On vacancies

In response to the Cons' choice to attack Stephane Dion over Senate tinkering bills, many commentators rightly responded that the attack is likely to be ineffective because Canadians simply don't care enough about the issue. But apparently at least one Lib senator is clueless enough to have responded both by trying to raise the profile of the Senate as an issue, and taking a strong public stance in favour of the status quo:

A Nova Scotia senator wants Governor General Michaelle Jean to fill vacancies in Parliament's Upper House...

Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore said it's the prime minister's constitutional duty to fill vacancies. If he refuses, then it's up to the governor general to step in...

Moore introduced a motion in the senate Thursday. If it passes before Parliament adjourns for the summer, he will write a letter to Jean's office.

"We would do a proper address to her excellency asking her to fulfill her obligations," Moore said.

There are currently 12 vacancies in the senate. Three of them are Nova Scotian seats. Former premier John Buchanan retired from the senate 14 months ago. Michael Forrestall died last June and Michael Kirby resigned in October.

Moore's angle is apparently based primarily on the potential for Nova Scotia to have three more senators than it does. But in exchange for stoking some minor provincialist sentiment, Moore is handing Deceivin' Stephen a golden opportunity to first slam the Libs for backing a no-change option over his chosen means of rearranging deck chairs, then pretend he has no choice but to call Moore's bluff and appoint a set of partisan Cons to fill the vacant positions.

Of course, it hopefully won't come to that - and indeed the best-case scenario that Moore's call will get completely ignored seems a fairly likely outcome. But if the Libs' senators are really far enough out of touch with reality to want to call public attention to themselves, then Harper figures to get plenty more mileage out of provoking them - and all parties seeking to take down the Cons will face a more difficult fight as a result.