Paul Martin may soon join a unique club whose members include Kim Campbell, John Turner and Joe Clark. It must be painful to go through the exercise of overthrowing a sitting Prime Minister only to become a footnote in history. How can voters possibly let the Liberals get away with the incompetence and corruption that cumulated in the Auditor General's report on the sponsorship scandal? That is why it is so hard to believe Ipsos-Reid's interpretation of its poll results which claim that the Liberals will increase the number of seats they hold in BC and that the Greens stand a chance. That ranks right up there with the Green Party's claims (Vancouver Province, June 13, p. A 13) that they will defeat John Reynolds in West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast.

The Liberals will soon be busy with a leadership contest and efforts to heal the damage done by Martin's takeover of the party. That will assure a minority Conservative government for about two years before the Liberals can afford to take the chance of defeating the minority government. During that time Jack Layton's New Democrats are much more likely to have the time and energy to hold Harper accountable than the defeated and demoralized Liberals, who will be consumed with their internal fights.

Consider the fate of the Liberal parachute club in British Columbia. Would the likes of Emerson, Dosanjh, Chan and Haggard be effective behind the scenes in another Liberal leadership contest, or would BC be better served with New Democrats fighting to keep a minority Conservative government on a moderate path until it is forced to call another election? The Martin appointees will be as welcome as a skunk at a garden party when it comes to the wheeling and dealing over who will replace Martin. Perhaps they hope that the voters put them out of their misery and deny them the sentence of a term in opposition with no chance for a patronage appointment.

British Columbians are now aware of the importance of having an effective opposition, and they've seen a two person NDP caucus be effective. Canada needs the same kind of effective opposition to hold a minority Conservative government to account. It appears that the voter squeeze is really on the Liberals to vote NDP for an effective opposition to a Conservative government.