How crowded IS it over there on the left?

With each passing day I marvel at how much further out in left field the Liberal party is positioning itself.

Right now, it's a dog fight among the Dippers, Grits, Bloc and Greens. Of course, of all those parties, only one has even a remote chance of forming the government. We regard the more extreme policies of the smaller parties with some kind of necessary indulgence.

However, we expect more from the Liberal party.

The issues swirling around in Parliament today, such as the Liberal party's disingenuous Kyoto bill, the hypocritical accusations of partisanship regarding the Tory's judicial advisory selection, and the Liberal flip-flop to the left concerning the anti-terrorist act's sunset clause should be a concern for all Canadians.

But the worst offence is the last one, because it speaks to the very safety and security of Canadian citizens.

We are now starting to see a schism in the 'newly united' Liberal party. Stephane Dion's leadership is a sham. He represents everything I am most fearful of in a leader. His elitist, idealistic world view is still firmly entrenched in the Neverland of Academia. From today's National Post:

A former human-rights lawyer, Mr. Cotler said he initially opposed the two provisions, which critics say give Draconian powers to Canadian authorities, and was pleased to see the Liberal government implement the sunset clause.

But as justice minister between 2003 and 2006, he saw that the provisions, neither of which have been used, were not being abused. As a result, he supports the three-year extension. Other dissenters from the party line include Roy Cullen, who sat on a parliamentary subcommittee that recommended extending the provisions in October. Mr. Cullen said he and other colleagues made their case at the Liberal caucus meeting yesterday.

"The problem now is that we sort of have staked out a position and it might be difficult to reverse that. But I'm always the eternal optimist."

The bill's Liberal architect, former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, has also expressed concern at the new party position. "After 9-11, we did not actually believe we were going to have to deal with homegrown terrorists," she said this week. "The situation today is, if anything, more dangerous and more complex and the powers have never been abused, so why would you take these tools away from law enforcement?"

And from Canada.com - "Dion, meanwhile, is standing by his decision to oppose the measures. Those Liberals who support the move say a compromise could have been reached with the government on salvaging them had the Conservatives heeded the advice of a parliamentary subcommittee and brought forward legislation to amend the measures."

So this has ended up in a game of chicken.

Dion is not just incompetent - His hopeless naïveté puts us all at risk.

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Update: I did a little snooping around at Liblogs and came across this interesting discussion. (Shhh.... Don't tell them!)

This one is brutally honest. I admire that. This one too.