Nice article on Martin's Democratic Deficit...

This is one area in which Paul Martin has no interest in at all. Actually, he a keen interest in the democratic deficit...not in fixing it.

Reviewing the list of Liberals appointed to plum patronage posts, it would appear that `who you know in the PMO' remains the prevailing culture in Martin's Ottawa.

A slew of former Liberal MPs and ministers have gone to their reward: Stan Keyes (consul general in Boston), Allan Rock (United Nations ambassador), Yvon Charbonneau (ambassador to UNESCO), Art Eggleton (Senate), John Harvard (Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba), Sarkis Assadourian (citizenship judge) and Karen Kraft Sloan (ambassador for the environment), to name only a few.

Any number of Martin's political allies have been similarly rewarded. Francis Fox, Martin's former principal secretary, Dennis Dawson, one of Martin's inner circle of advisers, and Grant Mitchell, former Alberta Liberal leader and Martin leadership supporter, have all been appointed to the Senate.

But one of the most egregious examples, as far as the opposition parties are concerned, was the appointment of Glen Murray, former Winnipeg mayor and defeated Liberal candidate in the 2004 election, as chairman of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

MPs on the Commons environment committee rejected Murray's appointment, but Martin went ahead with it anyway, despite his vow to open up the appointment process to parliamentary scrutiny.