Stephane Dion resigns, Liberal leader addresses critics and election outcome

by Tina Kells | October 20, 2008 at 06:18 am

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Stephane Dion's leadership of the Liberal party of Canada is officially over. After leading the Liberals to their worst election outcome ever, Dion decided to resign his position but will remain as interim leader until the scheduled May 2009 Liberal party leadership convention.

Now the question remains, who will take his place? There has never been a time in Liberal history when the party was so ripe with political experience, and yet so lacking in candidates with the charisma and energy needed to invigorate supporters.

Two of the most likely contenders Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff, ran against Dion in the last leadership bid, but lost when Gerard Kennedy withdrew from the race and put his support behind Dion.

Bob Rae, former NDP Premier of Ontario is a strong possibility, although his lack of popularity in his own province could become an issue.

Michael Ignatieff is another strong possibility; he is a respected academic scholar and award winning author, with the experience and ability to lead the Liberals. But does he have that much needed political spark?

Even Gerard Kennedy may be back in the game, although some party insiders feel he needs to share part of the blame for Dion's time as Liberal leader.

Ignatieff, Rae and Kennedy, along with former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna and former deputy prime minister John Manley have been suggested as possible future leadership candidates.

Dion's resignation comes as good news to many defeated Liberals, who blame the loss of their seat in parliament on Dion and his Green Shift policy.

The first party critic to call for for Dion's resignation was defeated veteran Liberal MP, and one-time Liberal leadership hopeful, Joe Volpe. Talking to Mike Duffy on CTVs the Mike Duffy Show, Volpe expressed his strong belief that Dion must exit as Liberal leader for the good of the party, and for the sake of his own dignity.

Toronto MP Joe Volpe said Thursday Dion must resign so the Liberal party can rebuild after being reduced to 76 seats in Tuesday's federal election, one of the party's worst-ever showings.

"Clearly, it appears that nobody's going to give him the chance to do that rebuilding and I'd like him to go out with some dignity," Volpe told CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

Volpe, who also ran for the leadership in 2006, is the first party member to publicly call for Dion's resignation.

Dion must let the party know whether a May 2009 conference will be a leadership convention, said Volpe.

Another very vocal critic is three-time re-elected, now unseated MP, Ray Simard. Simard had held the fiercely Liberal riding of Saint Boniface since 2002 and feels that the apathy of uninspired Liberal voters in his riding led to his loss. He lost by 4,700 votes to Tory candidate Shelly Glover.

This is a significant loss for the Liberal party as it marks only the 4th time that the Winnipeg area seat has gone Conservative, and is the first time since 1984 that the seat has not been held by a Liberal. Manitoba is traditionally Liberal, and in this election sent only 1 MP to parliament.

Simard didn't directly call for Dion's resignation but said the party needs to rebuild itself from scratch which would require a change in leadership.

"You can't rebuild a party without reviewing the leadership," said Simard.

Dion has called a press conference for Monday in Ottawa where it is widely speculated he will step down after less than two years as the Liberal leader. The calls for his resignation had begun even before the election was over but are developing a fever pitch in the days since.

Dion has not made a public statement since election night. He has been holed up at Stornoway, the official residence of the Leader of the Opposition in Ottawa, listening to the advice of his various aides as he makes his decision on what to do next. Simard said the quicker a new leader can be chosen the better.

"It has to happen quickly so everyone gets their bearings back and we can get back to focusing on the opposition," said Simard.

There is a policy convention already scheduled for May in Vancouver which is the time most believe a new leader will be chosen.

In the 2008 election, the Liberal party garnered less than 27% of the popular vote. This is the poorest showing for the Liberal party since Canadian Confederation, even worse than the disastrous John Turner results of 1984, which marked an all-time low for the Grits. Dion, a French-Canadian, set another dubious low for the Liberal party; Dion won less seats in Quebec then any other French-Canadian party leader in history.

His future as party leader is certainly on tenuous ground, but some Liberals are cautious about showing their dwindling support for Dion. The only Liberal MP elected to parliament in the province of Manitoba, Anita Neville, stated Thursday, that she felt the party needed to hold an emergency meeting, but stopped short of calling for Dion to resign.

Neville said what is left standing of the Liberal party needs to pull together immediately.

"We need to call a caucus meeting ASAP," said Neville. "There is a lot of re-examining to go on."

Dion has been mum since his post-election speech Tuesday in which he professed he was going to take on the job of opposition leader. He returned Wednesday to Stornoway, the official residence of the leader of the opposition in Ottawa. But he has stayed out of sight since then.

Rumours Thursday of his imminent departure were denied by Liberal staff. However, many believe it will not be long before Dion steps aside.