Still no official word from the embattled Emerson.

Emerson won't run, sources say (Sept. 3 2008, Globe and Mail)

His crossing the floor gave the Tories their only seat in downtown Vancouver. It also sent a signal, Conservatives hoped, that urban voters could embrace a party that had failed to make electoral inroads into the urban heart of Canada's biggest cities: Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

[Editor: Actually it sent a message that Harper has no love for democracy. Electors wanted Emerson there in or out of government. A strong opposition is a cornerstone of an effective parliamentary democracy. This parliament shows quite clearly that Stephen Harper isn't interested in a functioning parliamentary democracy - he wants the power to be able to rule by decree with no opposition whatsoever.]

So when do we start the official countdown? (Sept. 3 2008, Macleans)

Is it when David Emerson finally - finally - kills off all those delicious rumours of being primed to parachute into some slightly-less-hostile riding by announcing that he won’t run again? Okay, it’s not official yet — it’s still just sources saying — but as Wells pointed out earlier today, was there ever any real reason to believe that he was going to stick around?

I mean, we all know that he likes being an a-list, star calibre minister (which, to be fair, isn’t exactly all that hard to do in this particular cabinet) but elections are so messy and unpredictable, and there’s always the outside chance that he could’ve wound up on the wrong side of the House again, vowing to become Stephane Dion’s “worst nightmare” until the very second he comes rolling up outside Rideau Hall. (Okay, that really probably wasn’t going to happen, but still.) You have to feel sorry for his local riding association, though - or, really, any local Conservative riding association in the general vicinity of Vancouver that doesn’t yet have a candidate and, as such, would have been up for grabs had Emerson been willing but clearly not able to hold onto his existing seat - but at least now they know.

Vancouver Sun / Canwest reporter Jonathan Fowlie spoke with me earlier Tuesday prior to CTV news reports that Emerson had decided to throw in the towel. In that interview I'd said "I just can't imagine him running here in this riding", but added that we'd be ready, in any local riding, to remind voters how little Stephen Harper and David Emerson respected the value of our votes in the last election.

Fowlie's article is now on-line and includes a quote from John Reynolds:

Late Tuesday night, former Conservative MP John Reynolds said he had heard rumours Emerson had decided to retire, but said he had not yet spoken to Emerson and could not confirm the news.

"It's a tough decision for him to make. I know it's been very tough on his family, what people have put them through in the past few years. I can understand fully if he made the decision not to run," Reynolds said. "That's a tough decision on his part, but that's life. I understand why people need to leave after a while."

If Reynolds is hearing rumours you can bet they come from the source or the top.

Bone to pick: "people" didn't put Emerson through anything. Whatever Emerson received was his to bear and far from sufficient payment for his complicity in attacking the democratic process. Emerson and Harper demonstrated that the value of a Canadian ballot is zero in their eyes.

Voters in this election ought to think twice before making their mark.

Breaking news: CTV citing unnamed sources says that David Emerson will not run in the next election.

Emerson won the riding of Vancouver Kingsway in the last election and switched to the Tories when Stephen Harper formed a government. He was unlikely to win this working class riding as a Conservative although the party was prepared to find him a safer riding. But sources say Emerson decided he didn't want to make the lengthy commute back and forth to the capital.

[Editor: ok, if that is your excuse... so be it.]