Stéphane Done

The only surprise is that he waited as long as he did:

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.

Dion had been expected to announce in his remarks after the polls closed late Tuesday that he would set in motion a process to allow his party to choose a new leader. But he avoided the subject.

The 26 per cent of the popular vote that the Liberals received on Tuesday is among the worst results the party has ever had. Liberal seats in the House of Commons plummeted to 76 from 95 while the Conservatives strengthened their minority position to 143 seats from 127 at dissolution.

[...]

[Robert] 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?'"

Liberal strategists said Canadians' fears over the economy may have driven voters away from the relatively unknown Dion to Harper, who scores well as an economic manager in opinion surveys.

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. ...

Who's next? Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff are the obvious front-runners, though I can't see the Liberals committing political suicide by making one of the most unpopular premiers in Ontario history the party leader.

Frank McKenna, who did a fine job as premier of New Brunswick, would be a solid choice. But the real wild card might be the well-regarded (though relatively inexperienced) Martha Hall Findlay, who would be well-placed to exploit distrust of Harper among Canadian women.

I feel a tinge of sympathy for Dion, who struck me as honest and intelligent, but he sealed his fate by gambling on a risky, difficult-to-explain overhaul of the tax system just as the world economy went to hell. Voters talk a good game about the environment, but pocketbook issues trump all else.

Damian P.

Update: he hasn't quit yet:

Liberal officials are denying reports that federal Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is planning to step down as early as Thursday.

[...]

The Globe and Mail, meanwhile, citing senior Liberal party members, reported Thursday that Dion would face pressure to declare quickly that he will end his leadership and let the party start procedures to replace him.

The paper quoted one well-connected party member as suggesting that if Dion didn't announce his departure promptly, the party should move the furniture out of his office.

"How do you do a putsch on a guy who doesn't understand he's being putsched?" the Globe quoted the unidentified Liberal as saying.

Posted by damian at October 16, 2008 09:22 AM