CALGARY • Sporting studious new glasses that emphasize his intellectual acuity, Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day today unveiled an aggressive new strategy to deal with his recent legal woes. Mr. Day's first move was not unexpected - he fired the lawyers that botched the Lorne Goddard defamation suit.

In a surprising development, Mr. Day has also retained the services of an impressive new legal team from Brian Mulroney's firm of Ogilvy Renault to launch a professional injury suit against his former lawyers.

"Lawyers are supposed to represent their clients' interests," said Mr. Day, "but by neglecting to settle the suit quickly and quietly despite my instructions, these legal leeches went way beyond their role as lawyers."

Mr. Day fumed that his former lawyers' "reckless and unprincipled actions and total disregard for the truth clearly show that they became arrogant politicians who thought they were above reproach, just like Jean Chretien."

Mr. Day said that it was probably inevitable that his lawyers would become politicians like their client but claimed that "I always looked for the goodness and had faith in them, because I'm an unrepentant optimist."

"In the end their heartless manipulations exposed me to media ridicule, public loathing, alienation by former friends, professional injury and the heartbreak of psoriasis," sobbed a dignified Mr. Day.

"I want to sincerely and humbly apologize to all citizens of Alberta and members of the Canadian Alliance who have felt let down or betrayed by my former lawyers' inexcusable behaviour," he added soulfully.

Mr. Day then insisted that he had now put the personally painful and spiritually devastating incident behind him and was looking forward to concentrating on renewing his leadership of the Canadian Alliance. Meanwhile his new lawyers would get on with their job of "kicking the litigious shit out of those two-bit shysters who screwed up the Goddard case."

Mr. Day was asked if he was disappointed by the less than ringing endorsement he had received from the Alliance National Council and the rumblings of discontent from the party's corporate sugar-daddies.

"It's just the usual carping by ex-Tory and ex-Liberal elites and ethnics who are still sitting on the fence of our party," Mr. Day elucidated.

While admitting that the Bay Street corporate cream who showered his party with cash leading up to the election had received poor mini-bang for its mega-bucks, Mr. Day insisted that the golden faucets were still flowing into Alliance coffers.

"I'm sure they'll be happy as pigs in poop when we start pummelling Paul Martin with our new policies for slashing corporate taxes beyond the bone," said a radiant Mr. Day.