Patrick Brazeau 1, Liberal Party 0

Brazeau cajoles Ignatieff into rejecting voter subsidy for controversial candidate

Senator Patrick Brazeau's tenure in the Senate hasn't been without its share of controversy.

But since the 2011 election campaign got underway, Brazeau -- former National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and a Stephen Harper appointee -- has been like a house on fire.

Of course it isn't as if the Liberals haven't given him enough help. In the Liberal candidate for Manicouagan, the Liberals provided him with a convenient target to attack.

Forbes, of course, is the controversial candidate who described aboriginals as "featherheads". His candidacy has cast doubt not only on the Liberal Party's vetting of its candidates, but also on its ability to respond appropriately when it's uncovered that a candidate is unsuitable.

Forbes is staying in the election, and although he is billing himself as an independent, he'll appear on the ballot as a Liberal.

Which has presented the problem of the Liberal Party receiving per-vote subsidy cash from Forbes' campaign totals; funds Brazeau declared the Liberal Party should reject.

“The racist and hurtful comments by Mr Ignatieff’s candidate in Manicouagan set our society back and threaten to undo the progress we have made together,” Brazeau declared in a statement. “To think that Mr Ignatieff’s Liberal Party will now financially benefit from each vote received by Mr Forbes is an insult to all Canadians and taxpayers."

"This isn’t the vision of Canada that we believe in, and this is hardly the example of the Canada that we want our children to know and love,” Brazeau concluded.

Liberal spokesman Marc Roy declared that the Liberals would oblige Brazeau.

“Any vote subsidies that come in will be returned to Elections Canada,” explained Roy. “For Elections Canada procedures, we can’t remove him from the ballot. He is not running on the Liberal slate and is not endorsed.”

An even better move would be to take those funds and donate them to a charity assisting troubled Aboriginal youths. But so long as the Forbes subsidy isn't lacing the Liberal Party's coffers, that's the important thing.

So rack that up as a small -- but important -- victory for Patrick Brazeau.