Dion Ready To Step Down

[Liberalman]

I heard a report on the CBC that Dion will be stepping down in the next couple of days and the Liberal leadership will happen in early January.

In hindsight the Reform/Conservative party should have kept Stockwell Day as the leader.

The Conservative party claim to fame is they have leaders with idiosyncrasies that just blow you away.

The first leader Preston Manning was a leader that formed the Reform party.

Preston is a good business man and very intelligent but his mannerism is of someone from the backwoods of Alberta.

In 2000 the name changed to the Canadian Alliance and Stockwell Day became leader and although he was charismatic he only had one flaw he was a person who thinks for himself and would make comments to the media that was contrary to Canadian Alliance policy. Stockwell just did not heed the advice of his inner circle he was forced to resign.

Stephen Harper became leader

Then they changed the name again to the Canadian Reform Alliance party.

Stephen was able to get the leader of the newly elected leader of the Progressive Conservative party to break his promise to inform the PC members before he would merge with the Canadian Alliance and went ahead with the merger.

The New Conservative party was born.

Stephen Harper is a good boy and does what the party wants doesn’t matter how abstract it is.

The majority of funding comes from religious followers of every faith because in Canada, there is a war that has to be fought which is same sex marriage and abortion and the Conservative party is the only party that can fight it.

There is a bill before the parliament that says that if a pregnant woman is murdered then the person will be charged for two deaths not one.

Harper wants to make Canada a kind of Mecca in the world’s eye.

Stephen called an election one year before a fixed election date that he brought in to try to win a majority.

It looked like The Conservatives were destined to be in the majority party of Canada until, who else but Stephen Harper decided to tell all that the funding for arts and culture would be cut because when you come home from a hard day at work the last thing you want to see is gala event for these artist paid for by the tax payers.

So a coalition government might be more appealing than what we have now and with Dion out of the way it will probably succeed.

We have to remember that in elections we vote for MPs not parties or Prime Ministers.

I only say this because on the ballot, only the name appears without the party affiliation

Since there was no majority then all the other parties can form the next government without going to the people.

This is the Canadian way and in our history it happened before.

 

[#juan]

It would be better if Dion steps down of his own volition. If the party forces him out it could cause a backlash in Quebec.
My other concern is that the party might vote in Rae as their new leader and lose a lot of votes in Ontario. At this point I'm not happy with any of the candidates.

 

[pgs]

Funny how liberalman and others are all calling for a new leader for the
conservatives.Yet it is their party that has a lame duck leader.
But from a non partisan point of view i see Harper as one who has
brought his party more votes and seats in every election.
At the same time i have seen the liberal shining star fading.

Long live the coalition.

 

[Colpy]

The majority of funding comes from religious followers of every faith because in Canada, there is a war that has to be fought which is same sex marriage and abortion and the Conservative party is the only party that can fight it.

This is baloney and everyone with half a brain knows it.

Politics are interesting now, anyway.

The way I see it, the Coalition is dead, dead, dead.

If Ignatief becomes leader, he will back away from the Seperatists.........it has become clear that the GG will do what the PM asks, which means if the gov't is defeated, we go to a new election.....in which 2/3 of voters disapprove of the coalition, and 45% say they would vote Conservative.....majority stuff.

If Rae becomes leader, I doubt he will be able to back away, considering the anger of his rhetoric lately........and Ontario belongs to the CPC. Majority, but even more so.

It seems this Parliament will have to learn to get along.

I'm am going to personally slap the next persom that says "I like minority gov't!"



I am disgusted with the bunch of them.....all except Gilles Duceppe, who is the ONLY one doing what he was elected to do.

I'm disgusted with Harper for panicing and backing down from a reasonable update (except for the loss of right to strike), and for suspending Parliament.

I am disgusted with Jack Layton for being such a friggin' idiot as to set up an alliance with the BQ.

I am disgusted with Dion.....I expected more from him......that jumping into bed with the Seperatists because he didn't want to be the first Liberal leader in 120 years NOT to be PM. Ego.

Seeing as I'll never vote BQ, my options are still the same.....vote for the best of a sorry lot.....that's Harper.

 

[Walter]

Dion will leave as soon as someone pays off his debts.

 

[Risus]

Walter,

With all due respect to you as a member, you are a moron!

Just an opinion and observation.

scratch, no point name calling when the truth has been written...

dion has gotten the libs into a terrible mess. Who knows how long it will take them to sort it out.

 

[Tyr]

This is baloney and everyone with half a brain knows it.

Politics are interesting now, anyway.

The way I see it, the Coalition is dead, dead, dead.

If Ignatief becomes leader, he will back away from the Seperatists.........it has become clear that the GG will do what the PM asks, which means if the gov't is defeated, we go to a new election.....in which 2/3 of voters disapprove of the coalition, and 45% say they would vote Conservative.....majority stuff.

If Rae becomes leader, I doubt he will be able to back away, considering the anger of his rhetoric lately........and Ontario belongs to the CPC. Majority, but even more so.

It seems this Parliament will have to learn to get along.

I'm am going to personally slap the next persom that says "I like minority gov't!"



I am disgusted with the bunch of them.....all except Gilles Duceppe, who is the ONLY one doing what he was elected to do.

I'm disgusted with Harper for panicing and backing down from a reasonable update (except for the loss of right to strike), and for suspending Parliament.

I am disgusted with Jack Layton for being such a friggin' idiot as to set up an alliance with the BQ.

I am disgusted with Dion.....I expected more from him......that jumping into bed with the Seperatists because he didn't want to be the first Liberal leader in 120 years NOT to be PM. Ego.

Seeing as I'll never vote BQ, my options are still the same.....vote for the best of a sorry lot.....that's Harper.

I'm am going to personally slap the next persom that says "I like minority gov't!"

You'd best start training as that is what is going to happen..... That is unless Canadians somehow find a candidate for the "None-of-the-Above" Party. Next election will see extreme voter apathy.

The last election I had great difficulty with who I was going to vote for.

I wasn't particularly enamoured with any of the parties policies - they seemed like the same-old-same-old.

I was less than impressed with any of the leaders (if you want to call them that)

I couldn't vote for the local Conservative as he never bothered to show up to any of the debates (he was so confident of a landslide win) and the liberal candidate was some kind of lost Ghurka Sherpa.

So I ended up voting for an NDP (I usually vote Lib or Con). He had the best interests of his riding as his platform and he won

I still believe that the Cons and Liberals have to get rid of their leaders and get someone with some credability in their parties. I mean, anyone would be better than what they have

 

[Tyr]

Dion leaving is actually a good thing for the Liberals. What replaces him is something altogether different.

If they get Rae in as leader, they will lose badly. I

f they get Iggie in, they will still lose - just not as badly.

If they get anybody else in, say a Manley or McKenna (albeit late), it will be the worst drubbing the Conservatives have had since Charest and Campbell got to play "go fish" in the back of the commons in the 1990's

 

[mit]

I like Martha Hall Findlay - sadly her debating skills and french are not so good. Why are the idea people such poor politicians and the idealists the ones we get to choose from? Between Rae and Ignatief I would choose Rae - Even though he comes with the baggage from his years as Ontario premier I think that he is unlikely to make the same decisions as he did back then. I think he would be Harper's worse nightmare - He is smart and sarcastic and has knows how to drop some good talking points in interviews. Given a chance as opposition leader I think he could even be appealling to BC and Saskatchewan. Ignatief is just Harper with a red tie.

 

[Colpy]

I like Martha Hall Findlay - sadly her debating skills and french are not so good. Why are the idea people such poor politicians and the idealists the ones we get to choose from? Between Rae and Ignatief I would choose Rae - Even though he comes with the baggage from his years as Ontario premier I think that he is unlikely to make the same decisions as he did back then. I think he would be Harper's worse nightmare - He is smart and sarcastic and has knows how to drop some good talking points in interviews. Given a chance as opposition leader I think he could even be appealling to BC and Saskatchewan. Ignatief is just Harper with a red tie.

I have to disagree.....Rae would be a disaster for the Liberal Party. He has been extreme and angry in his support of the coalition.......and that alliance with the BQ is political suicide.

He is too far left......

Now, one positive thing about Rae is he might be able to pull off a union of the NDP and Libs......that would be good, IMHo.....one party centre-left, one centre-right. A clear choice. Although some right-wing Liberals would abandon the party for the Conservatives.

But Ignatief has been more reasonable over the last couple of weeks, he is quietly slipping away from the dying coalition idea, he is closer to the centre than Rae, and he has less baggage........

 

[taxslave]

As near as I can tell there is zero difference between the four current leaders. They all have a lust for power that has no relationship to the needs of Canada. The Libs are at a slight disadvantage only because Dion is a lame duck leader(actually has been since he won the leadership) and the two top contenders for his job are no better.

 

[Walter]

Dion expected to step down this week


Juliet O’Neill, Canwest News Service

Published: Sunday, December 07, 2008
OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Stephane Dion plans to step down as early as Monday to pave the way for a permanent successor who could lead a coalition government or lead his party into a federal election early next year if the Harper government is defeated.

While word of his resignation was leaked to reporters and he was not personally confirming it, a fierce battle was underway between top rivals for his job, Toronto MPs Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, about how the party will go about replacing him.

Dion, who resisted pressure to resign right after the Oct. 14th election, has decided to step down now, a source said, after a new round of pressure that began with his poor performance last week as head of a newly-formed Liberal coalition with the New Democratic Party, backed by the Bloc Quebecois. He will step down before Wednesday, with Monday a strong possibility for a formal announcement.

Ignatieff, whose backers claim he has the support of the majority of the Liberal caucus, had allies pushing for a quick consensus as early as Wednesday at a caucus meeting, where 77 MPs and 58 Senators could recommend the national Liberal executive appoint a new leader.

Rae was pushing for an online vote among grassroots Liberals across the country, saying it would be wrong to let the caucus decide. A report that Rae planned to back out of the race to let Ignatieff take over was denied by one of his officials as totally false information planted by Ignatieff supporters.
Reports by TV networks that a third candidate, Dominic LeBlanc, planned also to drop out and support Ignatieff were denied by a LeBlanc campaign official who said he had not decided what to do yet.

Earlier in the day, all three candidates expressed support for a fast-track process to replace Dion, who has been expected to bow to pressure to step down that began after his staff produced an amateur, out-of-focus video of him addressing the nation last week during a parliamentary crisis.

Rae endorsed the online vote proposal as a move that would send a more democratic signal to the party than a caucus appointment.
Rae said in an interview with Canwest News Service an online vote involving Liberals across the country, including regions that have not elected any Liberal MPs, "seems to me so much better than choosing someone behind closed doors."

Ignatieff said publicly only that he will follow whatever the party chooses.
LeBlanc, a New Brunswick MP, said through an official that he wanted a new leader as soon as possible.

A LeBlanc official denied reports late Sunday that LeBlanc has dropped out to support Ignatieff when Dion steps down. "We have confirmed no such thing to anyone," the official said.


The New Democratic Party held an online vote to elect Jack Layton as leader in 2003, with about 44,000 party members casting computer ballots while a national convention was underway.


All three Liberal candidates are arguing against the option of appointing an interim leader such as John McCallum or Ralph Goodale between Dion's possible early resignation and the April 29-May 3 scheduled leadership convention in Vancouver - when he was planning to step down because of Liberal losses in the Oct. 14 election.

They favour a permanent leader who could be prepared to head the week-old coalition with the New Democratic Party, supported by the Bloc Quebecois, or lead the Liberals into an election campaign.

Both scenarios are possibilities if the coalition defeats the minority Conservative government soon after the House of Commons gathers Jan. 26 following a suspension of Parliament that allowed Prime Minister Stephen Harper to avoid defeat in a vote that was scheduled to take place Monday.

The proposal under consideration would still allow for the Liberals' scheduled convention in Vancouver. Liberals would deal with policy matters and confirm the leader.
Liberal party spokesman Daniel Lauzon declined to comment on specific plans under consideration by the executive.

"The party has a responsibility to explore contingency plans, but these are purely speculative given that we currently have a leader in place," he said.



Pressure on Dion to step aside was inflamed by an amateur, out-of-focus video of his address to the nation during the parliamentary crisis last week. It was a humiliation for many Liberals who were excited about their party heading the coalition and perhaps government.
In Montreal, following a candle-lighting ceremony for victims of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Dion was in no mood to respond to a reporter's question about calls for him to step down.

"I knew it, I knew it," he said, as if tricked by the question, before walking off, dismayed.
On the weekend John Manley, a former Liberal cabinet minister with influence in the party, openly called for Dion's resignation and said the new leader should ditch the coalition and focus on rebuilding the party.
On Sunday Ignatieff and Rae stepped up the pres
sure on Dion to step aside before Parliament resumes next month.
"We need to have a new leader in place by then," Rae told CTV's Question Period. "We need to have the leadership race moved up."
The call was echoed by Ignatieff, who also appeared on the program. "Mr. Dion has to consider his options," said Ignatieff. "It would be appropriate to have a permanent leader in place" by the vote in January.
Also Sunday cracks appeared in the federal coalition as B.C. Liberal MPs said they might support Harper's budget when Parliament resumes.
"We'll see if the PM is more humble and statesmanlike," said Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh of Vancouver South. "Other MPs are prepared to take a look. It depends on the reasonableness of the throne speech.

"If the budget is appropriate I'm willing to consider it. We can't be unreasonable. Canadians expect us to be reasonable."
Dosanjh said his constituents are "50-50" in support of the coalition.

His comments represent a major shift since last week when the coalition was prepared to vote the government down over its economic plan.
Liberal MP Hedy Fry of Vancouver Centre said a "good stimulus package" in the budget could be supported while Liberal MP Joyce Murray of Vancouver Quadra said she'll decide in January.

 

[JLM]

I heard a report on the CBC that Dion will be stepping down in the next couple of days and the Liberal leadership will happen in early January.

In hindsight the Reform/Conservative party should have kept Stockwell Day as the leader.

The Conservative party claim to fame is they have leaders with idiosyncrasies that just blow you away.

The first leader Preston Manning was a leader that formed the Reform party.

Preston is a good business man and very intelligent but his mannerism is of someone from the backwoods of Alberta.

In 2000 the name changed to the Canadian Alliance and Stockwell Day became leader and although he was charismatic he only had one flaw he was a person who thinks for himself and would make comments to the media that was contrary to Canadian Alliance policy. Stockwell just did not heed the advice of his inner circle he was forced to resign.

Stephen Harper became leader

Then they changed the name again to the Canadian Reform Alliance party.

Stephen was able to get the leader of the newly elected leader of the Progressive Conservative party to break his promise to inform the PC members before he would merge with the Canadian Alliance and went ahead with the merger.

The New Conservative party was born.

Stephen Harper is a good boy and does what the party wants doesn’t matter how abstract it is.

The majority of funding comes from religious followers of every faith because in Canada, there is a war that has to be fought which is same sex marriage and abortion and the Conservative party is the only party that can fight it.

There is a bill before the parliament that says that if a pregnant woman is murdered then the person will be charged for two deaths not one.

Harper wants to make Canada a kind of Mecca in the world’s eye.

Stephen called an election one year before a fixed election date that he brought in to try to win a majority.

It looked like The Conservatives were destined to be in the majority party of Canada until, who else but Stephen Harper decided to tell all that the funding for arts and culture would be cut because when you come home from a hard day at work the last thing you want to see is gala event for these artist paid for by the tax payers.

So a coalition government might be more appealing than what we have now and with Dion out of the way it will probably succeed.

We have to remember that in elections we vote for MPs not parties or Prime Ministers.

I only say this because on the ballot, only the name appears without the party affiliation

Since there was no majority then all the other parties can form the next government without going to the people.

This is the Canadian way and in our history it happened before.

I'm not convinced "ready" is quite the correct term, I have a feeling Bob Rae et al might be giving him a slight nudge. A week ago it looked like being a P.M. was a possibility for Dion- wouldn't think he'd walk away from that opportunity, without serious thought.

 

[Risus]

I like the way Layton is saying that he will go down in history as the one to bring down the Conservative government. What an idiot.

 

[JLM]

This is baloney and everyone with half a brain knows it.

Politics are interesting now, anyway.

The way I see it, the Coalition is dead, dead, dead.

If Ignatief becomes leader, he will back away from the Seperatists.........it has become clear that the GG will do what the PM asks, which means if the gov't is defeated, we go to a new election.....in which 2/3 of voters disapprove of the coalition, and 45% say they would vote Conservative.....majority stuff.

If Rae becomes leader, I doubt he will be able to back away, considering the anger of his rhetoric lately........and Ontario belongs to the CPC. Majority, but even more so.

It seems this Parliament will have to learn to get along.

I'm am going to personally slap the next persom that says "I like minority gov't!"



I am disgusted with the bunch of them.....all except Gilles Duceppe, who is the ONLY one doing what he was elected to do.

I'm disgusted with Harper for panicing and backing down from a reasonable update (except for the loss of right to strike), and for suspending Parliament.

I am disgusted with Jack Layton for being such a friggin' idiot as to set up an alliance with the BQ.

I am disgusted with Dion.....I expected more from him......that jumping into bed with the Seperatists because he didn't want to be the first Liberal leader in 120 years NOT to be PM. Ego.

Seeing as I'll never vote BQ, my options are still the same.....vote for the best of a sorry lot.....that's Harper.

I think you're right.

 

[Praxius]

Here's some more information in regards to Dion getting the boot:

Coalition and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion leaves the stage during a pro-coalition rally in Toronto on Saturday.

Dion to be gone as Liberal leader this week
Dion to be gone as Liberal leader this week - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Stephane Dion says he will resign as soon as a new Liberal leader is chosen — likely Wednesday.

His announcement today clears the way for Michael Ignatieff to take over.

Liberals want a new leader in place before a vote on the federal budget Jan. 27 that could plunge the country into another election or replace the Conservatives with a coalition government.

Ignatieff is expected to be installed as leader Wednesday by a vote of party MPs and senators.

But his chief rival, Bob Rae, is not going down without a fight.

Rae has emailed party members across the country, arguing that letting MPs and senators pick the new leader would exclude tens of thousands of rank-and-file Liberals.

Dion had planned to stay on until a leadership convention in early May.

The more and more I hear about Rae, the more of an idiot I think he is.

Iggy is the Deputy Leader of the Liberals and technically he should replace Dion unless there is a leader election..... but until then, Iggy should be the next leader.

And the guy has some brains and knows how to explain himself to the media and elsewhere, so I think he's a good pick for the Liberals.

I'm sure Rae is a decent fellow and all that, but it seems that he and everybody else forgot there are some processes to things, and they all seemed to have forgotten about the Deputy Leader role.

 

[GreenFish66]

Dion was on his way out anyway...Harper pulled some dirty politcs ..Liberals had no choice but to play their coalition card..Liberal's have to have a leadership race before the house resumes...Elect a liberal leader......Conservatives should run a new leader in the spring election...If anyone has a chance of gaining the True and respect of the majorty...We need a strong new leader..!...Flaherty...is a good conservative choice...Who knows for the liberals?

Let the leader step forward and get a majority so we can get on with real issue.....Unfortunatley we gotta wait for Obama before we can make any decision?....
Time for some new faces..One leader the people , the country ,america and the world can live with....

We need a majority...Perhaps this little shake up will help this process along..

 

[Tyr]

I heard a report on the CBC that Dion will be stepping down in the next couple of days and the Liberal leadership will happen in early January.

In hindsight the Reform/Conservative party should have kept Stockwell Day as the leader.

The Conservative party claim to fame is they have leaders with idiosyncrasies that just blow you away.

The first leader Preston Manning was a leader that formed the Reform party.

Preston is a good business man and very intelligent but his mannerism is of someone from the backwoods of Alberta.

In 2000 the name changed to the Canadian Alliance and Stockwell Day became leader and although he was charismatic he only had one flaw he was a person who thinks for himself and would make comments to the media that was contrary to Canadian Alliance policy. Stockwell just did not heed the advice of his inner circle he was forced to resign.

Stephen Harper became leader

Then they changed the name again to the Canadian Reform Alliance party.

Stephen was able to get the leader of the newly elected leader of the Progressive Conservative party to break his promise to inform the PC members before he would merge with the Canadian Alliance and went ahead with the merger.

The New Conservative party was born.

Stephen Harper is a good boy and does what the party wants doesn’t matter how abstract it is.

The majority of funding comes from religious followers of every faith because in Canada, there is a war that has to be fought which is same sex marriage and abortion and the Conservative party is the only party that can fight it.

There is a bill before the parliament that says that if a pregnant woman is murdered then the person will be charged for two deaths not one.

Harper wants to make Canada a kind of Mecca in the world’s eye.

Stephen called an election one year before a fixed election date that he brought in to try to win a majority.

It looked like The Conservatives were destined to be in the majority party of Canada until, who else but Stephen Harper decided to tell all that the funding for arts and culture would be cut because when you come home from a hard day at work the last thing you want to see is gala event for these artist paid for by the tax payers.

So a coalition government might be more appealing than what we have now and with Dion out of the way it will probably succeed.

We have to remember that in elections we vote for MPs not parties or Prime Ministers.

I only say this because on the ballot, only the name appears without the party affiliation

Since there was no majority then all the other parties can form the next government without going to the people.

This is the Canadian way and in our history it happened before.

In hindsight the Reform/Conservative party should have kept Stockwell Day as the leader.

We'd most likely have a Liberal majority if Stockboy was still in the picture

The current political wisdom (I use that very loosely as it comes from a sitting Conservative MP) is that there is a small group of loons who think they can resurrect Preston Manning. Now that is just too far out there to be believable.

Another group is actively recruiting Jean Charest and he's considering it. Although he did go into hiding in Quebec to escape the Tories, he may be there only chance to get any seats in Quebec at all

There'sa third group that likes Jim Prentice. He hasn't been sullied by the current Conservative fruit loops, he bright, articulate and ambitious. They might actually win a majority with him if he's up against Rae or Iggie.

The end result though is Harper has got to go. Everybody except they most politically blind knows that

 

[Tyr]

I have to disagree.....Rae would be a disaster for the Liberal Party. He has been extreme and angry in his support of the coalition.......and that alliance with the BQ is political suicide.

He is too far left......

Now, one positive thing about Rae is he might be able to pull off a union of the NDP and Libs......that would be good, IMHo.....one party centre-left, one centre-right. A clear choice. Although some right-wing Liberals would abandon the party for the Conservatives.

But Ignatief has been more reasonable over the last couple of weeks, he is quietly slipping away from the dying coalition idea, he is closer to the centre than Rae, and he has less baggage........

Now, one positive thing about Rae is he might be able to pull off a union of the NDP and Libs......that would be good, IMHo.....one party centre-left, one centre-right. A clear choice.

If not, Rae would end up taking some of the NDP seats in the next election at the very least

Although some right-wing Liberals would abandon the party for the Conservatives.

Much the same as the "small c, red tories" have abandoned the Conservatives in the last few weeks. the numbers would come out "a wash"

 

[VanIsle]

Are you saying that Jean Charest is considering becoming the leader of the Conservative Party - am I understanding you right?
I've heard very few say they want Harper to go - a mere handful of people. I haven't read much of that even on the other forums. I'm not sure that I personally have seen it there but we are creeping up on Christmas and time for forums is short.
I guess we'll see where Charest ends up today in Quebec before he goes for any other politics.