It seems that the Liberal Party has chosen Stephane Dion as the new party leader. It was an interesting circus, with Gerard Kennedy being the "king-maker" when he threw his support behind Dion after finishing 4th to Dion's 3rd on the 2nd ballot. Thank God Iggy lost.

The actual convention was quite a scene to watch. Most of the time it looked more like a college football game than a political convention. That's without considering the Liberal-branded condoms being passed out, and the "I'm Liberal" thongs for sale. Actually, with the DJ, the dancing, and the hysterical women in the crowd, it looked more like a college kegger.

My favorite part of the convention was when Ken Dryden started welling up with tears when he got bounced from the ballot. Well, maybe thats second to the fact that Iggy didn't win. I doubt he'll ever run for office again after this, and he'll probably go running back to the States. As the joke goes: "Why was Howard Dean the keynote speaker at the Liberal Convention? Because Ignatieff needed a ride home."

But back to brass tacks. How will Dion fare in the next election, and what issues will be raised?

Dion doesn't have a great track record as Environment Minister, even though he claims to be the Greenest candidate amongst the Liberal bunch. His short stint in the cabinet post produced zero results, and was criticized by the Auditor General because of it.

Even though Dion was the only Quebecois in the race, he is far from loved in Quebec. He made his name in politics being staunchly anti-seperatist. He is a steadfast federalist, which will surely alienate many Quebec voters. He also penned the Clarity Act which set rules for any future referendums on Quebec sovereignty.

His history as a long time Cabinet minister under both Jean Chretien and Paul Martin may hurt him in some circles as well. Many Liberals were looking for a change from the past regimes, to clean up the "old-boys" club, and remove the stigma of the Sponsorship Scandal. Though Dion was not involved personally with the Sponsorship Scandal, he is aligned with many of those who were. At the convention, he was apparently even being promoted as Chretiens favorite cabinet minister.

Dion's English is also not great. It's not terrible, he's still more coherent than Chretien, but it may be a problem with some Westerners. Considering how badly the Liberals need to find some kind of support out West, I'm sure he'll be working hard on a Texas accent. To make matters worse (better), Rex Murphy just said on CBC that Dion was the most Trudeau-like candidate. I thought that prize went to Michael Trudeautieff.

None of these detriments individually would normally harm him. The sum of these short-comings however, may be his downfall. Considering that the environment will be a such a big issue in the next election, Dion's poor track-record will go toe-to-toe with Stephen Harper's current legislation. Things should be interesting.

Labels: Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, politics, Stephane Dion