Stéphane Dion - Tough enough to be prime minister

Conservatives best wake up
Lorrie Goldstein, Sunday, August 5, 2007 - Toronto Sun

Two books suggest why Stephane Dion could be a serious threat in the next election

The more I learn about Stephane Dion, the more I think it would be dumb of the Conservatives to underestimate him.

I know, according to the punditocracy, the federal Liberal leader is a dud-man-walking.

But they also told us Stephen Harper was a dud and Paul Martin was dynamite.

Oops.

Two books suggest why Dion could be a serious threat in the next election.

The easier read is Linda Diebel's Stephane Dion, Against the Current, published earlier this year.

The tougher but more eye-opening one is 1999's Straight Talk -- a collection of Dion's speeches and writings when he was Canada's unity minister, following the near-disaster of the 1995 Quebec referendum.

Reading these pieces, you quickly discover that Dion is, like Harper, scary smart.[1]

His speeches, letters and essays -- most given when he first entered Jean Chretien's cabinet on the advice of Chretien's wife, Aline -- literally demolish the separatists' arguments.

No wonder they hate him. He's smarter than they are.

Dion takes apart every myth they've ever propagated -- that Canada will have no choice but to accept a unilateral declaration of Quebec's independence following a referendum victory, that Quebec's borders are indivisible, that the international community will rush to recognize a self-proclaimed Quebec nation.

SEPARATISTS

Citing legal, constitutional and historical precedents, Dion almost mocks the separatists at times, challenging them to produce one argument that isn't naive, wrong or self-defeating.

Which brings us to Dion's role in the Clarity Act, fathered by Chretien, Dion, Harper and Preston Manning -- talk about strange bedfellows -- and in putting specific questions to the Supreme Court about Quebec's right to secede. Dion won a ruling from the top court that Canada cannot be compelled to negotiate separation unless Quebecers give a clear answer (well over 50%) to a clear referendum question, a much higher bar than the separatists have ever faced.

Of course it's not all brilliant. Dion proves even a smart political science professor can sometimes be brain-dead.[2]

In a 1998 speech at Queen's University, for example, Dion observes: "It's all very well for the federal government to negotiate wonderful international agreements on the environment, but they'll get absolutely nowhere without the provinces' co-operation."

Exactly! So perhaps Dion could explain when, exactly, his party is going to figure that out with regard to the Kyoto accord and Alberta?[3]

Similarly, in an 1997 letter to Bernard Landry, Dion chastises the Parti Quebecois for "your government's regrettable attitude of seeking to discredit your critics so as to avoid a debate of substance" on separation.

Right. And how would that be different from Dion's approach to debating global warming?[4]

The most revealing anecdote, however, is in Diebel's book -- an interview with
Stephane Dion's mother, Denyse, recalling the 1997 death of Stephane's father, Leon, a decade later.

Leon Dion, a respected political scientist in Quebec, died in a horrible drowning
accident at home.

Recalling the tragedy, Denyse Dion describes with contempt articles in the media and separatist talk hinting her husband's death was the result of his shame and disappointment over his son becoming the chief Liberal federalist spokesman in Quebec. "There were people who said he drowned himself because his son went into politics," Denyse angrily notes, calling them "idiots."

MOST HATED MAN

Think about that. At that time Stephane Dion -- who had followed his father's footsteps into academia -- was a political neophyte, whom the separatists were calling the most hated man in Quebec.

He was being depicted as a rat. Then his father, whom he clearly loved, dies in a terrible accident and his critics imply his father committed suicide because of him?

Never mind that Leon Dion wasn't a separatist and was proud of his son. What a cheap shot.

Even a strong person might understandably have said, "who needs this?" and retreated from politics.

Dion stayed. And fought.

To any Conservative (or Liberal) who thinks this guy isn't tough enough to be prime minister, maybe you'd better think again.

A couple of notes re: Goldstein:

1. Now, maybe it's just me, but I don't find "smart" to be scary in a leader. I find "stupid" a lot scarier. When I think of the country facing a serious disaster like a pandemic or climate change, I want smart people in charge. Smart people who actually care about the country (this country - Canada), that is, not smart people who only care about US oil companies.

2. Goldstein has admitted that Dion is smart and that he, Goldstein, finds smart to be scary. So why can't he figure out that Dion isn't "brain-dead" - he's just a whole lot smarter than Goldstein?

3. With 10 years experience working with the Alberta government as Intergovernmental Affairs Minister and another year-and-a-bit as Environment Minister, I'd say Dion probably knows more about the possibility of getting Alberta's co-operation on the Kyoto Protocol than Goldstein.



4. And - having watched a few hours of the 2005 Montreal UNFCCC conference - I've never seen any evidence that Dion is afraid of a substantive discussion on climate change or anything else.

Nice to see a conservative commentator finally catching on that Dion is anything but a wimp though.