As was expected Dion stepped down as Liberal leader today.
Dion endured smears from the beginning. About his ability to converse in English, his light frame, his backpack and even his ability to answer incredibly poorly worded questions. Conservative ads consistently showed Dion as weak and ineffectual, it was the modern day equivalent of the big dumb bully kicking sand in the face of the nerd.
Though not a Liberal supporter I do think Dion is a man of honour and integrity. And while I don’t necessarily support his policies I do believe he has a great respect for both the country and the environment. In that he showed himself head and shoulders above Harper.
What may be the unkindest cut of all is that so much of the campaign to oust him came from within his own party. He was lured into the shadowy corners of the Big Tent and shived in the back.
John Manley, seen as a possible successor was quoted as saying, “If I were to be critical of Stephane, I think he took the party in a direction where it was fighting in a very crowded field for too few votes on the left side of the spectrum and that’s not where you win elections” The Star
This would seem indicative that the Libs have decided to follow the Conservatives on the track to the right wing fringes. With the majority of Canadians who did vote voting in support of ‘progressive’ parties, and so many choosing to abstain from voting, one wonders what makes them believe this move to conservatism is something the Canadian public wants. After all previous liberal governments have shown that campaigning from the left has served them well.
A move to a right wing agenda would of course be a move away from Dion’s plans for environmental protections and the Greens already represent right wing market based environmentalists. It will be interesting to see where on the political spectrum the Liberal power brokers place the party.
Shortly before the election, in response to Harper’s taunts to the other leaders about quitting if they were not elected as PM, Dion said, “I am not a quitter”. I don’t believe he is. It is too bad though that his party quit him.
I wish Mr Dion well in his future endeavours.
Dion failed as party leader because his party failed him. The right would not embrace him and the left could not do enough to support him. It is the perennial problem of the Liberals. And why Dion and Kennedy are Liberals still plagues me.
I’m seeing some parallels in Dion’s demise to that of Lynda Haverstock in Saskatchewan. As the first woman to lead a political party in the province, she was abandoned by the old boyz, pretty much left to sink or swim on her own. Without the party rallying around her, building community, she could not survive.
Interestingly, the Liberal Party has failed to rebuild itself in Saskatchewan. There are no Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly. And Ralph Goodale is all the federal party has here. The righties have gone to the SaskaTories and the lefties have gone to the NDP.
Hmm…maybe that’s what Layton’s circle working towards.
The way his own party treated him is despicable. The Rovian attack on his character by Harper is heinous. I’m glad Dion didn’t let these so-called “insiders” kick him completely to the curb and I hope he is emboldened to give his caucus the middle finger if they try to contain and manipulate him to play safe with Harper (so that they can make inroads in their respective leadership campaigns).
The LPC are also stupid if they think moving further to the right will help their fortunes. Their brand value slipped tremendously under the misguided leadership of Paul Martin. Martin managed to get a weak minority on the strength of the Liberal brand. He also found out that he had to abandon many of his right leaning inclinations to hold onto government. Unfortunately for him, it was too little to late with Kelowna and universal health care. He had basically set himself up for defeat by trying to pin the blame on AdScam on Chretien and the previous government. As if he could walk away as some innocent and honourable by-stander. It was political suicide and gave Harper and Layton the perfect fodder for his government’s demise.
What the media pundits refuse to admit is that Canadians are by and large progressive people. They keep trying to paint us as far more like the US than we are. Yes, tax cuts sell but so does supporting things we value like public radio, training and employment initiatives, vibrant Canadian arts and culture programs, universal health care, social safety nets that keep every Canadian fed and housed, etc. Stop repeating Harper’s lie that Canadians are now naturally conservative by nature. Screw that.
That should have read universal day care not health care.
*sniff* 🙁 This really sucks, eh?
I’m so pissed off with the Harper-enablers in the LPC. “Shiv” is exactly right!
As for the Konservative propaganda, that was the *only* time I can remember an oppo leader enduring relentless attack ads that began a full year before the writ had even been dropped. Puffin shit? Srsly, Canada? Are we gonna give the next guy/girl swirlies in the gym bathroom? Drrrrrr….
No, Dion was far from ideal, but I truly believe he’s among the best the LPC had going for it, and he woulda made a fine prime minister. Even my protest-voting-dad voted for him, and he hates everybody (esp. Liberals).
Now we get Ffeitangi (cf Alison@Creekside) and friggin
JudasRae. And Manley can go f-hisself with his “too left” B.S. *#$&*(#$(&Dion’s “failure” and fall are but examples of the final flops of a Party that paraded as a movement, that was based on continuing success and little else,
With no continuing reason d’etre, they will, deservidly, fade from the Canadian political scene only to be noted in history books as the party that blocked true progressive movements from success in the political realm by foisting upon the public the idea they were somehow different from the Tories.