Delegates Support The Pundits Choice

Very few would have predicted that Paul Martin's successor would have been standing right behind him when he announced his successor.

Stephane Dion has been one of Canada's best cabinet ministers but the majority of Canadians believed he never would have ran because he never showed interest in the top job before Paul Martin resigned. Dion seemed to be to much of a good guy who didn't have the ambition to fight for the leadership.

But he proved everyone wrong. He made a run for the leadership after several pundits (Coyne and Hebert) made a pitch for Dion to run. He never earned an endorsement from an influential liberal. (Dallaire, Dhalla, Axworthy, Trudeau, Cauchon, Goodale, Campbell, McCallum, Keeper, or Cotler) During the convention Bob Rae was winning the support of all the candidates. (Volpe, Brison, and Dryden) But Dion won the support of the people.

It was clear to everybody that the Martin/Chretien rivalry was reincarnated between the top two candidates Ignatieff (Martin) and Rae (Chretien).

Dion represents the hard-line federalism of Trudeau/Chretien. He is untouched by the sponsorship scandal and is Harper's intellectual foil. But his major weakness is his English and lack of charisma. He is also the third straight Liberal Leader from Quebec. He is not perfect but has the right ingredients to come one of our great Prime Ministers. He can prey on Harper's weaknesses. Dion is a strong advocate against global warming and can quickly restore the Liberal Party's dominance in Quebec.

I will wait to see how Dion adapts to his new role as leader. I am still saddened by the Liberals lack of support for Dryden. Dryden was urged to drop out early but he hung on because he wanted represent a strong nationalist presence within the Liberal party. That view is currently unrepresented by any of Canada's major parties. Canada's Liberal party has turned reactionary and has mainly reacted to events rather than initiating new changes. Dryden initiated new changes through a national daycare program and would have introduced more through his "Big Canada" platform. I can only hope that the new liberal leader will plagiarize Dryden's platform and implement some of Dryden's policy idea of First Nation's advancement and Educational advancement.