A newer low

John Ivison has more on that Harper charge that so scandalized the Liberals and certain sections of the press:

With hindsight, though, the reasons for Harper's Mr. Furious routine may be more understandable. It emerged yesterday that Darrel Stinson, one of the Conservatives fighting cancer, has an operation scheduled for Wednesday and will miss the vote the following day. What enraged Harper was his belief that the Liberals knew about this and cynically exploited the information by calling the vote for a time when Stinson was unavailable. One Conservative said the Liberals have been calling around in British Columbia seeking information on Stinson's treatment and that Albina Guarnieri, the Veterans Affairs Minister, raised the issue with Chuck Cadman, the Independent MP who is also fighting cancer. "Some of the more aggressive tactics used by Martin's people offend [Harper's] sense of fair play," the Conservative said.

Guarnieri denies the charge, but as Ivison asks, "who out there believes that this Liberal government wouldn't boil their grannies down to make glue if it helped them stay in power?"