Paul Martin Can't Quit!

Tags: Politics | Liberals | Canada | Canadian Politics

Call them the Three Non-Stooges. Or the Three Wisemen. Or Snap, Crackle, and Pop! It doesn't matter, just don't call any of them Leader.

Yesterday political Rat Packer Brian Tobin announced that he would not be putting his name in the hat for the Liberal Leadership. He joins fellow expected-to-but-not-gonna-run Liberals Frank Mckenna and former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, who have both announced they'd prefer not to captain Canada's political Titanic.

McKenna, Canada's outgoing ambassador to the United States, recently offered a wonderful resignation letter to Ottawa's new top dog Stephen Harper. While he hasn't written a comparably classy letter, upon failing to maintain parliament, former PM Paul Martin stated that he would soon resign his post as Liberal leader. However, how can he resign before a new leader is chosen? Will he deign to simply abandon the party he has served for 33 years? I think not. But what if the remaining possible contenders (Michael Ignatieff, Martin Cauchon, et al.) resist the ego trip to possible PM-ship? After all, it's without a doubt the worst time in Canadian history to take the reigns of the Liberal party. So if no one wants it, he just may be stuck with it. It would be comedic fodder for decades if he couldn't quit!

However, Martin deserves some credit. He stayed on board when the iceberg was spotted. He stayed on board when the iceberg was struck. He's stayed on board since the ship started sinking. He could have pulled a "Mulroney" and abandoned ship, leaving his own version of Kim Campbell to sink it to the bottom. But he didn't. And with an estimated personal net worth of $225 million US, it must have been a tempting jump to take.