None of this comes as a surprise;
Dion’s dismal ratings as a potential PM are in league with those of John Turner, Stockwell Day and other great political leadership disasters of our time.
Perhaps even more to the (sword) point, Dion is now virtually tied with NDP leader Jack Layton as the voters’ choice for best prime minister.
It is certainly not news that from the day Dion won the Liberal leadership four months ago, his abysmal communications skills and lack of political toughness and have failed to inspire his own party, much less the Canadian electorate.
But as SES pollster Nik Nanos says: “Everyone knew the situation for Dion was bad — just not this bad.”
However, I’m not sure how seriously we should take his findings – further down in the column, Nanos inadvertantly reveals he didn’t follow the Liberal leadership convention.
As pollster Nanos points out, the Grits chose Dion leader, in large part, hoping they could “fix their brand in Quebec and re-engage Quebecers” with the Liberal party after the sponsorship fiasco.
Either that, or he’s fully engaged in rewriting history.
Dion was not “chosen” to do anything of the sort. Nor, as the Liberals have desperately tried to convince us, was he chosen because of grassroots concern over the environment. When the dust had settled, it was the refusal of Ignatieff’s people to support Rae, and Rae’s supporters to move to Ignatieff that left Dion positioned to take the “Anybody But” vote.
In a field where most of the potential leaders had taken a pass, Dion started as a second tier candidate for the same reason that cripples him now – he’s a follower, not a leader. He has a meter reader’s ability to inspire. And now that he faces pressure, he responds accordingly – he whines.
“Unfair”.
“Bully”.
These aren’t words used by those accustomed to winning their own battles. We recognize that, because we all went to grade school.
Dion lacks the temperament of men who seek to be the pointy end of the spear. Indeed, he finds spears to be distastefully American, their use unsustainable. Spears frighten, and are best regulated by the UN (other nation’s leaders).
The ordinary citizen may not follow politics closely, may even agree with his stated policies, but they recognize weakness in a heartbeat. It makes voters nervous, and for good reason – weak leaders make for weak nations.
The Liberals need look no further than their own internal feuds and vindictiveness to understand how it happened.
I always thought that going into the leadership race that the Liberal’s were generally to left for someone like Ignatieff, and many were somewhat concerned about Bob Rae’s sellibility in Ontario for example. I think Dion spends to much time sounding like he is lecturing people, and telling us about how we should do things that he for the most part has know real knowledge on. (telling people not to go for the easy money in the oil fields) Although I am perfectly fine with his leadership because there is none!
Yippee, bigger question is why 40% of Ontario will still vote Liberal. WTF?
Meter readers everywhere will take great offence to this post. What did they do to deserve such wrath. I can’t even think of a suitable replacemtn that wouldn’t be torn up over being compared to that putz.
Kate, you said it all !!
No spin, no slant, no propaganda.
Right to the point, tell it like it is.
I have waited all my life to hear/read from some jurno, any jurno, who would speak the truth on Canadian politics. In 40 years nothing from the TO Star, nothing from the Van Dusens of the PPG, nothing from Mansbridge.
It took an ordinary person from small town Sask to show them the way. Voted #1 blog in Canada !!
The important thing here is that Kate is not doing it for fame or glory or $$. She is revealing the folly of Canadian MSM political reporting because it is the correct thing to do. She is not alone. The media likes to think the Kates are just the “fringe”. Go ahead. Keep on believing your own skewed polls too. Correcting them only when they have to, like now.
Dion was elected leader of the LPC by the latte/basket-weaving crowd. Not for real environmental concerns but for the Suzuki type of fanaticism. How could they make such a mistake ?? Simple. They do not have a clue. Why not ?? Because they have been sheltered from the way Canadians really feel by the Boags, Tabers, O’Rileys and Galloyways of the world. Also kept in the dark by some wako profs and our public school “system”. IMO. Perhaps the liberal delegates were also tired of the Maurice Strongs and Demarais’ pulling the strings.
Weak Leaders make for weak nations!
Yep ….. amend that to Liberal/Socialist leadership ( oxymoron) leads to weak nations.
Witness:
Canada
Britain
Most of Europe
Every third world toilet you can name.
He’s just not getting it done …..
nice to see Citoyen Dion’s popularity in the tank. Sadly – Alberta ended up with the same end state – a third choice lightweight.
Alberta’s new premier sure doesn’t strike me as having any deep thoughts, and worse, clings to nepotism like a dog to a bone.
Albertans have not had a ‘conservative’ government for many years – and now we have this baby kissing back slapper for the same reason the Liberals are stuck with their new mutt….
Yuk Yuk Yuk! :0)
And this is surprising how? I thought it was almost a given that after the last election, the next leader of the Lieberals would be a sacrificial lamb, a Kim Campbell so to speak. So far M Dion has lived up to his expectations or lack there of.
*
Did everybody miss this? Dion was elected by a
politically correct stunt…
— MONTREAL (CP) — It seemed a harmless gesture to
reward the lowliest candidate for a gallant campaign.
It may have changed the course of the Liberal
leadership race, handing the crown to Stephane Dion.
*
I talked with an Italian today – who explained why The Italians all vote Liberal. Because Trudeau opened the immigration floodgates – while Diefenbaker had kept them closed.
The fact that Trudeau did it only to set up a voting block for the Liberals – is irrelevant to these voters. The fact that Trudeau’s Charter has nothing to do with human rights and freedoms (which we had before) but with dividing Canada up into two antagonistic Blocs (the ROC and Quebec) and the ROC further into isolate ethnic groups – these facts are not part of their mindset.
They only know that the Liberals are the Party of Immigrants. And since Canada is a nation of Immigrants; and Canada is multicultural and keeps the immigrants defined by their origin, rather than defined as Canadians. So this definition locks them into being part of the Liberal family. They aren’t Canadian; they are Italian – and the Liberals are about Original Immigrants and Multiculturualism.
Harper is taking the view that we are all Canadian. Never mind where our grandparents came from – we and our children are here now, and must build a country together. The Liberals take the view that we are instead ‘children of our origins’.
But, building a nation by enclosing people into their ethnic origins requires a higher level – above the diverse and adversarial multicultural groups. That’s the government, which emerges as an elitist bureaucracy that makes all the decisions. And bribes the ethnic groups. Such a structure is undemocratic and a haven for corruption. – ergo – the Liberal party.
However, cutting this link between the immigrants and the Liberal Party will be difficult, because we have set up, with our Charter, a deliberate agenda of refusing to allow us all to be just Canadians. Instead, our agenda has been to bond us to our immigrant origins. That splinters the population into, as I said, adversarial groups. Ripe for the political picking.
As for Dion – he’s an academic in the humanities and social sciences – an area noted for its irrelevance and cloud dwellers. He is not a leader, not someone who has to choose between difficult roads, but someone who considers that his words and views are, by definition, already chosen, already superior to everyone else – whom he treats as his students.
And, someone who operates strictly in the cocooned world of the seminar room – filled only with unaccountable utopian ideas, a complete indifference to pragmatics and the real world.
Never mind Dion. The hard task will be to unite us all as Canadians and demolish multiculturalism.
Well said ET! Just look at how the Liberal’s carefully designed the placement of immigrants on the West Coast, to get a strong hold in the Vancouver area. The party that was in charge of when your family was allowed into Canada will for ever hold the faithful vote. So sad, but so true.
ET:
I believe you were the one that addressed my comments on the other thread with regards to immigrants voting liberal. Thanks for this one as it explains in more detail something that I wished to project but am not articulate enough to do so.
Sadly ET has it oh so correct,
Many of the countries that we accept immigrants from today have political systems where you vote for who’s in charge today or you disappear…. Or, you vote for who your spiritual leaders tell you to vote for… Or, you vote for who was in power when you got here in hopes that they don’t change the rules and stop more of your family or friends from coming here. I’ve been saying this for years.
Trudeao set this up to seperate Canada into blocks and pit Canadian against Canadian in the form of French against English, Easterner against Westerner, Atlantic Canada isolated and dependant on Ottawa, immigrant against indigonus, and then Quebec gets everything including a clause in the immigration laws requiring 25% of immigrants be fluent in french but no such clause for english…Canada’s 2 official languages.
Living in Vancouver I encounter people daily who can speak neither.
getting a bit afield, I recall an MP for the Alliance in Manitoba who called “a spade a spade” and pointed out that there are more foriegn Chinese or otherwise students attending BC university’s then actual “Canadian” Students… he was simply stating a fact but was crucified in the press and media as a racist for not being politically correct about it.
Political correctness has gone so far astray We now have laws that don’t allow the simple definition of White/Caucasian, Chinese, Philapino Black, Indian, Hispanic, Native, etc, or any other ethnic reference when asking for public assistance to track down criminals…
Regardless, Dion was doomed from the start and let’s hope he never sees real power as the leader of our country… If he does it could creat future rifts and sew the seeds of a seperatist party to form in the West with Manitoba to BC packing it in to split from the rest of Canada… A bit of a stretch but I think one more Quebec leader in Ottawa in the next 10 years and it’ll push Alberta and BC out of the union.
Sadly ET has it oh so correct,
Many of the countries that we accept immigrants from today have political systems where you vote for who’s in charge today or you disappear…. Or, you vote for who your spiritual leaders tell you to vote for… Or, you vote for who was in power when you got here in hopes that they don’t change the rules and stop more of your family or friends from coming here. I’ve been saying this for years.
Trudeao set this up to seperate Canada into blocks and pit Canadian against Canadian in the form of French against English, Easterner against Westerner, Atlantic Canada isolated and dependant on Ottawa, immigrant against indigonus, and then Quebec gets everything including a clause in the immigration laws requiring 25% of immigrants be fluent in french but no such clause for english…
Last I checked, Canada has 2 official languages. Living in Vancouver I encounter people daily who can speak neither.
I know I’m starting to get a bit far afield, but political correctness from the Left and acidemics has gone so far astray We now have laws that don’t allow the simple definition of White/Caucasian, Chinese, Philapino Black, Indian, Hispanic, Native, etc, or any other ethnic reference when asking for public assistance to track down criminals…
Regardless,and back on topic…
Dion was doomed from the start and let’s hope he never sees real power as the leader of our country… If he does it could create future rifts and sew the seeds of a seperatist party to form in the West from Manitoba to BC. I think we’d have a better chance alone then Querbec ever had of packing it in to split from the rest of Canada… A bit of a stretch, but IMO I think one more Quebec leader in Ottawa in the next 10 years and it’ll push Alberta and BC out of the union and Sask and Man would probably openly opt to join them.
Kate, mostly true. We can’t forget the huge ethnic blocks that were supporting Kennedy. They really could only go to Dion. Rae and to a lesser degree, Ignatieff, were too pro-Israel, too pro-War-On-Terrorism for their liking. Yet, they and their supporters hated one another too much to compromise.
Even my 80 year old, dyed-in-the-wool-Liberal Grandma, told me after Easter dinner that her party made a bad choice by picking Stephane Dion. This was after she actually said something positive about Stephen Harper being at Vimy Ridge. She’s one of those in Ontario who recognize that Stephen Harper is the better leader, but she’s still going to vote Liberal.
If we can believe the poll Kate links to, then Ontario is the last LPC problem within the Canadian electorate. From the point of view of the early Reformers, it has been a long wait since the mid 1980’s. It would certainly be premature to count upon a CPC victory if an election were held today but I think the CPC would increase its seat count in the Canadian Parliament rather than decrease or hold the count constant. The 40% Ontario support for the LPC is troubling but the 22% Ontario choice for Dion as PM compared to the 36% Ontario support for Harper as PM tells a bigger story.
During a campaign, the electorate gets to get a good look at the leaders. Unless Mr. Dion has been hiding something over the last few months, I suspect the Ontario LPC support would move down from the 40% support in the direction of the 22% for Dion. I do not think it will stay the same. It may not move all the way to the 22% but a move toward 30% may be enough to generate a CPC majority. Alternative scenario: it moves to the 22% while the Dion support plummets further into the upper teens.
Caveat: polls change almost as fast as the wind. The only poll that really counts is the one on election day. However, it has really not looked this bad to be a LPC supporter for quite some time in Canadian politics. The only surprises for me are: why did it take so long and why is the LPC support still as high as it is?
” ..Among Green Party supporters — wait for it — slightly more chose Harper as best PM over their own new leader, Elizabeth May.
As for Dion, the SES survey indicates the former environment minister and the Liberals’ great white hope for the green vote is all but lost in the electoral wilderness.” Greg Weston.
“electorial wilderness” Huh ?? Whatever, Greg. You just do not get it, do ya ?
The handful of Suzuki type fanatics will keep voting so-called “green”.
Patrick Moore holds the ‘high-ground’ when it comes to environmental initiatives that make sense and make a difference. Clean air, clean water. NOT Mo’s carbon credit scam.
Well that was just unfair!
Anyone remember Paul Wells gushing prior to the convention that Dion was the drop dead choice of media smart guys? Like Paul Wells? 🙂
Agree with Kate that the Liberals elected Dion via a procedural anomaly (aka “doing the Clark”), not some Machivellian plan to recapture Quebec
As a Con, notwithstanding his Ontario history, Rae scared the hell out of me because of his Clintonesque speaking style appealing to Canada’s vast shallow community.
The Libranos aren’t used to having their hand out of the till . . . er . . .off the the tiller. When will the cracks start to appear?
In the context of all the talk about the environment that Dion seems to get excited about, we could say that this poll is …, er,… a breath of fresh air.
tom ,
See ” Social Justice ” , it’s one of the ” pillows ” of his policy platform . BTW ….. he’s not weak , he just projects weakness …..kinda like that episode of the Simpsons where Lisa exudes the ” nerd pheromone ” .
Well said Kate.
And well said ET.
I couldn’t have said all that’s been said better, however I do think it will come back to how shallow, or how little actual thought most people put into casting a ballot. It never ceases to amaze me the reasons or lack of them many people vote for.
Ron said: “Perhaps the liberal delegates were also tired of the Maurice Strongs and Demarais’ pulling the strings.”
The delegates may have felt that way, but they were mistaken. Dion is a Chretienite through and through. Chretien has the biggest links with Power Corp (contemporary version of family compact) and thus Maurice Strong (former CEO of Power Corp).
I for one am not at all surprised by his performance, both as politician and in polling. I was in shock when he was made LPC leader, I thought, how could they have been that stupid.
My theory is similar to those above. Dion got the ethnic vote, through the Great Interrupter, Gerard Kennedy (red, red, Liberal). Jonathan Kay said as much in an article recently; he is now being sued for defammation over this, so we will see if this true.
Bottom line, Dion has been an accident waiting to happen since day one. Once Kennedy dropped off the ballot, given the animosity in the Ignatieff (the true outsider) and Rae (another Power Corp insider) camps, the dye was cast for Dion leadership.
The Canadian electorate still haven’t decided what they really think of Dion, because they are unengaged; they don’t look closely until writ dropped and usually after debates (Unlike the political junkees who populate this blog).
Dion is already polling, on leadership, at half the LPC support. If true, then half of people intending to vote Liberal think Harper is a better PM, assuming all who vote NDP think Layton best leader (not a given I concede).
Wait until Cdn public gets good look at this guy. No wonder Harper and CPC rubbing their hands in anticipation of majority.
Where is Citoyen Dion? Chucker knows. Also, Chuck has posted the “The Varieties of Homo Gritus”.
My Own Close Encounter […]
Afterthought. Since that day, I often chuckle privately when people ask, “Where’s Dion?” For example, when many Canadians wondered where Mr. Dion is, given his noticeable abscence from the Vimy Memorial ceremonies. At least, he could be there not as a potential Prime Minister, but as a grateful citizen of France. Not me. I don’t wonder. I just look up in the sky and I know where he is. I know.
http://chuckercanuck.blogspot.com/
…-
More: Here’s Citoyen Dion. The Mole has posted him, at lib.ca.ca, along with Citoyen’s statement re the Vimy ceremony. To get to it, click on the Mole’s dark, dank, damp pic of M. Dion (if you deign to go there). Pathetic/pathetique, aka pitoyable.
Borat Dion
like Joe Clark , John Turner, Kim Campbell and Paul Martin he will be tossed to the wastebin of history. but this time no one there to hand him a senate seat.
a bespeckled man with a shorn sheep do, confused and bewildered. almost makes me shed a tear -NOT
I was in Winnipeg about three years ago on business, out for Christmas dinner with the local group and my boss from Toronto.
This was just as Chretien was imploding before our eyes and Mr. Dithers was taking the helm.
We were booked for dinner (I wish I could remember the restaurant…there are so many fabulous places to eat in the Peg…old heritage home near downtown, but safe neighbourhood), and there is security out front of this place like nobody’s business. Why? It turns out that ole Bill “lecture circuit” Clinton is dining in the same place.
Well, you should have heard my normally sane table-mates going on and on about how much they admired Slick Willy. Not only that, but I remember getting into a brief discussion with Mr. TO and one of the locals, who were raving about Dithers as though he was the second coming. I had to simply bite my tongue as they trotted out the usual “Harper scares me”, b.s.
Anyway, Clinton and his boys march past, and everyone jumps up for the standing ovation, and we get the Hollywood smile and the wave. I could barely keep my appetizer down.
This whole discussion of Dion just makes me ask what I always ask…Do we never learn? Do folks in Ontario, especially, have to keep getting their pockets picked? How could anyone, anywhere give these clowns another look? As much as Taliban Jack and the NDP and the Greeners have no credibility, at least they actually believe in some of what they preach. The Libs can’t honestly look themselves in the mirror and believe a single thing they themselves say. Can they?
They have become so rabid, of late, with undisguised hatred (and fear of their imminent demise), that every single policy position taken by the CPC, from jay-walking to Afghanistan must be met with complete juvenile obstruction. And they denounce everything as though “the sky is falling”.
If someone can tell me why, otherwise sensible people, with similar backgrounds to mine, can purposefully or by ommission, confuse right vs wrong, good vs evil, night vs. day etc, etc, I would love to hear the answer.
Nail+hammer=Kate
Well done