A word on the Liberal leadership
Well, it looks like I'm about to proven half-right as I predicted Stephane Dion would be chosen as the new Liberal leader, albeit on the third ballot rather than the fourth.
One thing that has struck me about this convention is how all the talk has been about winning, rather than actually doing good things for Canada. True to form, Jean Chretien continued this trend, having just delivered a speech that was short on coherence and long on mediocrity - similar to his time in office.
As for the final two contenders? They can be measured on three different bases (is that the plural of basis?), in my view.
First, on the national unity file. Ignatieff is far too Mulroney-esque for me on this (special status for Quebec), whereas Dion has risked his professional reputation numerous times in going toe-to-toe with the separatists. Advantage: Dion.
Second, international affairs. I'm a hawk on security, so naturally, I like Ignatieff more here. Dion seems too wedded to the bogus Kyoto deal for my tastes. Advantage: Ignatieff.
Finally, economic issues. It's hard to know where either of these fellas stand on the size of government, productivity, or trade. However, judging from who they've attracted, it's clear that the business-minded folks in the Liberal party (Valeri, Cullen, Brison) are in the Ignatieff camp while Dion boasts fluff like Fry, Bennett and Dryden. Advantage: Ignatieff.
Anyways, they're both good, talented men (even if, as a Quebec Liberal, Dion benefitted from the crookedness around the sponsorship scandal and Ignatieff is a Johnny-cum-lately in terms of Canadian politics), and I look forward to this new era in Canadian politics. Hopefully, Dion's tough talk on unity will help marginalize the separatists (contrary to what the punditry says) and his record on the environment will take a little wind out of the NDP's sails. I also hope that Harper will tack a bit more to the right on issues like taxation and spending to further differentiate himself from Dion.
In any case, even though I'm a proud small-c conservative, you can all continue to look forward to my 100% non-partisan commentary, as always - unless we're talking about socialists or separatists, of course.
ADDENDUM: Is this guy a one-trick pony? It seems like his only issue is the environment. I can't see him beating Harper in an English debate, nor Duceppe in a French one. Plus, even the CBC's main network cut him off halfway through his acceptance speech.
Yikes.
posted by Road Hammer @ 5:08 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
They came so close to breaking the Liberal Party unspoken tradition of alternating between fracophone and anglophone leaders. Funny how that works. Just coincidence, I'm sure, but weird. It has held true since the second leader of the party, Edward Blake, in 1880. (followed by Laurier, King, St Laurent, pearson, trudeau, Turner, Cretien, Martin and now Dion).
At least, from a conservative point of view, I'm glad they didn't choose some charismatic leader with flair (Ignatief) to take on our robotic leader. They chose a professor, book-worm type. Like Dion said, "bring on the election!"
The Liberals, it seems, exist in a bubble where Kyoto, aborignal affairs, and something called the "Kelowna Accord" are public policy priorities. Outside the bubble, it's education, health care, and taxes. Education is a provincial issue, the Tories have proven the Liberal fear-mongering wrong on health, and they win every time on taxes.
The Liberals had a chance to make a good choice with Rae or take a huge gamble on Ignatieff. In either case, the upside potential would have been better than with Dion, a nice guy, but not much else.
B, do you really think that Harper is going to get a majority? I think we're in for a series of successive minorities, thanks to the continued existence of the ethnocentric, parochial and ultimately pointless Bloc Quebecois.
David is right... the Liberal talking points this weekend seemed to be all about Kyoto, Kelowna and "values".
While the environment is growing in importance to the public, I would argue there is no great outcry re Kyoto. And, if it is so important, why not talk about going beyond Kyoto.
As for Kelowna, there is not a word of outcry about this. I would wager most people don't even know what it is, much less care about it.
As for values, the Libs seem to think that their values are the universally accepted Canadian values. Way to embrace diversity guys.
They may win, but not on those issues.
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