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Stephane Dion has spent the better part of his 15 months as Liberal leader being accused of chronic wimpiness. We may now be about to find out if his accusers are right.
I'm not a legal expert, the three weeks I spent in law school notwithstanding. But from a purely political standpoint, the Conservatives' libel threat could blow up in their faces. Whatever exactly went on between party officials and Chuck Cadman, the Tories still haven't coherently explained the discrepancy between what Stephen Harper said about it at the time and what he says now. And instead of doing so now, they're instead trying to shut down any further discussion of it - giving the impression, rightly or wrongly, that they have something to hide.
One of the big questions, from a political standpoint, is whether this story has legs. By getting the lawyers involved, the Tories have given it a fresh angle and kept it going at least another couple of days. But - and this is a big but - the question now is whether Dion will buckle as Harper no doubt expects him to.
Obviously, the Liberals have to step carefully here. But that should mean running all their public statements past their own lawyers to make sure they don't cross the line - not shutting up entirely on the subject. Brian Mulroney has proven, time and again, that you can threaten libel as often as you want - if you haven't answered the questions properly, they're not going to go away. But that's only true if the right people keep asking them.
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