Some people went a little berserk over my recent post about the potential political consequences of a former prime minister dying.

They thought this topic wasn't worthy of coverage.

In a nutshell, I wrote that if Jean Chretien passes away, support for the federal Liberals will go up, enhancing their chance of winning the next election.

The timing of this post, shortly after he had successful brain surgery, was deemed by some to be in bad taste.

At the risk of inflaming the blogosphere, I'm going to offer my thoughts on the potential political consequences if any of the five other living former prime ministers die (which they obviously will eventually).

Paul Martin's passing would also help the federal Liberals. People will look back and say that he got a raw deal on the sponsorship scandal.

Moreover, they'll credit him for balancing the books as finance minister and boosting Canada's profile on the world stage.

The current finance minister, Jim Flaherty, is a duffer in comparison, ringing up huge budget deficits and leaving no real lasting mark.

Kim Campbell and John Turner were each prime minister for a few months. Both weren't there long enough to leave an impression, so the political impact of their deaths would likely be minimal.

Now, I'll move on to Brian Mulroney. If he dies, it will also have little effect on the political landscape.

He's hardly beloved, particularly after it was revealed that he accepted either $225,000 or $300,000 in cash from Karlheinz Schreiber.

Mulroney's Red Tory approach, which included some progressive environmental policies, differed significantly from the distinctly more right wing policies of the Stephen Harper Conservatives. So there won't be a positive or negative effect here for federal politicians.

Mulroney may have been Corporate Canada's favourite prime minister, but he was also a consistent opponent of apartheid in South Africa. This is not enough to redeem him in the eyes of many Canadians.

The last former prime minister on the list is Joe Clark.

He's widely seen as a decent man who made a fatal political mistake: jacking up taxes on gasoline. Clark refused to make peace with Harper when Harper headed the Canadian Alliance.

When Clark eventually passes away, as he must at some point, many older Canadians will look upon him with some fondness.

There will be some coverage of his differences with Harper, which could, on balance, tip a small amount of support toward the federal Liberals if Harper is still prime minister.

Clark's demise wouldn't have nearly as much effect as Chretien's death on federal politics.

I'm guessing that some people will condemn this blog post as ghoulish.

Here's my response: have you ever speculated on what might happen to the monarchy after Queen Elizabeth dies?

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.