My, What an Interesting Day

The fallout of today's events will continue to echo throughout the political landscape of this country for quite some time to come.

On one hand, the Liberals won a victory in the Labrador byelection - something of a surprise, actually. Byelections are notorious for going against the governing party in Canada, this is possibly one of the few that I can recall where the incumbent party has actually won.

On the other hand, the release of the Kroll Report - a subtext audit of the Sponsorship Program's monies and cash flow escaped into the public view today. At nearly 200 pages of financial analysis, it's going to take a while to digest. (Yes, I downloaded a copy - whether I'll actually understand all of it is another story) At a glance, this is news that the Liberals didn't need - tacking another $150 million onto the price tag of the Sponsorship Program doesn't exactly look good. On the other hand, in fairness, I haven't read it all yet - and an initial view of things suggests that the advertising execs involved skimmed a heck of a lot more off than they "donated" to the Liberal party. (Of course - that doesn't make what happened right)

How the various parties play what has happened out in the House of Commons in the coming weeks will be very interesting indeed. The Conservatives will have to do a lot more work to persuade people that they are going to push over the government; and the Liberals will have to take some very interesting steps to make it clear that the wrongdoers involved in the Sponsorship Program are being brought to justice (as well as being expunged from the party - rather publicly)