Politial Missteps: the Victory of Stephane Dion
Through a serious of ballots Stephane Dion, the fourth placed candidate, was catapulted to leader of the Liberal Party. Dion has several liabilities, which highlights, I argue, bad decisions by recent convention delegates in North America.
Letting Dion stride to victory, it could have only been the bad blood of between Ignatieff and Rae that led to them not forming an alliance to stop him. Rae, I think, posed the biggest danger to Harper. Rae provided a clear alternative, and was as a former NDP leader, a left-liberal.
Liberals poured self-adulation at their own feet, failing to realize they were removed from power due to a corruption scandal and an inarticulate leader, Paul Martin. Martin often spoke of his “vision for Canada”. The talk of “hope” by Ignatieff was also aimless.
We are reminded of the election John Kerry, by the American Democrats. When Kerry said, “Bring it on”, it seemed he may fall over. The mistake, with John Kerry was to be too concerned about pandering to the middle. Democrats, like Al Gore, in blue ties, do not win elections. Dion is just not sell-able, for different reasons.
Dion is a Quebecer with no immediate appeal in Western Canada. With demographics shifting to the West, and the Conservatives having their base there, he faces an uphill battle. These are not the days of separation, so electing a Quebecer to keep the country together is no longer a reason to favor him. Worse still, Dion has no wide appeal in Quebec, given his work as a federalist, either. With Steven Harper pushing to recognize Quebec as a Nation within Canada, he has undercut the separatist movement, and improved his position there, too.
Dion, as environment minister, had a questionable record. The liberals have funded the seal hunt, to a loss, for years, and now to attempt to ride to power as defenders of the environment is peculiar. Recycling old slogans about what Canada is pales in the face of the real inequities in this country. Dion makes the other Steven look passable.
Letting Dion stride to victory, it could have only been the bad blood of between Ignatieff and Rae that led to them not forming an alliance to stop him. Rae, I think, posed the biggest danger to Harper. Rae provided a clear alternative, and was as a former NDP leader, a left-liberal.
Liberals poured self-adulation at their own feet, failing to realize they were removed from power due to a corruption scandal and an inarticulate leader, Paul Martin. Martin often spoke of his “vision for Canada”. The talk of “hope” by Ignatieff was also aimless.
We are reminded of the election John Kerry, by the American Democrats. When Kerry said, “Bring it on”, it seemed he may fall over. The mistake, with John Kerry was to be too concerned about pandering to the middle. Democrats, like Al Gore, in blue ties, do not win elections. Dion is just not sell-able, for different reasons.
Dion is a Quebecer with no immediate appeal in Western Canada. With demographics shifting to the West, and the Conservatives having their base there, he faces an uphill battle. These are not the days of separation, so electing a Quebecer to keep the country together is no longer a reason to favor him. Worse still, Dion has no wide appeal in Quebec, given his work as a federalist, either. With Steven Harper pushing to recognize Quebec as a Nation within Canada, he has undercut the separatist movement, and improved his position there, too.
Dion, as environment minister, had a questionable record. The liberals have funded the seal hunt, to a loss, for years, and now to attempt to ride to power as defenders of the environment is peculiar. Recycling old slogans about what Canada is pales in the face of the real inequities in this country. Dion makes the other Steven look passable.
Labels: Dion, Liberal leadership
posted by Anoop Gupta at 21:21
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