Dumped Green to May: "Get used to scandal"

Kevin Potvin has tossed a parting shot across Elizabeth May's (and therefore Stephane Dion's) bow today, according to CTV:

He [dumped Green candidate Kevin Potvin] added Sunday that if the Greens think getting rid of a candidate will squelch a controversy, then they don't know what national politics is like.

"I think the Ottawa headquarters of the Green party misplayed this whole issue and they're not ready for prime-time national politics," he said.

The Potvin imbroglio was the Green party's second brush with controversy on the same day.

Also on Friday, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion announced he would not run a candidate in May's Nova Scotia riding, saying that having a Green member in the Commons was critical for the environment.

In return, May agreed to not run a candidate in Dion's Montreal-area riding.

The deal fomented grumbling in Liberal ranks and prompted NDP Leader Jack Layton to complain that voters in May's riding -- now held by Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay -- were being denied a full choice of candidates.

Potvin said the unflattering attention he has received likely made the Liberals nervous. He cited a editorial in the National Post as an example.

"(The editorial) worried the Stephane Dion people enough to the point where they were able to say to Elizabeth May, 'Look we took our guy out of a riding for you, you take your guy out of a riding for us,'" he said.

Even though this guy is nuts, he does have a point here... someone should remind Mr. Dion that when you hop into bed with another party, you get to lug all their baggage too. Of course, you would think that the Liberals, of all people, should know that all to well... since they're the ones who like to try and shove the old "Reform Conservative Alliance" label in our faces all the time.

Me thinks that this one's not going to fit to well into that little backpack...