was allowed to, he may well have lost. In the interest of a fair and accountable democratic election process, Mr. Wilson's campaign must be investigated," the submission alleges.

When asked about the status of the investigation, Elections Canada's Diane Benson said: "The Commissioner of Canada Elections never confirms or denies complaints or investigations."

When asked to comment on the allegations about campaign expense discrepancies, Wilson said, "These are just unfounded allegations.

"The only thing I can say is I had a very good fiscal agent that filed all the necessary documents. I have not heard anything with respect to these allegations from Elections Canada to date and if and when I do hear from Elections Canada, I'll have more to comment on."

October 28, 9:48pm: Blair Wilson first refers to an investigation:

The federal Liberal caucus has lost Liberal MP Blair Wilson. He resigned Sunday after being accused of not disclosing all of his expenses during the last election campaign. The representative for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast has stepped down from his post as the Liberal national revenue critic.

Wilson said he's taking this action for the good of the party and believes the allegations will be found to be baseless. He has asked Elections Canada to launch a formal review. Elections Canada records show that Wilson reported expenses of $82,303.71 for the 2006 campaign.

None of this actually refutes the Blair Wilson's claim that he initiated the investigation, but even then it would be splitting hairs.  The only reason he would have initiated the investigation, if indeed he had, is because the anonymous complaint caught the attention of Elections Canada and, perhaps more importantly, the media.

At best, Blair Wilson is splitting hairs.  At worst, he is engaging in some revisionism as part of his effort to rehabilitate himself and get back in the good books of the Liberal Party:

B.C. MP Blair Wilson says he wants the Liberal Party to reinstate his membership following what he describes as his exoneration by Elections Canada into whether he violated federal election rules on campaign spending.

Mr. Wilson, who currently sits as an independent, said during a phone interview on Saturday that he was “happy and relieved” by Election Canada's findings.

“I'm confident that since I've been cleared ... the National Liberal Caucus, the leader of the Liberal Party, and all good Liberals will support me in my cause to join the [caucus], and that they will also support me as the Liberal Party's next candidate,” he said.

The first formal opportunity Mr. Wilson will have to put his case to the Liberal Party leadership is during the party's national caucus, which is scheduled for Aug. 19.

We might not have to wait until August 19.  Quick on the heels of Blair Wilson's public announcement that he would be trying to get back into the Liberal caucus, he announced that he would be holding a news conference.  You have to recall that from the Liberal Party's point of view, Blair Wilson's problem is that he did not disclose the financial disputes he had been having with his family and former business associates, which is a separate issue from the election misspending.  Blair Wilson's news conference is scheduled for later today, but I'd be surprised if it amounted to good news for his political future:

West Vancouver MP Blair Wilson has called a news conference today to make an "important announcement about his future."

Chris Freimond, his public relations representative, wouldn't elaborate on what the MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country was going to say.

Wilson, who was investigated by Elections Canada following a Province special investigation into his past business dealings, debts and family disputes, was drummed out of the Liberal Party in December when Leader Stephane Dion told him he couldn't run as a Liberal in the next federal election after the probe into his failure to disclosure his past legal and financial woes.

So we can take bets:

• Blair Wilson is about to announce his return to the Liberal Party.
• Blair Wilson is about to announce his switch to the Conservatives / the NDP / the Green Party / the Trotskyist League of Canada.
• Blair Wilson is about to announce that he is resigning immediately to return to private life.
• Blair Wilson is suing the Liberals to take him back.

If Blair Wilson is resigning, then his bit about starting the Elections Canada investigation into himself has to be be one of the shortest attempts at political rehabilitation on record.