What if the Liberals had stuck with Dion?
While hindsight is always a convenient 20/20, the Liberals might soon be asking themselves what might have been if they hadn’t pushed Dion out the leader’s door so quickly.
While many in the sheep-like media continue to point to Dion as a low point in the Liberal party, a more objective view shows a different story that could had played out had impatient politicos taken a pill and allowed the former leader to establish himself.
Rewind a year – It’s about the time that Harper tried his poison pill that resulted in a Liberal-NDP coalition proposal that was stalled due to the intervention of the Govenor General (By the way, we STILL haven’t had any explanation from her – she’s a little too content to get back to the ribbon-cutting circuit which is likely more her skill set – acting like a head of state, not actually performing like a head of state – but I digress). Then comes Iggius Cassius who takes over the leadership and turns his back on the coalition.
Now – if Dion had stayed and the coalition had defeated the government we would likely still be governed by a centre-left coalition with a substantial green policy as we approach the Copenhagen talks (heck even the Americans are more ahead of us on this) not to mention the stimulus spending would have been delivered more directly to the towns and cities with a stronger focus on sustainable development. We wouldn’t be talking weasel words about staying in war-mode, and getting rid of gun control wouldn’t be a point of pride for the government. The point is, perhaps the IDEAS of Dion would have had a chance to take shape and the ridiculous belittling of a man with a French accent would have given way to something else – serious solutions for the problems of our time. The same hacks who couldn’t get enough of poking fun at Dion (and still do) are now bemoaning the lack of seriousness in our politics. But alas, the fact that Dion couldn’t speak English properly was enough to disqualify him a mere year ago.
The same hacks are now turning their guns on Ignatieff. Iggy has been an unmitigated flop for a number of reasons, but the seeds of Dion’s downfall and Iggy’s slide are the same – the lack of sophistication of our political class who have more in common with lemmings than anything substantial. As long as it’s style over substance, the Liberals are doomed to wander and Harper is free to play whatever game he wants. Harper’s weakness has always been a lack of a substaintial vision and in prematurely trading Dion for Iggy, the Liberals gave away their advantage in that regard.
The Grits should be thinking about that old Joni Mitchell song - You don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone.
