Dion sees his shadow. No election for 6 months.

So, the very absent from any recent public events, Stephane Dion came out of hiding today to shuffle around the bones of the Liberal Party of Canada.

He named our old friend Garth Turner as a "special" advisor. I wonder if Garth's special talents will be used to help Dion with the clean campaign that he is eventually planning to run; because we all know Garth is never in the muck. ( I almost chocked typing that)

Dion also named, in what I consider a very bizarre choice, the infamous Bob Rae as the LPC's foreign affairs critic. The unelected Rae, who hit single digits in his popularity as former Premier of Ontario, was also a challenger of Dion's at the leadership convention late last year, and remains hungry for Dion's job. I say bizarre choice because even though everyone is blaming Iggy for a lot of the knife play as of late in the LPC, I have yet to see Rae make any of the 'support Dion' type of speeches Iggy has made.

Think about this; in who's best interests is it to have all of Dion's and the LPC troubles be front and center in the MSM for all to see, and have these leaks blamed on the #2 choice at the convention, Iggy? Ignatieff supporters may indeed be responsible for much of the backroom antics that are going on, but I doubt it could be considered a benefit to their guy to be blamed publicly for either the antics or the leaks. Maybe it is a case of keeping your enemies close, but judging by Dions lack of leadership skills and political smarts, I doubt it.

Dion who had earlier in the day spoken about how his party was or would not be obstructionist in Parliament, also named Pablo Rodriguez as critic for the Economic Development Agency (Quebec). We all remember Pablo as the sponsor of the private members' bill that appears to make the government comply with Kyoto, while in reality might just be the textbook definition of obstructionism, as well as a colossal waste of taxpayer paid time. Perhaps Pablo could help Stephane out with the current Jamie Carroll problem; as Pablo has called for him to be fired even after Dion publicly stated his support for Carroll. One big happy family.


Oh, and Dion did see his shadow today, so according to Wiarton Willies guide to Liberal politics, that means no election for at least 6 more months. Hey, taking advice from a groundhog might just be a good thing for the Liberals, heaven knows they are not getting any leadership from anywhere else.

Al