Smuggler's Blues

I was initially a bit concerned when I heard about one Derek Zeisman, a CPC candidate in British Columbia. Mr Zeisman is in a spot of trouble with the law, standing accused of smuggling a car (!?!) and a few bottles of liquor across the border.

Initially, I was curious as to how the Party would respond, and I was concerned that the CPC would try to "lawyer" its way out of this one (and I say that as a lawyer m'self): "innocent till proven guilty", and all that, which is true, but which kind of takes the shine off of the Tories' strong stand on political accountability.

Thankfully, Harper & Co. dealt with this about as best as they could by announcing that Zeisman will not be allowed to sit in the Tory caucus if he wins (which appears to be a pretty remote prospect from where I sit), unless and until his charges are favourably resolved.

It is, apparently, too late to take Zeisman's name off of the ballot and/or to officially remove him as the CPC candidate. So Harper did the next best thing. And he did it within 24 hours.

The race is NOT over. Things can and will go wrong. Any Tory reading this who is distracted by thoughts of getting invited to the swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall better give his/her head a good hard shake. There are 11 more days, and we haven't won a single seat yet - and we won't until the polls close.

But I've got to admit, when the Party deals with things like this quickly & decisively, it helps - a lot.

More later.