A shot across the bow of the S. S. Martin

One can imagine the Queen wondering aloud why the Colonials are in her back yard, airing their dirty laundry for all to hear. John Ibbitson reports in Tuesday's Globe and Mail, that the Little Guy from Shawinigan has had enough.

Jean Chretien will deliver a speech in London, England today best described as a warning shot to the Martinites to cease and desist. Using the forum of the Commonwealth Foundation in London, Chretien will politely advise Prime Minister Martin that he is "paralyzing" the Liberal party, by sapping public confidence and trust in it. Going back to his halcyon days of governance, Mr. Chretien will remind Martin that his approach was "not to find fault, but to be a doer". The speech will also feature a criticism of the approach of Treasury Board Minister Reg Alcock who has vowed to "fix" the civil service, Chretien of the opinion that his words and deeds are a demoralizing force on the "best civil service in the world".

The theme of the speech will apparently be that the Liberals should never run away from their record. That Martin's insistences to run in opposition to the Liberal agenda of the last ten years will only continue to fracture the party even further. A suggestion that the present strategy will only lead to electoral disaster and ruination of the party.

The speech is being portrayed as a simple warning that the track being followed by the Prime Minister and his advisors will lead to no good. Underneath all the diplomatic niceties, lay the image of the street fighter coming back to life. It would seem that the Chretien Legacy will not be tarnished without a battle royale; the Liberal Civil War is not over, merely in a retrenchment phase. The leader of the old guard apparently not willing to go quietly into the night after all, sending a clear message to his successor that if need be, there will be more broadsides at the ready.

And while the HMCS Chretien is in England today, it will shortly fire up the boilers and set steam for home. It won't be long before it's within torpedo range of the S. S. Martin, ready to join battle if required. Should hostilities break out, one wonders who will be left to go down with the ship?