Despite Stephane Dion’s claims to the contrary it appears the rest of the party is planning for his speedy departure from office. Yesterday, Stephen Taylor blogged about the ‘Frank McKenna for PM’ website pushing to replace Dion with McKenna.
Today, the Toronto Star reports:
Devastated by the disappointing showing of his party in the election, Stéphane Dion is expected to announce today that he will step aside as Liberal leader.
Unlike the other party leaders, he made no public appearances yesterday, instead huddling with his family and advisers. Party insiders said he would remain as leader until the Liberals choose a successor.
I’m pretty sure I heard the sound of knives being sharpened on election night. I’m a bit surprised, however, that one of the first knives we see sticking out of Dion’s back comes from the Toronto Star. After all, they were the only large newspaper to endorse Stephane Dion for Prime Minister.
Today, only two days after the election the Star has this to say about their chosen leader:
It’s no secret that Dion – a reserved, unexciting former professor – was a liability for Liberal candidates on voters’ doorsteps, and that his Green Shift plan to fight climate change with a carbon tax turned off voters.
The Star continues its hatchet job:
Liberal Jim Karygiannis implied he would like Dion to step down but said the future of his leadership would be up to the Liberal caucus.
“As a caucus we have to see where we went and where we’re going and how we go,” he said. “The leader also has to decide in his own mind what he wants to do. Is he staying or is he going?
“You don’t go from 95 to 76 – you know,” he said, trailing off. “It was the worst performance we did in years. … We’re going to have to think about that one.”
Karygiannis said the national campaign did nothing to help him get re-elected in the Scarborough-Agincourt riding he has held for 20 years. “There was no message from the national campaign. There was no theme that we’ve seen and certainly the message from the leader’s office was not getting through.”
Defeated Nova Scotia Liberal Robert Thibault said the weak national campaign likely had an effect on the traditionally tight race in West Nova, where he lost to Conservative Greg Kerr.
“I was fortunate to win it three times, but the Green Shift was a very, very difficult sell,” he said.
Thibault believes Canada will eventually adopt a policy similar to the Green Shift, but, politically, Dion went about it the wrong way.
“He was trying to put it through without proper debate in my mind,” Thibault said. “It would have been better to put a green paper forward, tell Canadians: `This is what I’m considering, this is the direction I’d like to go. How do we make this work for you? What are the problems with it?’”
[...]
Insiders said problems with the Green Shift were compounded by Dion’s inability to fight effectively the negative attacks that the Conservatives’ Stephen Harper launched against the proposal.
One organizer for a Liberal candidate said Dion was a tough sell as a leader because he appeared weak when he repeatedly passed up chances to defeat the Harper government and force an election. The Liberals held back because, under Dion’s leadership, polls showed the party was not in a winning position. Senator David Smith, a Liberal campaign co-chair, said it would be wrong for anyone in the party to pressure Dion to step down immediately. He said Dion was in “a period of soul-searching” yesterday.
So, during the election the Green Shift was the best thing since sliced bread and Dion’s campaign was second to none. After the election, the Green Shift was a disaster and the national campaign was disorganized and ineffective? With friends like this…
The Globe and Mail, in the aptly titled “Knives come out swiftly for Dion” seems to contradict the Star’s assessment that Dion is planning to quit. Rather:
Stéphane Dion will face pressure to declare within days that he will end his troubled leadership of the federal Liberal Party and let the machinery start rolling to replace him, senior party members said yesterday.
This certainly seems more plausible considering Dion didn’t mention quitting in his speech, unlike Paul Martin, and insisted he was ready to be the leader of the opposition.
Its obvious from the Globe article just how deep Liberal’s are willing to plunge the knife:
One well-connected party member suggested wryly that if Mr. Dion, noted for his stubbornness and a tendency not to take counsel from within his party, didn’t announce quickly that he is stepping down, the party should move the furniture out of his office.
Ouch.
Then again, there may be some method to the Liberal’s madness. According to the Globe:
The party is in debt. It can’t afford both a leadership review and a leadership convention. Liberals close to the major contenders in the 2006 leadership convention that elected Mr. Dion vowed there would be discipline in the party, and no unseemly attempts to push Mr. Dion out the door. Most speculation is that the leader’s mantle will be draped on either Michael Ignatieff or Bob Rae, both Toronto MPs who placed second and third respectively to Mr. Dion in 2006.
As always, the Liberals seem to be acting in their own best interests. Rather than allow their party leader to continue performing his duties until a leadership review, then spend money on a leadership convention if the party at large decides to replace him, the self-serving “well-connected” party members are trying to save a few bucks by convincing Dion to fall on his sword instead.
Sadly, I don’t think Dion even realizes what’s going on. From the Globe again:
“How do you do a putsch on a guy who doesn’t understand he’s being putsched?” [a well-connected Liberal] asked.
The ides of October have come and gone, but Dion still may have his Et tu, Brute? moment.
- Rafael.
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