A bad day for Dion

National Post ^ | 2008-03-19 | (editorial page)

[Clive]

The usual media suspects greeted us on Tuesday morning with the happiest possible Liberal spin on the federal byelections in Toronto, Vancouver and Saskatchewan. "Liberals win three out of four seats!" No one actually put "Whee!" in the headline, but it would have been consistent with the feigned spirit of jollity at work.

The reality for the Liberal party is much darker, however. The expected byelection result for an opposition party running in seats where they had strong pluralities last time out is pretty clear: it's got to be four-for-four. The Liberals went three-for-four, squeaking by with a paltry 151-vote margin in the ordinarily powerful stronghold of Vancouver-Quadra. And the two runaway winners in Toronto could scarcely be said to have been running on the charisma of leader Stephane Dion. Martha Hall Findlay and Bob Rae were both his opponents in the Liberal leadership race, and both are prominent players in the widely expected war to succeed him.

The balloting in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River was an especially direct test of Mr. Dion's leadership. He took power in the party on a promise of using his plenary powers to redress racial and gender imbalances on the Liberal slate. In handpicking candidate Joan Beatty, who had been re-elected as a New Democrat to the Saskatchewan legislature mere weeks earlier, Mr. Dion alienated the local Liberal rank and file; turned the large First Nations vote and the political private army of protectionist David Orchard against him; sent a tacit message that his identitarian principles would trump local democracy; and reinforced the view that there are no relevant ideological differences between the New Democrats and the Dion Liberals. His perfect storm of autocracy, cluelessness and superciliousness led to a landslide for Conservative candidate Rob Clarke.

It is fortunate for Mr. Dion that the party held Quadra, a seat that John Turner captured in 1984 and that has remained Liberal ever since. It ought to be humiliating for the Liberals that the possibility of a Conservative win was even within the universe of possibilities in a riding full of young UBC students. Dion was just a few busloads of Conservatives away from facing open caucus revolt led by endangered Lower Mainland Liberals and others who see the writing on the wall (which, you'll recall from Sunday school, warned a Babylonian king that "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting").

The correct short summary of Monday night's results is that the party may have gone three-for-four, but the leader batted .000. For years, the Chretien-led Liberals dined out on running against regional rump parties. If the trends apparent in the byelection quartet continue, they may find the old familiar rhetorical weapon turned against them as they circle the red wagons around downtown Toronto.

[Clive]

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[TruthShallSetYouFree]

A bad day for Dion

Is one of The Belmonts suing him?

[goldstategop]

From 1993 to 2004, the federal Liberals benefited from a weak and divided conservative opposition. They were able to win back to back federal Parliament majorities three times in Quebec and Ontario. Those days are gone and the party has a parliamentary deficit west of Manitoba. Stephane Dion is just not very charismatic and he suffers from the handicap of being a Quebecois who has no real support in his own province.

"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 Palelologus

[FreeAtlanta]

[FreeAtlanta]

[FreeAtlanta]