Posted on 12/02/2006 6:45:31 PM PST by Loyalist
Dark horse candidate Stéphane Dion surged from fourth to first to claim the federal Liberal leadership, defeating Michael Ignatieff on Saturday in the final ballot.
Dion garnered 2,521 votes in the fourth-round tally, or about 54 per cent of the delegates, ahead of Ignatieff, who received 2,084 votes, or about 46 per cent.
"The most exciting race in the history of our party is over," Dion told a jubilant crowd of some 5,000 delegates Saturday evening at the party's convention in Montreal. "Let's get ready for the election."
The new leader, who initially was given little chance to win, hailed his fellow candidates surrounding him on stage as a "Liberal Dream Team" that would defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tory government.
"We do not believe the Conservatives have bad intentions; we simply believe they lead to bad results," he said.
Dion also made light of running over the allowed time in his speech Friday evening, in which the end of his address was cut off by music.
"Last night, some of you were left to wonder what I was going to say in the rest of my speech," he said. "One of the perks of leadership is that they won't cut your microphone."
Dion leapt ahead of Ignatieff after a third round of voting in the race to lead the party, as Bob Rae was dropped off the final ballot.
"We have chosen a man of principle, a man with vision, a man with courage, a man with conviction," Ignatieff said after crossing the convention floor and conceding defeat. "He will have my entire support."
Rae released his delegates to vote as they wished.
The former Ontario premier lost delegate support, despite heading into the third ballot with backing from two other candidates who earlier dropped out — Ken Dryden and Scott Brison.
As for Dion, he went into the third ballot with support of fellow candidates Gerard Kennedy and Martha Hall Findlay.
After the third-ballot upset, Dion said he was "extremely happy, extremely proud — when I think of where we were in the beginning and where we are now."
"Hey, I'm the front-runner now," Dion told reporters with a huge grin on his face right after the results were read out.
With the shakeup and Rae out of the race, Dryden said his new pick for leader was Dion.
"My criteria all along is who is the best choice for running the country," Dryden said.
Dion became the third federal Liberal leader in a row from Quebec and the 11th leader of the party.
Dion's campaign focused on his track record as environment minister under Paul Martin and long record of working at high levels within previous Liberal governments.
Married with one daughter, Dion, 51, earned a BA and MA in political science from Laval University before obtaining a doctorate from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.
He was recruited by Jean Chrétien to run in the 1996 federal election and was elected in the Quebec riding of Saint-Laurent-Cartierville.
Dion held the post of minister for intergovernmental affairs for seven years but was dropped from cabinet in December 2003, when Paul Martin was sworn in as prime minister. The move was viewed as punishment for his close ties with Chrétien and unpopularity with several prominent Quebec Liberals.
Martin later brought him back into cabinet as environment minister after the Liberals won a minority government in the June 2004 election. In this role, Dion earned high praise for his work chairing the UN Climate Change summit in Montreal in 2005.
As a teen, Dion flirted with sovereigntists by campaigning for the Parti Québécois while studying at a Jesuit college in Quebec City, but later dismissed the activities as an adolescent challenge of his father, a towering federalist figure.
'Delegates go where the heck they want to' Before the final results, Ignatieff told reporters he was not bothered that some candidates threw their support behind his rivals because he was still getting a lot of votes from delegates.
Ignatieff was the leader in delegate support after first-ballot results were announced just after midnight Saturday, but he had nowhere near the 50 per cent plus one majority needed to claim the job outright.
He received 29.3 per cent of the votes, ahead of Rae, who garnered 20.3 per cent. Dion narrowly finished third with 17.8 per cent.
The Liberal Party of Canada has proven that whenever it's given the choice to pick a different sort of leader, it will always pick the Quebec lawyer or Quebec academic instead.
Even if Quebecois can't stand him and he speaks bad English. Perhaps especially for those reasons.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Another Thief?
What happened to Clinton's bimbo girlfriend? I thought she was running.
Wow, this guy just screams excitement. He looks like the fella who was examining my prostate last time at the urologist.
Yes, Dr. Gland.
Casper Milquetoast the tall drink of water metrosexual. LOL
You said it!
The Globe & Mail article contained the kiss of death from Paul Martin:
"With the all of the candidates gathered on the stage, former leader Paul Martin predicted Mr. Dion would be the next prime minister."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Bet they call this new guy "The Wanderer".
He's never in one place, but roams from town to town......
She dropped out of consideration early in the campaign.
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