Lapierre may not seek re-election
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch updated 2:50 p.m. December 4, 2006]

Liberal MP Jean Lapierre.

OTTAWA  —  Liberal MP Jean Lapierre told reporters Monday he may not run in the next federal election.    

Lapierre left a high-paying job as a Montreal talk radio host in 2003 to work for former prime minister Paul Martin and later become his Quebec lieutenant.  

"I said when I came back to politics that I came with Paul Martin and I was going to go with Paul Martin. As of Thursday night, I feel emotionally and morally relieved of my commitment and now it's for me to decide what I'm going to do," Lapierre told reporters before question period.

Lapierre emphasized that any decision he makes has nothing to do with the party's selection of Stephane Dion as leader at the weekend convention in Montreal. 

Dion is considered a hardline federalist, while Lapierre left the Liberal caucus in 1990 to join the Bloc Quebecois after the Liberals picked Meech Lake opponent Jean Chretien as their leader. 

Lapierre backed Martin in the 1990 leadership race, but remained neutral during this leadership campaign. 

"I started to reflect on that a while ago and that has nothing to do with leadership," he said of his possible retirement from politics." It has to do with personal career."

Lapierre's time as Martin's Quebec lieutenant  turned out to be bitter sweet because of the fallout from the sponsorship scandal which decimated the Liberal party brand in Quebec. 

And Lapierre had a warning for Liberals who were still buoyant about Dion's election victory, saying things aren't going to get any easier for the party in Quebec.

"This whole sponsorship thing is still sticking with us," he bluntly said.

"In January, you're going to have criminal charges laid out for five or seven individuals, you're going to have a report from a judge on Option Canada and all of those things are going to affect our brand. That's the major problem for any candidate who would have won this race."

How much this will stick to Dion will be interesting.  

Dion served as Chretien's national unity minister during the duration of the controversial program that was based on promoting the Canadian word mark in Quebec. 

He testified during the Gomery inquiry that he was unaware of the existence of the program. In his fact-finding report, Justice John Gomery concluded the program was used as an "elaborate kickback scheme" for Liberal party organizers and insiders in Quebec. 

The Conservatives also plan to attack Dion on this front.  

In a news release circulated within hours of Dion's convention victory, Treasury Board President John Baird noted, “Mr. Dion was part of the Chrétien cabinet during the sponsorship scandal and was in cabinet as successive Liberal governments presided over the multi-billion dollar HRDC and gun registry boondoggles."

However, Lapierre said he does not see sponsorship being a problem for Dion. 

"He went before Gomery and he was clean as Ivory Snow from what I gather."

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