30 days after, give or take a couple of months

Think back a few months now, April 21 early evening as the Prime Minister grim faced delivers his let Gomery be Gomery speech to the nation. Urging Canadians to let the Justice complete his mission to unearth the scandal that has become Sponsorgate. Martin goes so far as to say that within 30 days of the Gomery report being made public, he shall take the nation to the polls and let the Canadian public decide if the Liberals deserve to govern any longer.

It was great theatre, effectively turning away the Conservative torpedoes that were aimed at the Good ship Liberal with increasing frequency and it also stabilized the shaky Liberal government to the point where they could actually get some legislation passed. In the last couple of days word leaked out that the whole plan was the brainchild of Ken Dryden, who while not as talkative as past Liberal MPs say a Sheila Copps or Brian Tobin, certainly seems to accomplish a hell of a lot more around the Liberal caucus table.

However all good things must come to an end as this little experiment in believing in what we're saying apparently is about to be altered to a more incumbent friendly version. Seems that the Liberal backbenchers, wary of a Gomery decision in mid-December are urging the PM to suspend his bravado and put off any Gomery induced election call until the spring. Not wishing to wander through the cold Canadian winter our Liberal MP's are it seems willing to blatantly disregard a solemn promise made by their leader, if only for the good of the people you know! Now most Canadians by now must surely be aware that most political promises are nothing but flotsam to be ignored at the first opportunity, but a solemn word; is a solemn word, is it not?

While Liberal chances seem to be improving each week as Stephen Harper fumbles one issue after another, should they actually convince PM the PM to go back on his 30 day promise, then Harper should once again be able to reclaim some of the high road in Canadian politics. Mind you the High road these days seems to travel about as low along the belly of a snake as you can find.