So how 'bout that apple cart?

Assorted quotes from Bay Street analysts on the income trust fiasco:

''It certainly doesn't help our image,'' said Patti Croft, vice-president and chief economist with Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management Ltd.

''We, after all, are a developed economy,'' she said. ''Investors usually invest in those stock markets with a great deal of confidence in the clarity of the rules and regulations and that hasn't been the case with the income trust issue.''...

''The whole way the tax leakage situation was handled by the Department of Finance was not particularly tight or professional,'' said Gavin Graham, vice-president and director of investments at the Guardian Group of Funds, a major player in the income trust market. ''The general impression left was that there had not been a great deal of time or thought put into the whole process.

''Therefore, if there was some leakage, and the jury is still out on that, it would not be surprising given the way in which other aspects of the whole process were handled ... ,'' Graham said.

Regardless of the outcome of the RCMP investigation, it's worth remembering that either way, Goodale's department's disregard for even its own processes helped to set the stage for whatever the RCMP may find. And granting that there may well not be any criminal implications, I for one still look forward to an "Incompetent, but not criminal!" campaign the rest of the way from the Libs.