Liberal Leadership

I'm not sure whether I am happy or not about Stephane Dion stepping down, perhaps as early as this week. He is an intelligent politician, he looks at facts and statistics before supporting new policy proposals. Many other MPs simply vote along party lines or according to their political ideologies.

One reason that many European decmocracies are so successful is that parties spend a lot of time examining the science behind policy proposals. They crunch the numbers, they take polls, they interview the experts. In Canada, whatever the Conservative party feels is a good idea, must be a good idea, and it's put to a vote in the House, without any public consultation or examination of facts. Just exactly how did Harper think that his last budget would pass with all the crankpot ideas in that scrap of legislation?

Dion is an academic. An intellectual. He would have been great in a European democracy. Sadly, Canada, with its majoritarian (38% forms a government!?), first-past-the-post system, politicians with an "I'll do what I want" attitude are successful; intellectuals and academics like Mr. Dion are simply punted to the side.

Enter Michael Ignatieff. The Liberal version of Mr. Harper. A man who feels that he can do as he pleases. We are going to see a polarized Parliament. Ignatieff is going to carve out an ideology for the Liberal Party and thus make it unappealing to Canadian voters. There is a small chance he will adopt the "Third-Way" model, which is what Britain's Labour Party has done so well over the past two decades. But I'm worried that, due to his competitive nature, he will seek to differentiate both himself and the Liberal Party from Mr. Harper and the Tories. In doing so, he will alienate Third-Way voters, and force people to become either Liberals or Conservatives. I tell you right now, the majority, when faced with such a polarized decision, will choose the latter over the former. That is to say, that more people will come to identify themselves with the Tories rather than the Liberals. The Liberal Party would drop to 50 seats in such an event (as there will no doubt be another election within 2 years), the NDP would stay the same, the Bloc would gain a few, but the Conservatives would have their majority.

Right now, as "useless" as Dion might seem to the party, he is able to see past his own desires - he has been described by MANY as having little to no self-ambition. He is able to envision a coalition, something that the pompous Ignatieff cannot accept, or refuses to, on grounds that the Liberal Party is not a small, fledgling party but rather is a party with more than a century of tradition, a party that can be a national contender. Yeah right Ignatieff. The Liberals will not regain the popularity they enjoyed during Chretien's rule for at least 10 more years (at which point they'll achieve a smashing majority). But now is not the time.

Rather, until voters forget about the sponsorship scandal and until the Conservatives plunge our country into greater economic disaster, Canadians will continue to buy into Harper's cavalier, "get 'er done" mentality. For he speaks for the average, working-class Joe. At least that's what they think. He speaks for joe public on one hand and accepts huge payouts from Canadian and American big business with the other. But it's going to take 10 more years to see change in that department.

So we have a 10 year wait Iggy. Please don't play "politics" or the Liberal Party will be destroyed. Canadians don't want to see "politics" right now. This coalition ianitiative is the best thing the Liberal Party has going for it, as their unpopularity is cancelled out by the small but steady popularity of the Bloc and the NDP. You need to hold on to them!!! Not the other way around. Stick with the parties and keep the high horse in the barn. Please, for the sake of our country, and the Liberal Party of Canada.