Angry in the Great White North

One of Stephane Dion's first decisions as Liberal Party leader was to make a deal with Elizabeth May and the Green Party.  That was on April 12, 2007.  The disaster of the Outremont by-election would not happen for another six months, so Stephane Dion had yet to be labeled a loser in the minds of most Canadians.

So when the announcement was made that the Liberals would not run a candidate in Central Nova (where Elizabeth May would be running), while the Green Party would not run a candidate in Saint-Laurent-Cartierville (Stephane Dion's riding), there was a lot of confusion.

Was this a smart move?  And who was being smart?  Or would both leaders regret the move?

The election is behind us, and as it turns out, both leaders have reason to have regretted the move. 

Elizabeth May is now under attack from members of her own party for having thrown her own party under the bus when she asked Green Party supporters to vote for the Liberals.  Of course, not facing a Liberal candidate in Central Nova, Elizabeth May's plea for people not waste votes by voting Green didn't apply to her.  Funny how that worked out.

Stephane Dion, on the other had, led the Liberals to the lowest share of the popular vote it has ever earned in an election. Where did those votes go?  Well, the Green Party increased its vote share by 50%.  And the Liberals and the Green Party were both running on a platform dominated by a carbon tax, further confusing Canadians about what the connection between the two parties was.

On Monday, at 2pm, Stephane Dion is going announced that he is no longer setting policy for the Liberal Party.  I think the Liberal Party could do a lot worse than announcing, at 2:05, that the Liberal Party will not be in the business of striking sweetheart deals with other parties.

There is so much wrong with the Liberal Party today, but undoing (and rejecting) this element of Stephane Dion's disastrous time as leader would be a good first step.

As a side benefit, it would force the Green Party to act like a real political party, or just chuck the idea and revert to being a movement holding demonstrations and issuing newsletters.