After the backlash in the press yesterday Citoyen Dion is backtracking on his comments about reinstating banned party members.
“Certainly, you cannot exclude forever people who made mistakes,” he was quoted as saying. “And someone who has even, I believe, recognized their error.”
Yesterday, Mr. Dion backtracked, insisting that he would have no involvement in reinstating Mr. Côté and suggesting it probably will not occur.
“I am not seeking to reopen that issue and there’s not an application [from Mr. Côté] as far as I know. There is a procedure we follow,” Mr. Dion said, asserting that party officials would handle any such case. “I’m not recommending anything.”
Dion is quickly building a reputation as the “wrong choice” for Liberal leadership.
Mr. Dion’s aides acknowledged privately that the leader is trying to bring the controversy to a quick end and is unhappy that his misstep could raise the spectre of the sponsorship scandal again — noting that his leadership campaign had stressed that he was a veteran Liberal with untainted integrity.
Aides said his comments were an off-the-cuff answer to an unexpected question.
< sarcasm > That’s what I want in a leader …… good solid off the cuff answers!! < /sarcasm >