And there we Have it.

[purseybear]

So Dion is calling it a day. I say, though he had some good ideas.... I don't think he is a leader. The liberials need a vibrant leader like Ignatiave or Brison.
Could this spur another electon??

Comments

Nope

[tridus]

What party other then the Conservatives can afford an election right now? The Liberals sure can't. They don't fundraise nearly as well as the Conservatives do with the current rules, and a leadership campaign will just draw money into that (and away from the party itself).

Not to mention the fear that anybody who dares trigger an election right now will wind up facing a very annoyed public.

I know we've gone over this before around here, but I'll do it again. If he's not a leader, what do you define as "leadership"? Is it because he made the silly mistake of thinking Canadians were telling the truth when they said in polls that they actually care about the environment and want something done about it?

Meh Meh

[purseybear]

Though the conservative(reform party) has the money to campain, all parties are entitled money from the government to campain. I honestly don't care if the liberials can campain or not. I was not saying that an election would be called in the next few months. It will take probably 8 months for the liberals to get a leader. But I bet there will be an election soon after

Though are are many qualities that people will say that makes you a leader, a good leader inspires confodence in many people. Dion does not inspire confodence in me, therefore I don't see him as a leader.

Re: Meh Meh

[tridus]

I really doubt it. I think this piece covers things well for the Liberals, the leader isn't their #1 problem. If they get a new leader and decide thats all they need to win an election, they'll get destroyed.

Dion was the wrong guy for the job now, but I contend that says more about the people who decided they wanted him as their leader then it does about him. Put Iggy or John Manley or (*shudder*) Bob Rae in there, and the result isn't drastically different. Too many "anonymous Liberal insiders" talking to reporters about what the leader is doing wrong, whats wrong with the plan, and why they really wanted someone else for leader in the first place.

You don't see that type of thing from the Conservatives.

[harry_beast]

Rae would have crushed any dissent with Chretien-like brutality. Party discipline, along with good organization and campaign execution, tends to reduce gossip and anonymous leaks.

[siobhan63]

Ignatieff isn't some sort of weirdo extreme right-wing Harper clone. He's quite centrist and very progressive on social policy. He might move the party back to its centrist roots, but he wouldn't make it into a clone of the current CPC.

[harry_beast]

Rae was a terrible premier, but Ontario has a short political memory, an irrational dislike of Harper and, in spite of all the scandals and mismanagement, an affinity for the Liberal Party. Rae won his seat in parliament, and he could win Ontario. As for moving the Liberals to the left, that might not be a bad political decision. The current economic malaise might be a good time to capitalize on people's fears by promising big government spending, business bashing, confiscatory taxation (directed at Alberta, a traditional scapegoat) and lots of government intervention. Bear in mind also that Rae must fight the NDP as well as the Conservatives.

[harry_beast]

Leadership races always bring division, of course, but if either Rae or Ignatieff have the patience or the stomach for the lengthy, bloody war of attrition that Martin and Chretien fought, especially having seen how it ended, I doubt they would get much support in the party. The Chretien-Martin war was fought when the Liberal Party was rich, untouchable, unopposed. Unlike Rae and Ignatieff, both recent arrivals, Chretien and Martin had deep roots in the Liberal Party and were able to draw on decades of relationships, loyalties and past favours (as well as past slights, ancient feuds and resentments) to drum up support for internal conflict. Now, many in the party would put their foot down and tell the losers of the leadership bid to bury the hatchet before the entire party goes down the tubes.

Re: Meh Meh

[pensivegargoyle]

All parties do get money from the government, but the Liberals will now take a large cut in that funding - around $1.4 million per year less. The Conservatives, Bloc and NDP are also taking cuts but they are much more insignificant and manageable. Throw in the burden of an election debt, the party's existing debt from pre-election and the expense of a leadership campaign and the Liberals will not be out of their financial hole for some time even after electing a new leader. No money, no bringing down the government on a confidence vote. Don't count on an election for two years at least - most likely not until after three.