Didn't See These Coming...

[bjarvis]

Stephane Dion is the new leader of the federal Liberal Party of Canada. I'm amazed: I was certain that it wouldn't have been the cakewalk Michael Ignatieff hoped for --which suited me fine as I'm not an Iggy fan. Still, I thought Bob Rae would be in the fourth & final balloting run-off and Dion wold be knocked out in the first round. Go figure.

In a parallel contest in Alberta, Ed Stelmach came from the back of the pack to take the leadership of the Progressive-Conservative Party of Alberta and thus the new premier of the province. Jim Dinning had been campaigning for years and I thought he'd have locked up the campaign quickly. Dinning is an ardent financial neo-con: cut all gov't spending except the military and since the provincial gov't doesn't have a military... The other big competition was social hyper-conservative Tom Morton: abortion is murder, gays are evil, women should defer to their husbands, etc.. While neither Dinning and Morton represent the province's attitudes as a whole, they are the very embodiment of the core platform beliefs of the party. Yet Stelmach won over both. Alas, I've been unable to find much on Honest Ed: it seems the media didn't pay much attention to him either, writing him off as a historical footnote just as I had.


Now I'm wondering: are these truly unusual come-from-behind electoral upsets, or am I simply so far out of contact with the rest of Canada that I failed to see all the signals? I'm not losing much sleep on this, but it does make me wonder.

Comments

[gingy.livejournal.com]

Ed Stelmach has some big shoes to fill, I know that much. As much as people disliked Ralph, he did a great job of running Alberta.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I always thought Ralph was OK, but he was no Peter Lougheed. Ralph would have been a much better manager if he was a little less wacko and arrived at work sober more often. :-^

[urbear]

Now I'm wondering: are these truly unusual come-from-behind electoral upsets, or am I simply so far out of contact with the rest of Canada that I failed to see all the signals?

As another expat I had the same thought, but I was listening to As It Happens on NPR that night, and they were just as surprised as I was.

[gingy.livejournal.com]

Nobody's gonna ever be another Blue-Eyed Sheikh, I think we need to realize that. Ralph was also a pretty damned good mayor. I chatted with him over beer a couple of times in a dive bar right near city hall. He was very accessible.

[cubmike74.livejournal.com]

I think it was a surprise to much of Canada, including me. However I was reading some articles of this type of result before the weekend. That Candians were looking for a nerdy grassroots upset.

[rticboy.livejournal.com]

I'm cheering this victory (Stephane's) big time! I can't remember the last time I voted Liberal. This might be what it takes to win me back.

[bearfinch.livejournal.com]

I'm quite relieved that Rae didn't become leader; I think to many Ontarians associate him with bad times and that woulkd make him hard to elect as a PM.

As for the rest of it, I haven't followed either leadership convention that closely.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

I didn't expect Dion either, but no-one (other than supporters of various camps within the liberal party) was predicting the outcome of this convention, so you shouldn't feel out-of-touch. The libs have had conventions since the 1920s, but there was only one - 1968, when Trudeau was selected - where the convention didn't have a clear favourite, and then the favourite was selected.

if it makes you feel any better, this is the (beginning of) the top story on the trawna star website right now, Sunday evening:

Dion Readies His Whip

MONTREAL — Liberal Leader Stephane Dion indicated Sunday he's ready to crack the whip at his caucus when it comes to this week's vote on same-sex marriage.

"Indeed, to me it's a matter of rights and you don't pick and choose rights," Dion told a news conference when asked about the first thorny issue to prick his newly minted control of the federal Liberal party.

rest of story at http://tinyurl.com/yeatdl

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The vote is expected before Parliament rises on the 15th. I hope it provides Stevie his fig leaf so he can say to the fanatical right "I tried, but I was outvoted". I do hope they (fanatical right) don't get twisted about whipped votes again. It has been comforting to read responses in newspapers, the huge majority of which say "this is a settled issue, time to move on".

(all eight candidates said they would whip the liberal party into voting against re-opening the same-sex marriage question)