Stéphane Dion was recruited by Jean Chrétien to take a tough academic approach towards the separatists in the wake of RII. He was at his best when he countered the PQ's random utterances on separation, grounding his open letters in international law, convention, and political science. The separatists didn't listen to him, but he was speaking to the record.
He then drafted the next-to-useless "Clarity Act", which iterated principles of law and policy that were already well understood. It doesn't even bind a subsequent federal government. A future Prime Minister could still deal with RIII, if it comes, any way he or she wishes by simply repealing or ignoring Dion's statute.
There was never any constructive action from Dion; no reforms, no constitutional
proposals, no talks.
Just a lot of hot air.
Now Mr Dion has mishandled his greatest opportunity: a chance to defeat the Tories and form a coalition government. Ironically, Canadian unity was his downfall.
His mistake was simple: that silly video. No, not the out-of-focus A.V. guy video on December 2nd, but the "signing ceremony" on November 30th, where he shook hands with Layton and Duceppe, and signed an entente of some sort in front of the cameras.
The coalition was a good idea. Harper was feeling confident of his position and he started to do what he really does best, which is bite the head off kittens. He lost the confidence of the House in a stunning show of neo-con arrogance.
Dion did not learn from history, however, he tried to make it. History teaches us that the GG will ask after a non-confidence vote, and if you can satisfy her, you then get your chance to govern. That takes two phone calls, one to Layton and one to Duceppe. No signatures were necesary, just a plan and an opposition day in the Commons.
Instead we saw the former unity minister shake hands with the leader of the separatist party in Parliament in a ploy that would bring separatists semi-officially into the process of governing. The obvious conflict of interest inherent in the BQ, with its mandate to show that Canada cannot work, that it is not a real country, was overlooked. And practically, even with an entente, Duceppe would have called upon higher values and other separatist bullshit to bring down the coalition at a time and place of his choosing anyway.
Harper and the three or four front benchers he allows to speak in Parliament started to call it a separatist coalition, which it sure looked like. It may not have stuck if there was no signing ceremony, but it did. It could have just been an NDP-Liberal coalition with the BQ going along out of interest. But Dion wanted to look like a tough leader, and show Harper the writing on the wall.
He looked like a dork. It was the worst day in the Liberal Party's history, up there with 30 October, 1995, when they almost blew RII.
I will not miss Professor Dion. While I respect his service to the public as a politician, the country is no better off for his efforts. His obvious misjudgments should lead the Liberals to replace him over the holidays and get someone serious about leadership and better for Canadian unity. The new leader should work behind the scenes to make the coalition work, and give the GG an affirmative answer when she calls, without a signed deal with separatists.
