A Liberal drop out

John Bryden struck a blow for self preservation today, becoming the second Liberal MP to openly criticize Prime Minister Paul Martin. Sheila Copps, of course led off the attack last week with her critical comments about the Prime Minister, regarding the ongoing scandal over advertising payola. Interestingly enough, both MP's are members from the Hamilton area, not sure what to make of that geographical tidbit, other than an affinity for money laundering in the area or something.

At any rate, Mr. Bryden is sufficiently outraged over the Prime Ministers brief stewardship over the scandal, that he's apparently had enough! Openly making overtures to the Conservative party, hoping to stand in nomination for them, if they will have him. (Don't hold your breath Johnny boy, Tory nominations are about to become the hottest ticket in the land)

All day we've been treated to video clips of Bryden, explaining how he was a happy Liberal for ten years. Leaving us to believe that the Happy Family Days of Liberalism, came to an end that fine November evening in Toronto. To hear Bryden tell it, when Paul Martin became leader the fun came out of being a Liberal. Now put that into context with what we've learned about Liberals in the last week or so, doesn't that make you just a little bit nervous.

Ok, so while we're here John, lets review the last week. A visibly shaken Prime Minister expresses outrage over the perception, no lets be frank, the evidence of corruption; permeating the Liberal party at the moment. Saying that anyone in the party that may be involved, have known anything or have evidence to present, should step forward right now. Vowing to clean things up, he then goes on the point to take the incoming flack from an extremely angry public. Now whether you like Paul Martin or not, believe in his policies or don't, or consider yourself a Liberal or say not a chance, you at least have to give him credit for taking on the issue head on. Truth be told, he probably had no choice, such was the outrage across the land last week, but he at least has begun steps to get to the bottom of the rot.

So what is it that Mr. Bryden is so disappointed about. If he was a happy Liberal for ten years under the regime that seems to have refined pork barreling to a new level of contempt, where is the outrage from that period of time? If he personally was not part of the problem then, he certainly wasn't part of the solution. All day we've been told how he was a constant critic of government waste, an avid proponent of access to information. Long identified as a Chretien loyalist one wonders if not a small shred of hypocrisy can be sensed here. While on one hand he was railing on about gov't waste, the inner circle of Liberal loyalists was doling gov't monies out in a wasteful fashion. And he heard not a rumble?

Sorry, John, but if you're going to pretend to be taking the high road in this debate, better get a firmer grip on the reality of the situation. Most Canadians polled would probably come to the conclusion that the various government scandals of the last ten years, were the responsibility of Mr. Chretien, not Mr. Martin. How Mr. Bryden has gone from point A-B with his judgments is too say the least baffling.

In his various media appearances, Bryden went on to say that the Liberal party "is one full of cynicism today", well stand in line Liberals, we've got a whole nation of cynics ahead of you. He then went on to blast Martin for his handling of the scandal, as well as for the long drawn out leadership battles of the last four years.

For Martin, the news certainly isn't helpful, but I can't see it being particularly apocalyptic. There is certainly no secret here that the Liberal party has a mighty chasm within it right now, but I somehow think the Canadian people will be able to figure out which politicians are truly interested in preserving some semblance of ethics, and which ones are interested in self preservation.

Bryden was on a Calgary talk show today on which he said: "I've been holding off these past number of weeks as I've watched things happen here in Ottawa, and I've been very disturbed,". Now while that's a very strong statement to make, one filled with all sorts of innuendo, one thing sticks in my mind. That's three weeks of concern, very nice, but what about the last nine years and 47 or so weeks in Parliament, how come we never heard from you before John? Canadians have been disturbed about events in Ottawa for more than three weeks, buddy, a lot more than three weeks.