Unprepared

If we needed any more evidence that the Libs' tough talk about finally opposing the Cons in April figures to be as empty as their rhetoric since last fall, the Star provides it with a report on the Libs' disarray in Quebec:

All is not well in the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party, which held a crisis meeting to deal with grassroots grumbling over election planning that a source described as "close to non-existent."

A group of disgruntled Quebec organizers took the unusual step of activating a clause in the party constitution to force a meeting of the executive committee to discuss their mounting grievances.

"I've never seen that happen before," said a Liberal involved in the party's inner workings for more than two decades...

Several party sources said much of the donkey work of preparing for elections – renting office space, co-ordinating local fundraising chairs, booking phone lines, printing signs – has not yet been done.

"The last time we looked like we were headed for an election, I read in the papers that the Quebec wing isn't ready. Well I don't want to be blamed for that. The executive hasn't met since December," an influential Quebec Liberal fumed before the meeting.

Naturally, the Libs' apparent failure to get the basics of a Quebec campaign in place only figures to make the current party infighting all the worse - as factions within the Libs who have nothing to do thanks to the party's lack of organization instead take out their frustrations on each other. And that in turn seems likely to drive away any star candidates who the Libs may have hoped to lure to their cause.

For now, all indications are that the battle remains an internal one. But after well over a year of Dion's misleadership, there's less and less reason for frustrated Lib supporters to continue to wait for their current party to get its act together - and all the more for them to instead turn to a progressive federalist party which is actually prepared to take on the Cons.