Stephane Dion, The Comedian

How else can you interpet this knee-slapper from Saturday's Guelph Mercury:

MK: Has it been difficult for you that the (election) call has been so drawn out?

SD: He had no choice, Mr. Harper. It was the last day (the byelection in Westmount-Ville Marie had to be called by today). He deprived the people of Guelph and Westmount-Ville Marie and St-Lambert of their MP for as long as it was possible for him. It’s time now to choose and I’m very confident the right choice will be Frank Valeriote.

Considering our former MP Brenda Chamberlain was virtually non-existent since getting re-elected in 2006, comedy is the only reasonable explanation for Dion's answer. On top of that, you can add John Godfrey's refusal to resign his Don Valley seat until August 1st, thereby ensuring it would not be included in this round of by-elections. Godfrey started his new job as headmaster of a private French school in Toronto on July 1st and is now collecting two salaries, one courtesy of Canadian taxpayers.

Speculation is that Godfrey delayed his resignation to prevent the Liberals from having to run two campaigns in Ontario in addition to the two campaigns in Quebec. The Liberal party is currently running on fumes, having to resort to a $2 million dollar loan at 9% interest in order to fund their operations. When you include the massive debts still carried by all of the leadership candidates, including Dion, the Liberals just don't have the time or money to fight 4 by-elections. They have to remain focused on debt-reduction and fundraising.