Stephane Dion’s cabinet triumph
Former party leader redeemed
It has been a long road to redemption for Stephane Dion.
The Quebec academic was recruited as a star candidate by Jean Chretien after the province’s 1995 referendum, and was made responsible for fighting the sovereignty movement as intergovernmental affairs minister from 1996 to 2003.
Paul Martin appointed Dion environment minister in 2004, and he became a passionate defender of a cleaner planet until the Liberals lost in 2006.
But it’s Dion’s two years as Liberal leader many Canadians remember. The experience left the former political scientist bitter and dejected which is why his surprise appointment Wednesday as Canada’s foreign affairs minister — one of the most prestigious portfolios — represents a sort of deliverance.
Dion wasn’t supposed to win the Liberal leadership in December 2006. The party had just lost to the Conservatives, but most Liberals expected a quick return to power with either former Ontario premier Bob Rae or renowned academic Michael Ignatieff at the helm. Instead, Dion came up the middle to beat both.
The Conservatives spent the next two years questioning his leadership abilities with vicious attack ads, a message quietly echoed
I told him I greatly appreciated his gesture. Stephane had treated me with nothing but respect.
by foes within his own party. Intelligent but slightly awkward, Dion had trouble fighting back.
He built a carbon tax into the Liberals’ 2008 election platform — just as the global financial crisis hit.
The final blow came when Dion misunderstood a TV interviewer’s question. The video of him fumbling to grasp the question’s odd syntax and asking to start over helped sink his bid for power. When the final votes were counted in 2008, the Liberals had lost 18 seats, sinking to 77.
Even then, Dion almost became prime minister during the so- called “coalition crisis” for the Stephen Harper minority that followed. But in the end, the potential Liberal partnership with the NDP fell apart.
Ignatieff took over as leader a short time later. It was clear in the aftermath that Dion felt bitter, not just over the way the Conservatives had attacked him, but also by the way his own party had treated him. Yet, he continued to run successfully for re- election as an MP for Saint- Laurent– Cartierville, serving in opposition.
That Dion would even be in cabinet this time was no guarantee, given the plethora of talent within the Liberal caucus.
But the new prime minister also has a history with Dion. In his autobiography, Trudeau describes how Dion was not enthused about the younger man first running for the Liberal nomination in Papineau ( Dion in fact preferred another candidate). But Dion immediately called to congratulate Trudeau when he won the party’s nod in the Montreal riding.
“I told him I greatly appreciated his gesture,” writes Trudeau. “Stephane had treated me with nothing but respect.”
Fast- forward to Wednesday: there was Dion, proudly walking up the Rideau Hall driveway alongside Trudeau and the rest of cabinet. The party was showing some recognition of its own.