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December 06 Meet the old boss - same as the old boss?So, the federal liberals...or "fiberals"... have a new leader, and big surprise, he's from Quebec. Do the liberals even realize anything east of the Ottawa river exists? Give me a break. But I digress.
So the new guy is a fella by the name of Stephane Dion. The man barely speaks english. Now, I really can't be too hard on him for that. Lord knows I certainly don't speak french. But I'm not planning on becoming Prime Minister in the near future, either. (Sorry gh0st, I'm not. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that)
Putting that aside for a moment, this guy served in Cretin's (intentional misspelling) cabinet in a couple of positions. He was minister of intergovernmental affairs and the environment. A former cabinet minister sure, but not exactly a marquis name. So big deal, right? Wrong.
I went back over the results of the last election, and discovered something interesting. Here's the short story:
(C) Conservative seat
(L) Liberal seat (Q) Bloc Quebecois seat (N) NDP seat Sackville Eastern Shore (L) West Nova (L) Madawaska-Restigouche (L) Tobique-Mactaquac (C)* Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou (L) Ahuntsic (Q)* Beauport-Limoilou (C) Brossard-La Prairie (Q)* Charlesbourg-Haute-Saint-Charles (C) Hull-Aylmer (L) Louis-Hebert (C) Papineau (B)* Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing (L) Barrie (C)* Beaches-East York (L) Brant (L) Burlington (C)* Glengarry-Prescott-Russell (C)* Guelph (L) Halton (C)* Hamilton East-Stoney Creek (N)* Huron-Bruce (L) Kitchener-Conestoga (C)* London-Fanshawe (N)* London West (L) Mississauga South (L) Oakville (L) Ottawa Centre (N)* Ottawa-Orleans (C)* Parkdale-High Park (N)* Parry Sound-Muskoka (C)* Peterborough (C)* St. Catharines (C)* Simcoe North (C)* Thunder Bay-Rainy River (L) Saint Boniface (L) Winnipeg South (C)* Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River (L) Edmonton Centre (C)* Burnaby-Douglas (N)* Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca (L) Fleetwood-Port Kells (C)* North Vancouver (L) Richmond (L) Vancouver Island North (N) West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country (L) This is a list of ridings that were extremely close during the last election. These ridings were so close in fact, that the outcome was decided by a party that doesn't even hold a seat in parliment.
The green party.
Yes, every single riding on that list, 43 of them in all, were decided on the basis of whether or not the green party was able to siphon enough votes from the frontrunner. The ones with astrisks would have almost certainly gone to the liberals if the green party didn't exist. 22 seats in all, 14 of which went to the conservatives. That's the difference between a conservative minority, and a liberal one.
Now, let's return to mister Dion. Why do you suppose the liberals chose him over all of the other (probably more viable) candidates? Why would they risk a relative unknown who needs a translator on-hand to answer the questions of anglo reporters? What could he possibly have that would justify the risk?
Dion is a serious environmentalist. He doesn't just talk about the environment like politicians normally do, he's got an actual pedigree on record. He walks the walk.
So what's the message here? Will the liberals actually tackle the green agenda?
I don't think they have a choice. They lost the last election because of the green vote. Harper is busy alienating environmentalists as fast as he possibly can, so I don't think those votes will swing blue come next election. But if the liberals actually take the environment seriously, they might be able to turn those green votes red. Time will tell. |
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