TORONTO, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The race to replace Canada's sitting prime minister may be hit with a rule change.
It seems would-be candidates have been complaining that former Finance Minister Paul Martin has such a commanding lead in the contest, they need a better chance to catch-up.
So the Liberal Party is thinking about making its membership forms more accessible.
You'd think the forms to sign up new members would get easy to come by, but you'd be wrong.
Martin supporters now control so many local party organizations in Canada's federal ridings -- voting districts -- those who back another for Liberal leader find the forms are very hard to get indeed.
Right now, the rules -- imposed by "Martinites" on provincial party executives -- give local riding presidents the power to distribute the membership forms.
Anybody denied access could appeal to the provincial party office, but even then could only get five forms at a time.
Changing that limit on the availability of those forms, Liberal Party brass believe, could help put leadership contenders on an equal footing in the race to succeed Jean Chretien.
Deputy Prime Minister John Manley sure hopes so.
He's already warned he won't run unless the rules are changed. But, hey, politicians have been known to issue threats without making good on them.
Liberal organizers say the party is close to approving a proposal that would hand out membership forms in batches of 100 or 200.
The national Liberal executive is scheduled to discuss the matter in a meeting later this month.
There's no rush, though. The leadership convention won't be held until November.
John Manley, meanwhile, may see his eventual leadership bid tarnished by his role in a controversy involving Ottawa's Senators.
We're not talking about the government-appointed members of the upper house of the Canadian Parliament here, but the capital's NHL hockey team.
Manley is under fire for phoning the chief executive officer of a major bank to see if it would help the team -- one of its customers -- avoid bankruptcy.
The deputy prime minister claims he made the call because he represents a riding in Ottawa, but critics lambasted him for not realizing his conflict of interest.
Manley is also Canada's finance minister.
That means he's the guy who has a pretty big say in whether some the country's banks will be able merge their operations, which many hope to do one day.
If and when that happens, Manley will likely have to discuss the issue with that same bank CEO.
The opposition Canadian Alliance wonders if Manley's desperate call to save a hockey team could have had an "I'll-help-you-if-you-help-me" tone to it.
So it has asked the federal ethics counselor to investigate.
The Senators, meanwhile, have filed for bankruptcy protection and are to be sold.
And finally, another law up in smoke.
An Ontario court has ruled Ottawa's medical marijuana laws are unconstitutional.
The Canadian government lets certain people use the drug for medicinal purposes, but makes it illegal for them to buy it -- nor does it supply a source of marijuana.
The court has now given Ottawa six months to change the law.
But the feds haven't decided if they'll appeal the decision.
