Angry in the Great White North

Michael Ignatieff warned Liberal MPs at a retreat last week not to be leaking information to the media.

The media is reporting this thanks to a leak from a Liberal insider:

Mr. Ignatieff told his caucus members during their two-day retreat this week that he would be calling MPs with their new assignments. He also stressed discipline, impressing upon his MPs and senators the need not to leak information to reporters and to remain united.

He told his caucus that he would be rewarding "hard work" and that his organization is based on merit. "There will be lots of opportunities to show your abilities and gifts," he told them, according to one Liberal official, who added, "This is a departure from the Martin era where bad behaviour was sometimes rewarded."

Of course, this could be a condoned leak, but then it seems to me that a condoned leak about the importance of discipline and messaging would be on message and more disciplined.

In other words, if Michael Ignatieff signed off on an official leak to the media regarding messaging discipline and proper media channels, as a way of driving home the message to Liberals who might be thinking of delivering more juicy tidbits of information to reporters, then why would this official leak include that poke at Paul Martin?

This Liberal insider essentially called Paul Martin corrupt.  If Paul Martin rewarded people for doing bad things, then Martin encouraged further bad behaviour in those person and in people who witnessed the reward.  That is the dictionary definition of a corrupting influence.

Is that part of Michael Ignatieff's official line?  Are any Liberals who were rewarded by Paul Martin, up to and including appointments to cabinet, suspected of "bad behaviour"? 

Stephane Dion, Michael Ignatieff's predecessor who took the Liberal Party to an electoral disaster with a radical environmental taxation plan, was appointed to the job of environment minister by Paul Martin.  Was Stephane Dion rewarded for bad behaviour by Paul Martin?

See what I mean? 

If this was an official leak, then why include the swipe at Paul Martin, a swipe that could cause a lot of consternation among Liberals today? 

If this was an official leak, but the Paul Martin poke was an ad lib, then what does that say about Michael Ignatieff succeeding at controlling Liberal Party messaging?

If this wasn't an official leak at all, then there really isn't much more to say than Michael Ignatieff is going to have to do more than deliver stern warnings to leak-addicted Liberals.