Message To Left Wing Losers

Jonathan Kay: Stéphane Dion owes his party no apologies

Posted: October 20, 2008, 2:24 PM by Jonathan Kay
Filed under: Jonathan Kay

Stéphane Dion was right to announce his departure: When you lose this bad, the leader takes the hit. No exceptions.

But he can leave with his head held high — and without apologies. Dion delivered exactly the same left-wing bill of goods he advertised back when he ran for party leader in 2006. The people who should be spouting mea culpas are the Liberals who picked this earnest beta male in the first place. Instead, they’re cynically indicting the man for exactly the same qualities they praised so effusively two years ago.

The list of cynics includes my counterparts on the Globe & Mail editorial board — who deserve much of the credit for getting Dion elected Liberal leader in the first place.

Newspaper editorials don’t typically sway political races much. But the Globe’s Nov. 25, 2006 endorsement of Dion for Liberal leader was an exception. In the lead-up to the party’s December convention, Dion was running 4th behind Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy. The Globe’s endorsement probably translated into just a tiny handful of delegates — but under the circumstances, that small boost proved crucial. It allowed him to inch out Kennedy in the 1st and 2nd ballots, which in turn was just enough to make him a respectable destination for the orphaned supporters of also-rans.

What was it about Dion that the Globe liked back in 2006? His “defining attributes,” the editorial board declared, were “intelligence and principle.” Put another way, “He is arguably the most courageous Canadian politician of his generation.” Moreover, Dion “presented a compelling vision of a 21st-century environmental economy.” This was critical, the Globe concluded: Along with the unity file, the environment, was “among the most important” issue over which any leader might “exercise mastery.”

As Liberal leader, Stéphane Dion didn’t disappoint. The Green Shift was every bit the ambitious blueprint for a “21st-century environmental economy” that the Liberals’ green wing wanted.

Was it popular? What a jejune question. The idea of a carbon tax has received support from a long list of blue-chip academics, not to mention The Economist magazine. We are dealing here with “the most courageous Canadian politician of his generation.” As a man of “principle,” Dion didn’t pick policy according to what’s popular, but according to what’s right.

So when the time came to endorse a PM in this month’s election, who did the Globe pick? Why, Stephen Harper, of course.

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