Angry in the Great White North

Garth Turner's return to Halton is ruffling feathers among Halton Liberals.  Steve Savage, the president of the Federal Liberal Association in the riding, openly mentioned the concerns many have that Garth Turner can ever be replaced.

That sort of thing can't go down well with Michael Ignatieff's people. 

Even if they are concerned, they haven't acted on their concerns yet.  The Halton Liberals are planning a big bash on May 1, with Garth Turner's tell-all expose of his time in Ottawa the main attraction:

The $100 ticket price no doubt covers the cost of the book itself, listed at $21.95 per copy by the publisher, leaving $78.05 from each ticket to cover the cost of refreshments, and the rental of the venue.  Whatever remains will be the donation to the party. 

So it will help, but I think the impact of Sheeple: Caucus Confidential in Stephen Harper's Ottawa will not be in how much money it will raise for the Liberal Party.  The potential content might be much more interesting.

The book will be released on April 24 by Key Porter Books.  It is a hefty tome, spanning 224 pages.  The subject matter ought to be squirm-worthy for members of both the Conservative and Liberal Party:

Garth Turner was the first politician in Canada, possibly the world, to be dooced-fired for his web site. For his blunt online honesty the Member of Parliament was, in turn, reviled, shunned, humiliated and lauded as the future of politics.

This is the fascinating, unique and boldly-written first person account of politics at the crossroads-democracy unleashed on the Internet versus a cabal of operators and old-school, backroom manipulators in Stephen Harper''s Ottawa whose task it was to contain, control and mould public opinion. In the two years leading up to the pivotal 2008 federal election, Turner was in a unique position to witness and take part in the battle for the minds of voters, first as a member of Harper''s caucus and then as an observer of Stephane Dion''s leadership as special advisor for the opposition.

In this, his first political book, Turner chronicles his experiences in the rising tide of the blogosphere, its dangers and the monumental clash he experienced with the political establishment.

"Dooced-fired" means to be terminated for talking about your job on your blog.

Now despite the fact that the prime focus of the book seems to be Stephen Harper's Conservatives, remember that in the twenty-four months leading up to start of the 2008 election on September 7, Garth Turner was almost entirely with the Liberal Party.  Let's be generous though, and not take the "two years" literally, and assume the book covers his time in Ottawa from the 2006 election until the 2008 election, a period of just over two years and eight months.

Here's Garth Turner's timeline, starting from January 3, 2006, the day of the 2006 election:

• January 3, 2006 to October 18, 2006: Conservative MP (289 days)
• October 18, 2006 to to February 6, 2007: Independent MP (112 days)
• February 6, 2007 to September 7, 2008: Liberal MP (580 days)

In other words, Garth Turner was a Liberal MP for 60% of the time covered by this "boldly-written first person account of politics", and a Conservative MP for only 30%.

The book sounds like it will be a big Stephen Harper bashfest, but either it won't really cover the "the two years leading up to the pivotal 2008 federal election" and focus mostly on the 289 days he spent as a Conservative MP, or the Liberals are going to be in for their fair share of Garth Turner's attention. 

Think about it.  At 224 pages, this means, on average, Garth Turner will spend nearly a page per day for the time he was a Conservative should he focus mostly on the Conservatives.

That sounds more like a blog than an expose.

But if the 224 pages covers all of the 981 days between the two elections, then Garth Turner spent 70% of that time out of the Conservative caucus.  He was just an outsider looking in.  The blurb from the publisher suggests that the Liberals under Stephane Dion are not going to be exempt from his analysis, despite the apparent focus on Stephen Harper.

To fill the book, and to legitimately cover this two year period, Garth Turner would have to write about his time as a Liberal, and at some length, I think.

But really, does this sort of fawning prose sell books?

It ain't hard to see the fire this lights under the guy [Stephane Dion]. When he talks about doing the right thing for the planet and energizing the economy at the same time, Dion goes from passionate to messianic.

Even if he inverts his focus, and spends two-thirds of his book on his one-third of his time as a Conservative, and the other third of his book on the nearly two-thirds times as a Liberal, Garth Turner is going to have to fill 75 pages with something a lot more interesting than this gushing man-crush tripe.

There is the some really juicy stuff from this time period, of course, like how Liberals who weren't as loyal to Stephane Dion as Garth Turner was were out to get Turner and were sabotaging Dion's leadership:

Dion won the leadership after a year-long campaign involving 11 aspirants, recalls Turner. He says the fierce competition left its mark.

"I support the leader, but not everyone is of the same mind and there are factions within caucus who want to weaken Dion. There are people who have aspirations . . . without a doubt, who forever and a day will continue to try to promote their agendas.

"I have a problem with those who still harbour ambitions and should swallow them. I see that happening within our caucus and I don't like it."

Turner says he doesn't want to undermine any of his colleagues and prefers not to identify individuals. That said, it was clear from our conversation that he is referring to Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae who came second and third in the leadership stakes.

Turner, who has a long history of speaking candidly -- going back to his days in the Mulroney caucus -- reveals he's "in a bit of trouble right now" with some of his colleagues.

"I'm seen as a guy who is standing out there for Dion, helping the leader succeed." Those who Turner has targeted for their disloyalty have reacted by drawing their own swords against him.

Turner says the Liberals, being in opposition for the past two years, have forgotten the need for iron discipline within caucus, something Conservatives, with their considerable experience on the wrong side of the Commons, are now showing themselves to be extremely good at.

If this stuff he revealed in May 2008 doesn't get into the book somewhere, then the book is a giant rip-off.  I mean, let's have some names.  Who specifically tried to trip up Stephane Dion?  Who in the Liberal Party crossed swords with uber-Dion-loyalist Garth Turner?  How did Garth Turner help prop up Stephane Dion against the disloyal Rae and Ignatieff factions?

Really, this is great material.  The sort of thing that makes the book relevant today, and sells copies.  Yeah, the Conservatives didn't like Turner.  Boring.  But who in Ignatieff's inner circle actively sabotaged Stephane Dion's leadership, and how?  Were these people rewarded for their efforts?

Now that's an expose!

And will Garth Turner include a mention that the Liberals needed a good measure of the Conservative Party's "iron discipline" for which he admitted some admiration?  But then that would undermine a good part of his book, wouldn't it?

I guess we'll have answers to all these questions in April.

And so will the Liberals, who might wonder how far Garth Turner will go to sell copies.  Liberals who are in Ottawa today.