The latest step Prime Minister Martin has taken in the pre-battle of the next election is to become involved with the C.B.C. labour dispute. The federal government has now offered to be the middle-man in the lockout. Incredible, since the Liberal government are essentially the bosses of the C.B.C. management. The offer to officiate negotiations 'in the interest of our national cultural television broadcaster' rings hollow. Other than the infrequent letter to the editor of national newspapers, I have yet to hear of any kind of outrage by Canadians who are devistated by the loss of Big Brother Corps. on-air personalities. Neither have I experienced rallies by Canucks concerned by the loss of their voice of Canadian culture. In fact, I doubt that the majority of Canadians care or even really notice that there is a disruption at all.

The point of federal interference in the dispute is based within a different set of needs. An election is on the horizon, one that might come sooner than later. P.M. Martin might decide to use the current negative press circulating around Conservative leader Harper to his advantage and fold the minority government this fall - long before the oft-delayed Gomery report is made public.

One of the must-haves for the Liberals is to have their personal national leftwing broadcaster on the air and fully functional. The thought of not having the C.B.C. in full spin mode during the next campaign makes Martin shudder, since it would mean actually having to explain his governments crass mistakes directly to the Canadian public. There might not be the usual 'investigative report' on the current Conservative leader that somehow always seems to air during an election campaign, spinning and shredding the image as they go along. They may be forced to do without the usual talentless Toronto talkshow hosts ranting on about the scary policies and hidden agendas of the political right. Nothing against those individuals, by the way. I guess when Muchmusic V.J.s get too old to introduce 50 Cent videos, they should have somewhere to go.

Maybe the Liberals could convince the skeleton crew remaining at the network to broadcast old Trudeau biographies and reruns of King of Kensington to stir up those old '70s liberal feelings. Or, they could just do what they always do and make the entire federal campaign as a battle between Liberal values (which of course means Canadian values), or those scary outdated ideas from Alberta. With any luck at all, there will be one less avenue for their anti-Alberta bigotry to flow.