Stephane Dion gave a speech yesterday to a meeting of the LPC's Quebec wing. It's not on the Web yet so I haven’t read it, but to hear the media tell it (and it's being picked-up widely), it seems the highlight was a staunch defence of the Clarity Act:
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says if Quebec secedes from Canada it will be due to a clear vote, not a cloud of confusion stirred by sovereigntists.
“Because I love Quebec, I want my country and my province, Quebec, to be served by clarity instead of confusion,” he told party members and supporters Saturday in Drummondville, Que., 100 kilometers northeast of Montreal.
Certainly I’m a big fan of the Clarity Act, and for staunch defence of it. Seemed kind of lonely a few years ago when Jean Lapierre was crapping on it. And I'm a fan of Dion’s role in it. If many people knew of him before the leadership for anything, that was it. It was the kind of leadership that Stephane showed in staring down the separatists that attracted many Liberals to him in the first place. If he could recapture that fire and the passion that he showed during that time we’d be in great shape.
I know there’s not exactly a separatist threat on the horizon, which will lead some to question why such talk, and there is a line to be tread. But the fact is there is an ongoing debate about federalism, and Quebec’s role in Canada, that the LPC needs to re-engage in.
Certainly Dion’s comments won’t be popular in certain Quebec circles. Doesn’t mean they won’t resonate in others though. Recommend this Post on Progressive Bloggers
2 comments:
"We deserved to lose in the last election because of our arrogance"
Not so sure I like that line from Coderre!
Unfortunately, he had a point. And our rivals are always eager to remind the electorate that at the drop of a hat.
You can't hide from it, a lot of people's perceptions of the Liberal party over the past 10 years has been led by 'arrogance.'
Certainly Dion has done his best to make that dissipate, but again the CONs are anxious to twist his background and occasionally awkward english to paint him as 'arrogant' despite the fact that he is not 1/100 of an arrogant sob that their leader is.
But perception is everything, right?
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