For anyone who thinks the Alberta Liberal Party is in rough shape, it’s important to remember that things could be a lot worse.

Take, for example, the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. Just recently they sent out an e-mail to their members proudly announcing that…(wait for it)…

SASKATCHEWAN LIBERAL ASSOCIATION TO KEEP ITS REGISTERED PARTY STATUS

REGINA, Wednesday, June 29, 2005 The Chief Electoral Officer, Jean Ouellet, announced today that the Saskatchewan Liberal Association will keep its registered political party status in Saskatchewan.

The legal deadline for registered political parties to file their annual return of the party’s receipts and expenses for the fiscal year 2004 was midnight, May 2, 2005, The fling deadline is determined by The Election Act, 1996 and an extension of the filing deadline is not possible. All registered parties in Saskatchewan, with the exception of the Saskatchewan Liberal Association, were able to meet this deadline.

Yes, it’s gotten to the point where the party is proud that them missing their filling deadline was deemed an act of incompetence rather than malfeasance. In itself, this isn’t too upsetting since they’re not exactly going to be forming government anytime soon but this is a party made up of, by and large, Ralph Goodale’s political machine. And since Ralph has been replaced by Jack Layton for all intents and purposes, it’s hard to understand how these people were too busy to meet the deadline.