Liberals shoot down floor-crossing rumours

Well, that was quick:

Federal Liberals denied a report Tuesday that three of their party's MPs were interested in crossing the floor to join the Tories.

Liberal MPs Ken Dryden and Marc Garneau told reporters in Ottawa that the talk was Conservative mischief and an attempt to sow dissension in the party.

A report in the Toronto Star on Tuesday cited an anonymous Conservative government official, who said the party had discussions with three Liberals in the last month about crossing the floor.

Ruby Dhalla, the MP for the Ontario riding of Brampton-Springdale, was one of the names mentioned in the story.

Asked by CBC News if she was defecting, Dhalla responded: "No."

She also said no Tories contacted her about crossing the floor, and she had never thought about defecting.

Source. Makes you wonder what was really going on there. Were the Cons trying to sow dissention in the Liberal ranks, or did the Liberals lead them on in the hope that they'd embarrass themselves by going to the press with a false story? It's hard to imagine the whole thing being an innocent misunderstanding, in any case.