Angry in the Great White North

The executive vice-president of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario), Mike Klander, has resigned following the furor over the comments made on his blog:

A high-ranking official within the Liberal Party of Canada resigned Monday after he made disparaging comments on his blog about NDP Leader Jack Layton and his wife, NDP candidate Olivia Chow.

Mike Klander, executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing, stepped down after photographs of Chow, the NDP candidate for the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, and a chow chow dog were posted on his blog dated Dec. 9 under the heading "Separated at Birth."

The blog also contained an offensive reference to Layton.

The NDP is trying to make some hay:

But Ian Capstick, a spokesman for the NDP campaign, said the postings reflect Liberal mud-slinging.

"We were shocked, disappointed and offended," Capstick said from Ottawa. "This has become indicative of the way Liberals are seeing this election. They couldn't find basis for attack on Ms. Chow's community record, her activism, so they chose instead to focus on one thing."

Klander's resignation was a positive step, but he needs to make further amends, Capstick added.

"He needs to take a good long hard look at some of the postings he made on that website and realize the impact that they had on a variety of different communities."

The NDP might succeed, but I'm willing to bet the Liberals will be able to limit the damage. Still, the damage is going to cost them.

But, courtesy of Stephen Taylor, we have an interesting comment from Klander just prior to deleting his blog:

It would appear that more people viewed my blog than the small circle of friends it was intented [sic] for. I apologize if anyone was offended by my comments...they were meant to be in jest. Anyway, I have removed my previous posts and will ...

I wonder who was in that "small circle of friends". Any other senior members of the Liberal Party? I can only imagine who would not like to be known as a fan of Mike Klander's former blog.