…the Tories have a new “maverick”, it appears. BC MP John Cummins decided to end whatever faint hopes he ever had of making it to Cabinet by ripping Jim Prentice a new one earlier this week:

OTTAWA–A Vancouver-area Conservative MP has caused a stir by accusing federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and his provincial counterpart of bribing natives into accepting a controversial provincial treaty.

Tory MP John Cummins (Delta-Richmond East) says Prentice and B.C. Aboriginal Relations Minister Mike de Jong are knowingly manipulating the Tsawwassen treaty ratification vote by throwing money at the band.

“They are unfit for office,” Cummins told the Toronto Star last week.

If it wasn’t the summer and I had a bit more energy to devote to this thing, I’d probably try and find some of John Cummins quotes to show that he’s “unfit for office”, but I think the story is enjoyable enough by itself.

In Other News…

-While they didn’t find a female candidate for Outremont, at least they found one with a feminine name. Jocelyn Coulon is the candidate who will be trying to fill Jean Lapierre’s shoes and it looks like he’s a very strong candidate. Expect a good race between the Liberals and NDP for this one.

-And…we’re…all…tied…up. 31-31 in the latest Allan Gregg poll. More interesting is the low support for the Afghanistan mission which, one imagines, will be causing Harper some concern, especially in Quebec.

-Oh, and Adam Radwanski’s tour around the blogosphere continues – this time he’s landed at the Globe & Mail.