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Time to ponder...can there be a Kim Beazley in the Liberal Party of Canada? I'm afraid the answer is no, despite the fact that the Australian Labor Party is officially a member of Socialist International and classified as socialist while the Canadian Liberal Party is not a member and classified as centrist and therefore in theory should be less leftist than the ALP. Some may tout Michael Ignatieff as Canada's Beazley but I remain sceptical as to what he will do if he goes back into Canadian politics.

Will the grassroot leftism make the ALP look like a clone of Canadian Liberals in the years to come? Time will tell for sure but to everynyone who don't want to see an Australian version of Carolyn Parrish (the ex-Liberal MP for Mississauga, Ontario) should take notice of what Parrish did around this time last year:

Carolyn Parrish stomping on a George Bush action figure as part of a This Hour Has 22 Minutes skit. (Source: CBC News story 18 Nov 2004: Mixed reactions to announcement of Bush visit to Ottawa)

According to teh CBC news report, and with no doubt approval of the journalists who took the interview:

...one Liberal MP will find it difficult to hide her distaste for the recently re-elected U.S. president. Carolyn Parrish didn't even try on Monday, playing along with CBC-TV's This Hour Has 22 Minutes by stomping on a George Bush action figure.

Parrish has been outspoken in the past, calling Americans "bastards" and mocking the U.S. plans for a missile defence shield by calling countries that follow the U.S. a "coalition of idiots." ...

Yes, in the world according to Parrish, Australia consists of "idiots".