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You think it’s easy making rebel alliances?

A note of caution regarding reports that this evil devil’s pact among separatists, socialists and compromisers is a done deal. I am given to understand, from plural anonymous sources, that Dominic Leblanc, Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae are meeting at this very instant in Toronto, at Rae’s behest. The tiny perfect ex-Premier is urging his colleagues to “get behind this deal and get behind Stéphane Dion.” You can assume the main target of this pitch is Michael Ignatieff, who — here the picture gets fuzzy — is said to be (a) leery on the idea of Dion leading this thing; or (b) leery on the whole idea of an evil devil’s pact; or (c) floating in a stew of mixed messages and conflicted helpers. Or (d) artfully seeming to be floating in a stew of mixed messages and etc., etc., the better to catch the weak off guard.

“If it falls apart, that’s where it will happen,” one of my nameless informants said about the Toronto meeting among the Liberal hopefuls.

Rae’s pitch is that the Liberals have a process for selecting a leader and that until that process reaches its conclusion at the May Vancouver convention, Stéphane Dion is the leader and should enjoy the prerogatives of leadership, such as presiding over evil devil’s pacts, should any arise.

By tomorrow you’ll know how it all ended, but I just wanted to say that some confusion remains as of this hour.

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