Angry in the Great White North

You'd think that with all the controversy over Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion's French citizenship, there would be an effort to make sure that there would be no reason to put that issue back into the spotlight.

Though hardly something to rock the Liberal Party to its foundations, it is amusing to notice that similarity between the websites of Nicolas Sarkozy and the new Liberal Party:

I'd be shocked if this was deliberate. The fact is, the slogan "Together, everything is possible" is trite to the point of being devoid of any meaning. Everything? No wait for health care, no national debt, a chicken in every pot, faster-than-light travel to Jupiter? And all we have to do is follow you? The Conservative Party French-language website tagline, "Les resultants parlent on tient parole", focuses on commitments and real results.

But as much as I think this is a (literally) meaningless coincidence, this one Liberal blogger actually said that Stephane Dion ought to be more like Nicolas Sarkozy:

Segolene Royal seems to be experiencing the slump Stephane Dion is having. Dominique Moisi wrote an article about the French Presidential campaign. His verdict is this: Sarkozy is the old style politician, Royal is the post-modernist candidate. Sarkozy will lose only if he beats himself and the anybody but Sarkozy movement takes shape. Harper is undoubtedly following this election and he will take some example from his centre right compartment.

Lessons for Dion in the next month. Stay on message. Be an old style politician and have firm convictions.

That was over a month ago. Then the new website is rolled out, and the Liberal Party tagline parrots the Sarkozy tagline. Curious, that.

Some more amusing coincidences. Stephane Dion received his doctorate from the Institut des Etudes Politiques in Paris in 1984. Dominique Moisi, the fellow who analyzed Sarkozy's campaign, is a professor at that same institution. In 1999, Moisi chaired a roundtable focusing on a multilateral approach to a world in change (presumably in response to Anglo-American unilateralism). Working with Moisi on that committee was Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy. You can read all about it on the website for Canada's Ambassador to France.

When Lloyd Axworthy's pick for the Liberal Party leadership, Bob Rae, dropped out of the race, Axworthy moved to Stephane Dion's camp, a significant move that helped seal Dion's win over Michael Ignatieff. I can only assume, then, that Lloyd Axworthy is one of the people Stephane Dion listens to.

But I really don't think Stephane Dion is getting campaign advice from France.

Just coincidences.