Stephane Dion strikes me as a genuine, knowledgeable, well-intentioned politician but I no longer believe he has the necessary qualities to lead the Liberal Party and Canada through the decade to come.
Dion has many qualities but he's a poor communicator, in English at least, and that alone leaves him decidedly unsuited to lead the party.
The big challenge, even Harpo now admits, is the looming problem of global warming. It is going to require solid leadership and vision at all levels - international, regional, national, provincial, even municipal. It is a challenge that is going to require the private and the public sector and the several institutions through which they're intertwined to work in a tightly synchronized manner, a new way of doing business. It is also going to depend on solid support from the citizenry which will furnish the fuel to drive both the business and public sectors.
Stephane Dion, sadly, isn't the man for this job. Harper obviously isn't either. Dion could serve as an invaluable asset to a new leader. The party and the country would be much the better off for that. However he's had enough time to show he can connect with the Canadian public and he just hasn't done it.
The Liberal Party needs to position itself to be able to fight the next election(s) on the global warming issue. That means connecting with the voters in a way that persuades them of the need to take action, make sacrifices.
We haven't got cities bombed, ships torpedoed or civilians strafed along roadsides to mobilize the electorate and yet the sacrifices we will have to call for from them will be similar to those of our past wartime experience. It's a challenge made tougher yet by the denial industry that would lull the public into indifferent complacency for short-term commercial gain.
I am convinced that Harper is deliberately planning to subvert the greenhouse gas emissions problem. This is one issue that can't be sorted out without a lot of pain and long-term sacrifice. You can't get the public to accept that without thoroughly selling it to them first. Harpo is not about to do that. His approach is the "poison pill" tactic. Cherry pick some token measures and dump them on an unprepared public. Give'em a taste of the lash. Let them know that worse is to follow but do not properly justify, explain or persuade. If the voters will tolerate anything at all it will be no more than relatively meaningless half-measures and that, for Harpo, is a huge win.
These are some of the hurdles the person who leads the Liberal Party into the next decade will have to clear. This is going to be a hard sell - making big sacrifices for the next several decades to make good an environmental time bomb left by previous generations, all in order to save generations to come that are beyond our real comprehension. It will necessitate weaning society off consumerism when the private sector is based on over consumption. It will mean revisiting our concepts of wealth and poverty, the way we define citizenship and our social compact and many side issues beyond our immediate contemplation.
12 comments:
Pretty darn early for people to be throwing the new leader to the wolves just yet. You disappoint me.. and i'm wondering what exactly has caused this reaction today by you.
Both Harper and Chretien had initial difficulties as the new leader of the opposition... and they had far longer time (and in the case of Harper, 1 election) to get things straightened out. You need patience - Dion has always been underestimated and taken lightly by other's before.. and he has come back to surprise them.
You must have been listening too much to the Cons . the media is at fault, too . A good liberal does not stab their leader in the back like you have done.
I wrote a post awhile back about the need for the Liberal Party to unite around Dion, if we are going to have any hope of winning the next election.
I think negative notions about Dion’s leadership are helping to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The truth is, while Dion hasn’t done that great, he hasn’t done that badly either. And he seems to be improving over time, both with his English and with his image. I suspect that overly critical analyses of Dion’s short time as leader are likely embedded in the illusion, in the minds of some in the Liberal Party, that a new leader would lead us immediately back into government.
It is far too early to judge his success or failure as leader. Creating an insurgency to unseat Dion will simply divide the Party, and ensure us a seat on the opposition benches for a long time to come.
Now, to be completely honest, I was behind Dion for the leadership from the beginning, and I understand that not everyone shares my feelings about his personal attributes and likely abilities as leader and eventual prime minister. That said the reality is he will get, at the very least, the chance to fight at least one election. So, until we know how that election goes, I think the best thing for the party to do is to support Dion’s leadership. Dion has perpetually been underestimated, and has more often than not proved his critics wrong.
well, that is who we Liberals chose and will run.
So, if you don't like "genuine, knowledgeable, and well-intentioned" amd prefer a "communicator", I guess we aren't the party for you.
sure sound like a social democrat.
Consume less, share better.
I'm sorry but, to me, the environmental issue is greater than you obviously see it. I haven't been somehow turned by the conservative media. As much as anyone I wanted Dion to prevail but I've waited to see that instinct and talent from him and he's long in his area but that's not enough. I won't work for anyone but the Libs in the next election and I'm not contesting that he was more than duly chosen to lead the Liberal Party. I'm just saying that I think we need something a bit different in the coming years. But do not ever expect me to put party loyalty above this issue. I want to look for the best person possible, the one who has the best chance of energizing the people to back change.
"As much as anyone I wanted Dion to prevail but I've waited to see that instinct and talent from him and he's long in his area but that's not enough."
The Liberal party renewal process cannot be based on the leader alone. What you said here is almost a blanket dismissal. I would like to tell you to hang in there because there is potential in the party and that you are not alone. But your critique perceives you as merely a nutroot who has too much to say.
So like Scott said, you have also disappointed me and made Jan happy due to your blogpost.
If you are as concerned about the environment as you say, you should wake up everyday thanking God that Dion was elected leader last year.
He is the ONLY politician who forces this issue on a daily basis.
You can pick at his improving English but don't discount the man's vision.
I totally agree...good man but just does not have leadership capabilities...signed gramps....too bad kennedy screwed us.
Yeah I wonder where this came from too. If the environment is a big issue I have no doubt that Dion is the person for the job, especially when he brings it into an integrated economy argument, not to mention social justice. Everything you said implies that you should be glad we have the leader we do, but your conclusion doesn't seem to fit those ideas.
Personally I am more and more impressed everyday with Dion as leader. It seems like he is allowing the Cons to wallow in their own muck all the while preparing a principled platform from which to take the high ground by making better, more sound, policy.
To be honest I supported Dion throughout the leadership, so my views are somewhat biased. I do agree with the sentiment Dion is often underestimated and proven successful time and again.
Like everybody else who has commented here, I'm going to support Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party in the next election. Mine, unfortunately, is a safe "Reform/Alliance" riding and Mr. Dion probably won't change that. He just doesn't seem to be making any inroads out here. He's not connecting with my community and I guess that's reflected in the way both Dion and Harper are stalled in the polls. Winning an election is a minor challenge compared to "closing the deal" with the Canadian people on global warming.
WTF. Oh grow up everyone. If WE can't critique our own party, discuss our strengths and weaknessess then we might as well be like Harper's army of the righteous and blindly "follow the leader". With and attitude like that no wonder we aren't getting quality leaders out of our ranks. I will vote for Dion too, but he needs to step it up and YOU ALL KNOW that to be true.
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