Vote me out now, or vote me out later?

6 minutes and 53 seconds, the length of PM the PM's plaintive plea for more time to straighten out his crowded closet of troubles. Paul Martin took to the airwaves on Thursday night to beg Canadians to let Gomery finish the job. Vowing that upon receipt of the Judges final report (expected sometime in December apparently) he would immediately call an election for the peoples verdict his stewardship of the Sponsorship scandal.

It was a rather strange sight, the leader of a G-8 country admitting that malfeasance had happened while he was around, but at the same time claiming a mild self propelled pat on the back for canceling the program, creating the inquiry, cashiering an ambassador (and rather successful fund raiser it seems)and issuing many a mea culpa to boot.

The time flew by as the Prime Minister admitted that there were some serious problems with his party's fundraising apparatus, regretting that those on watch had not been more vigilant to the horrors happening in the Liberal name.

The basic tone of the 6:53 of television time was that Canadians deserve to be fully informed on the results of the Gomery inquiry before they make their minds up. A nice bit of wishful thinking on behalf of PM the PM and his handlers but judging by the various opinion polls making the rounds the Canadian public seems to have already heard enough and are voting with their feet, in a mad stampede from anything Liberal.

With his time about up (at least on the broadcast, but feel free to accept the double entendre) the Prime Minister looked forlornly into the camera asking for just a bit more time. Hoping against hope that Canadians will understand his current position, a situation not particularly reflected in the polls of late.

Of course his mea culpas and pleas for understanding fell on deaf ears when it came to the opposition leaders. The lead off hitter was Stephen Harper who basically dismissed the speech as a sad moment that showed that the PM can barely govern the country anymore. Harper said that his party would decide on the fate of this government after consulting with the Canadian people over the next little while. Coming soon to a town near you, the Conservative listening party.

Next up to whack the pinnate was Gilles Duceppe and almost instantly Canadians must have realized that this was a rather interesting time for the nation, as Mr. Duceppe actually dedicated part of his speech time to English, something rather rare for the separatist leader. In fact he made a fairly good argument for himself en anglais making some solid points about the crisis not being a national one but a Liberal party problem. Take out that leaving Canada and taking as much money as possible with us plank and he might have won a few seats in Ontario such was the strength of his speech.

The final combatant of the night was Smilin' Jack Layton, who led off with some bizarre recitation of what Canadians really want. Which is nice to have at your fingertips but hardly appropriate to the topic at hand, that of the Liberals governing as their moral compass does donuts around the credibility line. Layton also offered up an out for the beleaguered Libs, just drop the corporate tax cuts and bring in your budget and we'll support you said Jack. Which is an interesting position for the normally highly outraged NDPers, basically it translates into sure we'll support a bunch of highly suspicious types as long as we get what we want too! Going to be hard to play the ethics card after that little exercise, which would be for naught anyways as even with every single Liberal and NDPer onside the combined numbers would still not overtake the Conservative/Bloc lets go to the polls vote.

The scrums would follow and then the talking heads, many who feel that the Liberals may have made things worse for themselves by now creating a national crisis rather than and internal one.

So now Canadians are left with an option or two to ponder, an immediate election where they can weigh in with their judgment on the mess or an election 30 days after the whole sordid mess is finally put to bed.

Martin is to be commended for having tackled a situation that wasn't necessarily of his making, for taking some heat for doing the right thing. Unfortunately the smell of rot is just too strong, it's hard to believe that the Liberals themselves believe that they have a moral right to govern at the moment. Martin might have better luck dealing with his problems in making Parliament work by having the Governor General ask Steven Harper to form a government, one with a rather short list of quality cabinet types.

Putting Harper in the hot seat immediately might work out in the Liberals favor, for one thing with summer almost here, Parliament would soon rise anyways, it would take Harper about six or seven months to get his feet wet and a government up and running full tilt. By then the Gomery inquiry will be out, Martin can then address the problems of his own party first, clean up the mess and then bring down the Tory minority, reminding Canadians that he and he alone took on the problems of his own party and rectified a rather sad period of Liberal history. It's not the normal way of doing things, but these don't seem to be particularity normal times in Canadian Politics

You do get the feeling that Martin truly is repentant for the sins of his fellow travelers in the Liberal party, but there comes a time when possibly it may be better to punish the whole at the expense of the one. Paul Martin came to office with big plans, high expectations and a desire to make Canada important again. Unfortunately for him, none of that will happen while the clouds of suspicion continue to gather over the Hill.

The Liberal party of late is all about survival, so one thinks that they will cling to power until the very last finger is pulled from the door to the gov't side of the House of Commons. All that is left is for Canadians to wait to see whether they will either help rip the fingers off that door clearing a path for Stephen Harper, or hold the door open for a return of the reformed and chastened Liberals who will thus live a life of honesty for forever and a day.