Radio-Canada brought news this week of a schism among the federal Liberals’ backroom staffers: 52 have apparently refused to campaign for the party in the upcoming LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection, in protest over the party’s perceived insufficient support for Gaza.

These are so-called “exempt staff,” not regular civil servants. They serve entirely at the party’s pleasure, and the party will not be pleased by this — especially since this news arrives not long after the Liberals lost the Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection over the party’s perceived insufficient support for Israel.