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Dion expected to step down Monday
Dion expected to step down Monday
Juliet O'Neill , Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, October 17, 2008
OTTAWA - Stephane Dion is expected to announce Monday that he is stepping aside to make way for a new Liberal leader in the aftermath of his party's losses in Tuesday's federal election.
Liberal sources say that unless Dion changes his mind over the weekend, he will be stepping down, having been persuaded to show himself and his family some mercy after nearly two years of being punched around in the political arena.
Dion, who vowed in the closing days of the election campaign that "I am not a quitter," wanted to remain official Opposition leader, fight for his leadership and face an automatic postelection leadership review in May.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and his wife Janine Krieber leave his Montreal headquarters on election night.
John Major/Getty Images
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However, during several days of secluded reflection and consultation with party officials, friends and colleagues, the 53-year-old Montreal MP was persuaded that such a battle would create turmoil in the party, would cost too much money and could fail.
Winning a leadership review would require recruiting support of the majority of Liberal delegates from 308 ridings in Canada and would be financially difficult, when Dion still owes more than $200,000 in debt from his leadership campaign and had last-minute fundraising going on during the federal election campaign.
By contrast, some likely candidates in the contest to replace him, such as Toronto MPs Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, have paid down their debts and have been organizing ever since Dion vaulted over them to win the leadership in December 2006.
It was not settled as of Friday whether Dion would seek to remain Opposition leader until a successor is chosen, or whether the party executive and caucus - as is spelled out in the party's constitution - would choose instead to appoint another MP as interim leader. Veteran Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale is considered one likely choice for that job until a leadership vote takes place within a mandatory six months.
One option the national Liberal executive is considering is moving up by a month or two the May convention for a leadership review and turning it into a leadership vote.
Dion rejected internal advice to signal on Tuesday night, after the election results were announced, that he would step down, similar to what Paul Martin did when his minority government was defeated by the Conservatives in 2006.
He has been in seclusion since election night and a cone of silence descended on his spokespersons as pressure mounted after the Liberals won only 76 of 308 seats in the Commons, a loss of 19 from when Parliament was dissolved.
Senior Liberals tried to keep a lid on public displays of acrimony toward Dion in the meantime, calling for a show of respect for his hard-fought campaign and for breathing space while he made an agonizing decision.
While Toronto MPs Jim Karygiannis and Joe Volpe openly criticized him, others supported Dion.
Nancy Girard, Liberal campaign national co-chair responsible for Quebec, said Friday that she saw no reason for Dion to step down, especially given that the Liberals gained in popular vote in Quebec and added fresh faces to the caucus - Justin Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, and retired astronaut Marc Garneau.
"I think he should stay," Girard said in an interview. "I would never put all the responsibility on the shoulders of one person. It's a team. We made decisions together and we need to move forward together."
Gerard Kennedy said he spoke to Dion on Thursday and came away with "no indication" that Dion would do anything but stay on.
Kennedy is a newly elected Toronto MP who was the kingmaker at the 2006 Liberal leadership convention, channelling his delegates to Dion and propelling him to victory over front-runners Ignatieff and Rae.
Kennedy is expected to throw his hat in the ring in the next leadership race but he declined to comment on that, adding he was not among those pushing Dion to bow out. "I'm certainly not putting that pressure on him," he said.
"Obviously that's not something that's entirely determined by him, but I think there's a job right now that he's got to do and the party's got to pull itself together and the caucus, more specifically, in time for Parliament reconvening," Kennedy said. "There's a strong need to express ourselves on the economic problems. I hope to heck everybody gets on with the program."
Toronto MP Martha Hall Findlay, the sole female candidate who stayed in the 2006 leadership race to the end, also declined to comment Friday on whether she would enter the next race. She did say she still has campaign debt to pay and "I have not been organizing, unlike some others." Findlay has waged three campaigns in the last two years - the leadership, a byelection and the general election.
Dion expected to step down Monday
Juliet O'Neill , Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, October 17, 2008
OTTAWA - Stephane Dion is expected to announce Monday that he is stepping aside to make way for a new Liberal leader in the aftermath of his party's losses in Tuesday's federal election.
Liberal sources say that unless Dion changes his mind over the weekend, he will be stepping down, having been persuaded to show himself and his family some mercy after nearly two years of being punched around in the political arena.
Dion, who vowed in the closing days of the election campaign that "I am not a quitter," wanted to remain official Opposition leader, fight for his leadership and face an automatic postelection leadership review in May.
John Major/Getty Images
..
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However, during several days of secluded reflection and consultation with party officials, friends and colleagues, the 53-year-old Montreal MP was persuaded that such a battle would create turmoil in the party, would cost too much money and could fail.
Winning a leadership review would require recruiting support of the majority of Liberal delegates from 308 ridings in Canada and would be financially difficult, when Dion still owes more than $200,000 in debt from his leadership campaign and had last-minute fundraising going on during the federal election campaign.
By contrast, some likely candidates in the contest to replace him, such as Toronto MPs Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, have paid down their debts and have been organizing ever since Dion vaulted over them to win the leadership in December 2006.
It was not settled as of Friday whether Dion would seek to remain Opposition leader until a successor is chosen, or whether the party executive and caucus - as is spelled out in the party's constitution - would choose instead to appoint another MP as interim leader. Veteran Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale is considered one likely choice for that job until a leadership vote takes place within a mandatory six months.
One option the national Liberal executive is considering is moving up by a month or two the May convention for a leadership review and turning it into a leadership vote.
Dion rejected internal advice to signal on Tuesday night, after the election results were announced, that he would step down, similar to what Paul Martin did when his minority government was defeated by the Conservatives in 2006.
He has been in seclusion since election night and a cone of silence descended on his spokespersons as pressure mounted after the Liberals won only 76 of 308 seats in the Commons, a loss of 19 from when Parliament was dissolved.
Senior Liberals tried to keep a lid on public displays of acrimony toward Dion in the meantime, calling for a show of respect for his hard-fought campaign and for breathing space while he made an agonizing decision.
While Toronto MPs Jim Karygiannis and Joe Volpe openly criticized him, others supported Dion.
Nancy Girard, Liberal campaign national co-chair responsible for Quebec, said Friday that she saw no reason for Dion to step down, especially given that the Liberals gained in popular vote in Quebec and added fresh faces to the caucus - Justin Trudeau, son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, and retired astronaut Marc Garneau.
"I think he should stay," Girard said in an interview. "I would never put all the responsibility on the shoulders of one person. It's a team. We made decisions together and we need to move forward together."
Gerard Kennedy said he spoke to Dion on Thursday and came away with "no indication" that Dion would do anything but stay on.
Kennedy is a newly elected Toronto MP who was the kingmaker at the 2006 Liberal leadership convention, channelling his delegates to Dion and propelling him to victory over front-runners Ignatieff and Rae.
Kennedy is expected to throw his hat in the ring in the next leadership race but he declined to comment on that, adding he was not among those pushing Dion to bow out. "I'm certainly not putting that pressure on him," he said.
"Obviously that's not something that's entirely determined by him, but I think there's a job right now that he's got to do and the party's got to pull itself together and the caucus, more specifically, in time for Parliament reconvening," Kennedy said. "There's a strong need to express ourselves on the economic problems. I hope to heck everybody gets on with the program."
Toronto MP Martha Hall Findlay, the sole female candidate who stayed in the 2006 leadership race to the end, also declined to comment Friday on whether she would enter the next race. She did say she still has campaign debt to pay and "I have not been organizing, unlike some others." Findlay has waged three campaigns in the last two years - the leadership, a byelection and the general election.
