Tag: Stephane Dion

Stéphane Dion was leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from December 2006-December 2008.

Dion was elected leader of the Liberal Party after the resignation of Prime Minister Paul Martin after the Liberal election loss in 2006.

Dion’s leadership was marred by frequent gaffes and blunders and his inability to be an effective communicator. His interview with CTV’s Steve Murphy was a turning point in Liberal fortunes during the 2008 election. His hallmark Green Shift policy did not fare much better.

Ultimately, Dion’s mishandling of the 2008 coalition crisis – which saw the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois forming a potential coalition government – resulted in the end of his leadership.

Life after leadership wasn’t bad to Stephane Dion. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Trudeau government and the Canadian Ambassador to Germany.

I’d like to thank Jane Taber!

Not only was Taber was solid on CTV’s MDL as she put the questions to the new Liberal leader Stephane Dion, she used my blog’s research on two separate stories last night. Here’s a transcript:

Jane: Okay. Now on the environmental issue you have said that is one of your three pillars of course. That’s what you campaigned on during the leadership. Yet you have been voted I think seven times in a row the fossil of the year. What do you say to that? Because people have said your environmental plan is not —
Stephane Dion: Seven times in a row?
Jane: Seven times in a year.
Stephane Dion: The Liberal government maybe or over 13 years. Not me. I have been — I have received once this prize.
Jane: We saw the buttons at the campaign.
Stephane Dion: Yes, because of the record of the record other the years. Not because of my own achievement. To the contrary —
Jane: You were part of that government.
Stephane Dion: To the contrary, remember, we brought the world together at the Montreal conference on climate change. You remember that.
Jane: M-hm.
Stephane Dion: We put 182 nations together last December, December, 2005 at the same Palais des Congres where we had the convention last weekend. And at that time, I have been celebrated as a hero, if you allow me to say so, because we saved Kyoto at that time. And I remember that last February for the anniversary of Kyoto, the European caucus of the green party and the Belgium caucus of the green party invited me to celebrate what I have done. And they thought this I was a great minister. One when they discovered I was a Liberal they were a bit disappoint bud they gave me recognition the anyway.
Jane: Why should Canadians trust you? You were part of that government where we did see the greenhouse gas emissions go up.
Stephane Dion: Because I have been a very successful minister of environment. Madam Elizabeth May give me a prize or recognition for what I have done. The —
Jane: She is, of course, the leader of the green party now.
Stephane Dion: yes and also what I have done for nature to protect the — our seabirds. I received a prize for. That I have been a minister of the environment well accepted by the environmental groups and they are not easy. And by the industry when they are ready to work with us, they said that I was really helpful to push environmental technologies in Canada as we should. But since then, the current government is doing nothing. They always blaming us for what we have done. And they are doing nothing. If they are right, they just have to do more than us and I will do much more because this is the issue of the century.

Makes this whole blogging thing feel worthwhile when I can help shape the debate. (see my fossil of the year post here)

Taber also used my last post on Trudeau running in Outremont on the show.

Thanks Jane!

Justin Trudeau to run in Outremont?

I overheard at the convention last weekend that Justin Trudeau is considering a run in the riding of Outremont.

I didn’t put much stock into the rumour, but this makes it more likely to be true (Romeo St. Martin reports that Jean Lapierre may not run again in Outremont). Further, could he sit as an MP under a Dion government given Dion’s hardline with soft Quebec nationalists?

Also, perhaps Trudeau believed that Kennedy (and then Dion) were weak leaders to support so that the eldest son of P.E. Trudeau could run for Liberal leadership in 2008.

Trudeau would be a (future leadership) candidate that would run heavily on personality and the name “Trudeau”. Here’s Blogging Tories Television’s interview with him.

I’m certain that it’s not a question of if but when and when may come sooner than we think if Lapierre’s vacating of Outremont (again, perhaps because of Dion) is true.

A Justin Trudeau run in the riding of Outremont? You heard it here first.

The latest Strategic Counsel poll

So, about the latest Strategic Counsel poll that shows the Liberals at 37% and the Conservatives at 30%.

I’ve checked the methodology of the poll and it seems to be what I call an “honest poll” (ie. that the pollster has the ballot question first without prompting respondents with questions that either outline successes or failures of any party — check this post for more discussion).

So, the methodology is straight-forward. However I cannot square the main result (LPC 37%, CPC 30%) with the results of this question:

Now that Stéphane Dion is the new Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, would you say you are significantly more likely, somewhat more likely, the same, somewhat less likely or significantly less likely to vote Liberal than you were before the Convention?

Total more likely: 20%
The same: 47%
Total less likely: 26%

This question should indicate that Canadian are less likely to vote for the Liberals under Stephane Dion.

However, the ballot question indicates the Liberals over the Conservatives with 37% to 30%, respectively.

The two results are in conflict. The only explanation is that the Liberals had higher support than 37% before the convention.

Ipsos put them at 25-27% to a Conservative 38% just a few days before Dion was elected leader.

The only thing that we know for certain is that we don’t have a clear picture of what is going on yet.

I’ll wait for SES numbers.