Dion to step down as leader

[the_only_turek_fan]

After the Liberal leadership convention, as per AM77.

[Tyler]

Good riddance

[HotHotHeat]

*Crickets*

[Boblobla]

I heard that Clay Aiken and Lance Bass are takers as well from the 'Least Shocking News Ever' feed.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Damn, this is terrible news.
This means the Liberals might actually get a leader who knows what he is doing.

[Russic]

I don't identify with any party in particular, but thank god. This may not be the most popular opinion around here, but I'd like to see Harper resign next. To not take a majority off arguably the weakest Liberal leader in Canadian history is laughable.

[Bertuzzied]

What did they think would happen when they got the 3rd best guy for the job.

I wonder when Stelmach will realize he is a tool and step down also.

[Dion]

Look for Michael Ignatief to become the next leader of the Liberal party

[jammies]

I blame his winking avatar, it finally became too much for him and he had to go off on a quixotic quest that many men before have lost their lives in pursuing - the elusive MILF.

Oh wait, wrong Dion. Never mind.

[burn_this_city]

My girlfriend is praying for this.. Shes a huge liberal bleeding heart and was devastated when Dion won last time around.

The conservative in me wished he stuck around a lil longer to completely destroy the brand

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by Dion

Look for Michael Ignatief to become the next leader of the Liberal party

Don't count out Ralph Goodale, Bob Rae, or John McCallum.

Ignateif would be the best for that party though.

[CaptainCrunch]

I think this is a good first step for the Liberal's, however their problems go so much deeper then just their leadership.

1) They've really lost touch with their core voters, in fact I think that they took their voters for granted and weren't responsive to them at all, and threw in goofy platform promises etc that alienated the votes that they were willing to guarantee. I think that the Liberals like the Japanese in WWII had victory fever, they believed that their loss to the Conservatives in the last election was an aberration and that they were still the natural ruling party of Canada and they would get votes no matter what they said or did.

2) The Liberal's are broke, and their leadership Canadiates are having money problem. There were rumors in the news on the weekend that the Liberal leadership was exploring the option of declaring bankruptsy. It doesn't help that Jean Chretien changed the rules of fundraising, and on top of that donations from the average folk were not as forth coming. The Liberals also lost approx 1.8 million dollars in federal money due to their poor election performance. Before the Liberal's can even think of toppling the government they need to do some serious fundraising.

3) The leadership convention is going to tear the Liberals apart in terms of internal support, we're already seeing some of that as different factions are pushing for different interim leaders, this is a party thats bitter about its performance in the election, red faced over the results and they're starting to fight.

4) There's always a chance that they could screw up on the new leader like they did last time. This time around there really are three candidates, ignatieff (sp?) whose problem is that he's a little too right wing for the Liberal image, McKenna who to me would be the obvious choice, and Bob Rae who to me would destroy the Libs in Ontario and in the West completely. To me if there is any kind of vote splitting and deal making again, someone like Rae could come in and finish the job.

To me the Liberal's should do whatever they can to delay anykind of fall of the government no matter how much it hurts their pride. They need to make sure that they get a consensus on the leader that heals the frifts in their party, rebrand themselves and decide if they're a centrist party or a left or center party, reconnect with their core support, and fund raise like crazy.

But does a leader solves the Liberal's woes? Not even close.

[albertGQ]

Good news for Liberals

Bad news for CPC

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Russic

I don't identify with any party in particular, but thank god. This may not be the most popular opinion around here, but I'd like to see Harper resign next. To not take a majority off arguably the weakest Liberal leader in Canadian history is laughable.

While Harper isn't the most marketable leader around... I kind of doubt having someone else would make a whole lot of difference.

I am of the opinion that we are at a stage right now where a majority government for anyone might be unattainable. And here's why:

First, I don't think more than 35-40% of Canadians are Conservative. Harper or not, this is the high watermark. The traditional push over the top used to come from Quebec federalists, who now vote Bloc. Any attempt to really woo them back will piss off nationalist conservatives in Ontario and the Maritimes.

Second, a lot of Harper's gains came from Liberal angst with Dion and to a lesser extent, the Sponsorship scandal. With a new leader, there's a new question. Alienate the leftist liberals to the NDP, or alienate the Blue Liberals. Aside from maybe Frank McKenna, the expected options are the same as last time, complete with the usual pitfalls. Goodale and McCallum still represent the Old Guard, and there's downfalls to that. Dion was supposed to be the Ed Stelmach of the Liberals, the concensus builder and middle road choice. Look how that ended up.

Third, the NDP, Green and Bloc split the leftist to centrist vote. The Greens played spoiler in more than a couple ridings, imagine if they had a competent leader. So long as the three are factors, the CPC lose out on the critical majority granting Federalist Quebec vote, and the Liberals lose out everywhere. With the minor parties splitting over 85 seats, that leaves about 223 seats between the major ones. A majority would require a major stumble from these minor parties as well as a major blunder from one of the major parties. Even Dion wasn't catastrophic enough. Had the United Alternative existed in the 1990s, odds are the Liberals would have enjoyed a minority government, rather than straight majorities.

[JerzeeGirl]

Personally, I liked alot of what Dion was saying - being a fairly Liberal minded person. I liked his politics better than Harper's anyways. What I always heard from people who weren't voting Liberal was because it was voting for a "French Guy". I thought that was wrong - it's one thing to hate him cuz he doesn't represent your pov politically but to do it mainly because he's a Quebecer whose second language is english is wrong imho.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

Don't count out Ralph Goodale, Bob Rae, or John McCallum.

Ignateif would be the best for that party though.

Frank McKenna says hello.

I've also heard rumblings of John Manley as well.

[peter12]

Here is a fantastic article by Stephen Taylor, a conservative blogger, on the short-comings of the Liberal Party and why another leadership race is not the solution to the party's ills.

http://www.stephentaylor.ca/

[Russic]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

My girlfriend is praying for this.. Shes a huge liberal bleeding heart and was devastated when Dion won last time around.

The conservative in me wished he stuck around a lil longer to completely destroy the brand

So this whole experience is similar to Kevin Lowe stepping down as GM of the oilers then? I think I understand how all Conservatives feel now!

[octothorp]

Good news for the Liberals.

If McKenna decides to re-enter politics, then he should handily become the next leader of the Liberals.

Failing that, I'd like to see Ignatieff, although I'm a bit worried that he was willing to make deals with Rae last time around. My biggest concern is keeping Rae as far away from the purse-strings of Canada as possible. I'm also a bit worried that Igantieff has too much baggage that can be used against him: the fact that he lived outside of Canada for 30 years and once identified himself as an American, and the fact that he was a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq.

[moncton golden flames]

help us frank mckenna, you're our only hope!