Angry in the Great White North

Paul Zed was until recently Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff's chief of staff.  When the Wafergate scandal blew back on the Telegraph-Journal, it was reported by CTV News that a Liberal had carried the story to the newspaper, which then printed it.  The subsequent retraction and abject apology resulted in the editor being fired and the publisher, Jamie Irving, being relieved of his duties for 30 days.

Jamie Irving, I understand, is back in his office at the Telegraph-Journal.

But back to Paul Zed.  Soon after the Wafergate story imploded, Paul Zed quit as chief of staff.

Or did he?

Angelo Persichilli suggested that Paul Zed was fired:

But there is a third element that now is dangerously resurfacing in the Liberal party: the problem of unity. The defenestration of Paul Zed from the position of Ignatieff's chief of staff is only the tip of the iceberg.

But for this reference, everyone else was repeating the official story that Paul Zed had resigned voluntarily.  Speculation ran rampant that Paul Zed would run again in Saint John, a riding he had represented in the past, and that this move was a sign of an impending election.  For those who believed that Paul Zed had voluntarily resigned, the announcement of Paul Zed as the candidate was just around the corner.

Indeed, there is a set of webpages on the Liberal Party website that implies Paul Zed is the candidate.  It is running current photographs and Paul Zed's biography has been kept up to date,

So he is the candidate, right?

No, he's not.

According to the authoritative punditsguide.ca, there is no candidate declared for the riding of Saint John.

On August 7, it was hinted to Jane Taber that Paul Zed would announce his intention to run at a fundraiser, but no announcement happened.  Why not?  It was an important fundraiser, with none other than Michael Ignatieff himself in attendance.  What better opportunity to announce his candidacy than with the party leader holding your hand up and leading a cheer?

Jane Taber's article ran on August 7.  Paul Zed was still Michael Ignatieff's chief of staff, but the Wafergate story had by now totally fallen apart, leaving the Liberals on the defensive.

In the days that followed Jane Taber's story, Paul Zed quit as chief of staff (or was fired from the job, depending on who you listen to), and no announcement of a Paul Zed candidacy was made.

Indeed, instead of a triumphant kick-off for a run at the riding of Saint John while sharing the stage with Michael Ignatieff, Paul Zed gave a statement to the Telegraph-Journal.  In it, Paul Zed refused to say if he was seeking the nomination.  That would mean he hasn't even submitted papers yet.

In the context of the Wafergate fiasco, this strange non-candidacy seems significant.  Who was the Liberal who allegedly used the funeral of Romeo LeBlanc, father of New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, as a vehicle for a crass political game, designed to pit Stephen Harper against Catholics?  Who was the Liberal who would have had the links to Jamie Irving to have convinced him to run the story, a decision that ultimately cost the Telegraph-Journal an editor and much of its credibility?  Would Dominic LeBlanc have used his own father's funeral in this way, or would it be more likely that another well-connected Liberal would have done the deed?

And given the disastrous end to the story for the Liberals, with the Telegraph-Journal issuing an abject apology to Stephen Harper and the Liberal Party being looked at askance as the likely source for the scurrilous fabrication, what punishment would have been meted out to the Liberal responsible for this mess in the first place?

Consider too, that if this is what happened, that is that someone in the Liberal Party used the occasion of the funeral of Romeo LeBlanc in this way, that in all likelihood Dominic LeBlanc would have been calling for that person's head on a platter.

I would have.  I bet I'm not alone in that.

And now we have New Brunswick native Paul Zed gone from his job as chief of staff just over a week after the Telegraph-Journal apology.  In that short span of time, excited rumours of a candidacy were replaced by curiously downbeat statements suggesting a distinct lack of interest in the job, or in any of the potential benefits that only Paul Zed could enjoy.

Why wouldn't Paul Zed want to have a chance to be a Liberal cabinet minister in a future Liberal government?  I mean, Paul Zed was Michael Ignatieff's chief of staff, while Dominic LeBlanc ran to be leader of the Liberal Party against Michael Ignatieff.  You would think Paul Zed would have had the job of minister from New Brunswick all but sewn up.

Now he doesn't even want to bother being the MP.  He's acting almost as if there's no point in even trying.

I can't help but wonder at how all this is connected.

I guess we'll know more when the the Liberal candidate for Saint John is finally announced.