At the risk of offending more readers like this one, I call your attention to the following press release this afternoon from the Liberal Party of Canada. That party -- once known as the Big Red Machine -- has been barely pale pink when it comes to finding new members or raising money in the last two or three years. Meanwhile, the Big Blue Machine has steamrolled all comers, consistently raising twice as much than all other federal parties combined from twice as many donors as all other parties combined. Liberals know that their political survival, let alone success, depends on them being able to at least do as well as the New Democrats when it comes to filling a war chest. That is precisely why Rocco Rossi was named the party's exec director and why Bay Street lawyer Alfred Apps easily won the party's presidency. Both men have a long history of finding money for this cause or that one.

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Members Statements has become a daily partisan battleground as Conservatives and Liberals throw verbal snowballs back and forth at each other across the aisle. Here's today's snowball fight

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On the issue of timely: This document was tabled on January 27, 2009. That would be 120 days ago. Conservatives hve already tried to convince me that they really meant 120 days from April 1, the beginning of the budget year, but I see no such qualifier in the budget document.

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Doing what good journalists are supposed to do: Though we've had this letter since yesterday, we did our due diligence today, checking its bona fides which, as it turns out, are both bona and fide. As a result, my colleague Juliet O'Neill is able to update an earlier post here and report a rather sad story about a hyper-ambitious MP and an sad and scared 81-year-old Filipina.    more »

It seems clear that Liberals (I assume they are Liberals) are having a certain amount of fun riffing off of the Conservative "Just Visiting" attack ads. Here's one from the Libs that accuses Mahatma Gandhi of being a mere arriviste for Indian independence.    more »

Liberal attack ads strike back. First, leader Michael Ignatieff speaks to camera for 1:40, sounding reasonable and so on (left). Then, in some others, Liberals turn the Conservative attack ad grahics back at Harper. Instead of the Conservative's "Just Visiting" tag, they tag Harper with "Just Leaving", noting how he's the first PM in history to avoid a confidence vote by proroguing Parliament.

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The Liberal Party of Canada has sent the following out to its members:

Trust the Conservatives to get attack ads out faster than they can deliver their promised stimulus funding. Unable to provide leadership himself, Stephen Harper has launched new ads attempting to divert attention away from his government's failures to fix the economy and to undermine the credibility of the one leader he knows can take his place - Michael Ignatieff . . .

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A lawyer representing embattled Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla said allegations levelled at her and her family that they mistreated three Filipinas hired as domestic workers are false and suggested they were made as a part of an organized campaign by Dhalla's political opponents to discredit her . . .

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Earlier this week, Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla and her family were accused of mistreating some domestic workers. She held a press conference about it earlier today. It was the first time we've seen her since the accusations were levelled against her family. Her lawyer prevented her from answering questions from reporters. Similarly, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has been underground since the accusations came forth until today. He gathered reporters at Convocation Hall in Toronto to say this...

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The two nannies who allege mistreatment by the family of Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla are expected to testify about their experiences in front of a parliamentary committee next week.

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