TORONTO, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Summer's over. And so, it seems, is the party.
A frosty chill has cast a pall over a bid to unite the right in Canada.
That's because the country's two right-wing political parties -- the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance -- have decided to go their separate ways.
It started last weekend when the Conservatives, i.e. the Tories, snubbed a plan that would have seen the two parties cooperate in the next federal election.
The whole idea was that candidates in certain ridings would unopposed by the other party as a way to avoid splitting the right-wing vote.
But, alas, it was not meant to be.
Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper officially withdrew his offer to form a coalition with the Conservatives on Monday -- and seemed mighty grumpy when he did.
"It certainly appears that they have slammed the door on any cooperation," Harper said. "Our focus now will be on building ourselves as an alternative to the Liberals."
Harper also suggested that the two parties hold a joint leadership race that would unify the right.
Trouble is, he didn't deliver that message very tactfully and was quickly scorned by Conservatives who didn't appreciate being pushed into a merger.
If anything, Tory faithful think they're stronger now after almost being wiped out at the polls in the '90's.
"We were a demoralized party then," one convention delegate explained. "We are not a demoralized party now."
Coalitions haven't exactly been kind to the Tories lately.
They formed a coalition with some Alliance dissidents in the House of Commons, but that didn't last long either. They returned to the Alliance ranks when Harper took over as leader in April.
Still, some right-wing Canadians were shattered to see headlines declaring talk of unity dead and fear the left will only benefit.
"The Liberals in Ottawa will be pouring champagne," Patrick Brown put it bluntly, "because they have just won another election."
Sure, every political party has got its problems -- unofficial leadership campaigns, coalitions gone kaput and gloomy reports from pollsters.
But only the Conservatives have a man named Lord on their side who may just be their savior.
He is Bernard Lord and he is the 36-year-old premier of New Brunswick, a maritime province that borders Maine.
Conservatives like his youthful zeal, penchant for cutting taxes and his vow to make "our parliamentary democracy the most open and accountable anywhere."
Lord pressed the flesh at the Tories' national convention last weekend and won some new followers, but he hasn't said yet whether he's interested in the party's top job.
And finally, the scandal that brought down British Columbia's socialist premier.
Dubbed Casinogate, it held promise as a jaw-dropping court case -- complete with secret recordings, a shady police informant and a brand new deck.
Prosecutors alleged former premier Glen Clark's old neighbor, Dimitrios Pilarinos, performed $1,800 worth of renovations on Clark's home without charge.
All in a bid, the court heard, to use the premier's influence with Pilarinos' application to run a government-licensed casino.
Clark was charged with breach of trust and accepting a benefit in October 2000. He resigned his post and watched his beloved New Democratic Party get walloped in the next provincial election.
Well, it turns out a judge found the former premier not guilty of all counts this week.
The verdict means taxpayers will have to foot Clark's legal bill -- an estimated $1 million.
