Liberal Wars: Revenge of the Myth

He's mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore.

Tuesday afternoon, it was deja vu all over again, there he was up on the stage, the lively banter with the media, a few good zingers at the expense of a Harper or a Lapierre, some jibes at his successor delivered with a bit of a smile and to wrap it all up a bit of a whuppin for the Gomery Report.

Jean Chretien returned on the day after Halloween to haunt his former finance minister , perhaps launching the opening skirmish in what may be the final act of the Great Liberal Civil War. Chretien rejected out of hand the findings of the Gomery report and announced his plans to challenge it in Federal Court. This mere hours after Paul Martin had accepted those same findings without reservation.

Chretien seemed to enjoy his moment back on the national stage as the media buzz all day had his statement declared the main event of a rather busy news day. So when he took to the stage it was to a full gallery and an attentive audience.

He scored a few points against the current holder of the job that was once his, Chretien wondered aloud about the ability of a Prime Minister to banish card carrying members of the Liberal party, something Martin had done earlier in the day. You could see his mischievous side at work when he suggested that perhaps had he known he had been in control of such power, that he may have banned a guy named Lapierre when he joined the seperatists. One wonders if he might have wished to use such power on a former Finance Minister as well.

Chretien also suggested that the Gomery Commission consisted of a legal advisor (Bernard Roy) who may have been beholden to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Roy was a former Mulroney aide), and one assumes then may have had an old axe to grind. Chretien also pointed out that Roy worked in the same Legal office as Gomery's daughter, a potential conflict of interest in the eyes of the street fighter of Shawinigan.

He then rattled on about how he had kept Canada out of the Iraq war, given us Kyoto and a clarity act, none of which seem to have much to do with the sponsorship scandal, but did give him a chance to polish up his resume from his days in power and maybe poke a stick in the eye of his successor.

Most importantly though is the sense now that the ancient feud between the Martinites and the Chretienistas is nowhere near done. It leaves the current Prime Minister with a lot to think about, he has worries about Quebec and how the Liberal party must try to rebuild its image quickly. There's a government to run despite the continual smell of scandal eroding it's credibility and now there's an old leader coming back to reclaim his name and seemingly enjoying the battle that may be to come. Say what you will, Chretien still commands some loyalty from Liberals, Warren Kinsella was quick to the defence on his blog today, picking up the torch for the Chretien side.

How Martin navigates his various minefields, will go a long way to determining if he's going to be Prime Minister for many more days after the second Gomery report is issued and that promised election call is made.