Dion must go, former Liberal deputy PM says

by Blue Crush | December 7, 2008 at 09:09 am
162 views | 27 Recommendations | 9 comments

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former Liberal deputy PM John Manley

former Liberal deputy PM John Manley

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Amidst all the confusion of this past week, one thing is still for sure.  Dion has got to step down.  I think the voters made that quite clear by the  Liberal party's historic defeat during the October 14th election.  His performance over this past week didn't score much better.  But when are the Liberals going to get their house in order?

Former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley said the Liberal caucus and party executive should move to choose a new leader before Christmas who can get the caucus ready for the resumption of Parliament in January.

"As a Liberal, I believe the first step for my party is to replace Stéphane Dion as leader with someone whose first job is to rebuild the Liberal party, rather than leading a coalition with the NDP," Manley said in an opinion piece in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

His comments come two days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper persuaded the Governor General to suspend Parliament and ward off, at least for the moment, the demise of his minority Conservative government.

That move came after the Liberals and NDP agreed to form a coalition headed by Dion and aimed at ousting Harper's government, which the opposition accuses of failing to propose an adequate plan to deal with the economic crisis.

Manley said the idea that the public would welcome Dion as prime minister after having rejected him during the Oct. 14 federal election "was delusional at best."


See original Globe and Mail articles The first Liberal step:  Replace Dion and Questions for the Liberal caucus

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1
Paschen

The liberal Party has always Undermined their leaders from Trudeaut to Chretien and now Dion, It is in a way pathetic.


3
Jordan Yerman

While I think the prorogue was a weak move, I'm also not comfortable with Dion re-assuming control of the party, and I'm speaking as a Liberal. We (the voters) also have no control over who's compromising what to make the coalition happen.

2
Paschen

Who should lead the Party then? Any ideas? I can see Dion his weaknesses and yet I do not see this as a good time to break ranks.

1
Blue Crush

"Liberal leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc had met in Toronto the previous evening to discuss whether any one of them would take a run at Mr. Dion’s job, and whether they could stomach a deal that included the NDP and the Bloc."

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/12/05/john-ivison-a-week-that-left-ottawa-breathless.aspx

Then there's Duceppe too.  I'm not familiar with any but Rae, cause he's local.

0
Mike Wood

I think either Bob Rae or Michael Ignatieff would be a good choice to lead.

Dion has to go as does Harper. While we’re at it we may as well throw out Michaelle Jean too.

0
Blue Crush

I'd say Rae too, but I think us Torontians are a little biased!

0
dunkelberg

My first take to the headline was -  pretty stern stuff, she is just a singer

0
Blue Crush

Haha, she's already gone ... on a concert tour, down your way.  That girl never stops!

0
simplyfied

As a former Torontonian I still think of Rae as NDP... Not that he was bad but that he was an NDP Premier of Ontario.

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Paschen
First Flagged at 9:10 AM, Dec 7, 2008 by Paschen
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