Liberal MP Mark Holland is the poster boy for what ails the Liberal Party when it comes to communications, a top priority for incoming chief of staff for Michael Ignatieff, Peter Donolo.

Ironically, Mark Holland exhibits this problem while praising Peter Donolo.  Really, Peter Donolo ought to find a quiet corner for Holland where Holland can sit quietly and watch the grownups work.

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Just over two weeks ago, Liberal Party Michael Ignatieff announced a "thinker's conference" to be held in January:

The federal Liberals will hold their much-postponed "thinkers' conference" in Montreal in mid-January, leader Michael Ignatieff says.

Replying to reporters' questions in Vancouver on Tuesday, Ignatieff said the Liberals would convene a policy-renewal gathering in Montreal from Jan. 14 to 16.

That announcement further seals the impression that Liberals, taking a hit in the public-opinion polls, are now gearing for an election next spring instead of this fall, and that Ignatieff is taking advantage of the wait to renew the party at the ideas level.

So are we clear?  The party is being renewed at the ideas level. 

Eye-dee-ahhs.

And yet, Liberal MP Mark Holland utterly contradicts this in a statement he made two weeks after the conference had been announced:

Liberal MPs praised their leader's new chief of staff Wednesday as a communications guru who will help spread the party's message clearly.

Grits say Peter Donolo, who begins work Thursday as the top aide in Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office, brings the communications skills Liberals desperately need.

"Our problem isn't ideas," said Liberal MP Mark Holland. "We have to do a better job of branding and marketing our message."

So, which is it?  The idea thing discussed by Michael Ignatieff?  Or the communications thing as declared  by Mark Holland?

Hey, why doesn't someone read that quote back to Mark Holland ("Our problem isn't ideas") and then ask him to comment on the thinker's conference coming up in January?

The thinker's conference had been announced two weeks ago, so Mark Holland knew that by saying "Our problem isn't ideas", he is essentially saying the conference is a waste of time.

What we have here is a failure to communicate.  Peter Donolo might be advised to make an example of Mark Holland.   Holland has failed to stay on message and has undermined Michael Ignatieff.  Maybe it's well past time for the other members of the Liberal caucus to see what will happen to those who further hurt the beaten and battered Liberal Party with their ill-informed (or willfully damaging) public statements.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 01:23 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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