Say Anything

January 17th (6 days before the election, 20 days before joining the Conservative Cabinet):

"The Conservatives want to keep any of their members who might be inclined to say something that would uncover their true intentions and keep them quiet, out of the limelight," Industry Minister David Emerson said in Vancouver yesterday.

Emerson accused the Conservatives of "muzzling" their British Columbia candidates, noting that last week long-time Calgary MP Diane Ablonczy represented the party at a debate among Lower Mainland candidates sponsored by a Vancouver Chinese organization.

A few days earlier, at an all-party event at a Hindu temple in the Vancouver area, another long-time Alberta MP, Deepak Obhrai, spoke on behalf of the Conservatives, he added.

"I've got to wonder what it is they're hiding," Emerson said in an interview after a speech by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

"They've got a message that they've been quite successfully getting out to try to pretend they're moderate on a range of issues where we all know that underneath, when you scratch a bit, they're not moderate at all.

"It's basically the same old people."

You don't say. Oh, the irony.