On Tuesday, former B.C. premier Christy Clark plopped out of the federal Liberal leadership race with the usual brusque announcement on Twitter. It is not too much to say that Clark became something of a national laughingstock last week after insisting on her perfect federal-Liberal bona fides.

After announcing her prospective candidacy, she insisted that she had never been a member of the federal Conservative party. Thousands of people immediately flashed back to years of close co-operation between her B.C. Liberals and the federal Conservatives. Others recollected that she was a very public supporter of Jean Charest in the 2022 CPC leadership race, and that she had specifically declared her intention to join the CPC and cast a vote for Charest.