On Saturday, December 3, 2006, the Liberal party of Canada chose Stephane Dion to be their new leader amongst great cheers and hoopla.
Especially from the two major national television broadcasters: CBC and CTV, whose on-air anchors gushed with enthusiasm.
This goes to show just how much our (Canadian) media dislike Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada, since none of the Liberal choices were worth gushing over.
Stephane Dion was a French university professor at the University of Montreal before entering federal politics at the request of then Prime minister Jean Chrétien, some 10 years ago.
It was Dion's duty at that time to beat back Quebec Separatists, and keep Canada united. This he did, but at a price Canada should never have had to pay with his Clarity Bill, which draws a roadmap for any province to legally leave Confederation.
A little Stephane Dion history will show you that his famous political father, Leon Dion, who was Quebec's nationalist Premier Robert Bourassa's chief constitutional advisor, is on record as advising Bourassa to negotiate with Canada with a knife to Canada's throat.
How's that for being a great Canadian federalist?
To the CTV anchor, Lloyd Robertson, who was fawning over the Dion legacy, he sort of forgot to mention Stephane's official opinion on language rights within all of Canada.
Stephane Dion believes that Quebec's draconian language law, Bill 101, which FORBIDS the unrestricted use of the English language in the province of Quebec, is a “GREAT CANADIAN LAW”.
Would Stephane Dion consider a duplicate law within the province of Ontario, which would forbid the unrestricted use of the French language, exactly the way Quebec's Bill 101 makes the use of English within the province of Quebec ILLEGAL, also a great Canadian law?
This is the man who would be Prime Minister.
About 10 years ago, I had the opportunity to watch Stephane Dion debate columnist Bill Johnson, up close and personal at the Holiday Inn Pointe Claire on the West Island of Montreal.
What I saw was a man who's been standing before students for far too long. He was nasty, rude and angry when his truth was challenged.
How dare one challenge or question the professor?
At one point during the debate, Dion simply stated that Bill Johnson was a liar. His exact words were: “You are a liar”.
Those four words (You are a liar) during a civilized debate did more to tell me about Stephane Dion, than anything else he could have said or done.
This is not a man which Canada needs to govern our nation.
As for his “stunning” win:
I think it says far more about the lack of talent that was running for the Liberal big prize, than it says about Dion.
Only because the majority of delegates wanted neither Ignatieff nor Rae, did Stephane Dion win the leadership.
To the Liberal media though, this result is interpreted as Party renewal and a great victory for the Liberals.
They also suggest that Harper beware of the Dion, the academic who everyone underestimated.
But I don't see any reason for Harper to be concerned about a man whose vision for Canada is a country where one province makes it illegal for individuals, including Canadian citizens to be linguistically (culturally) different. And Dion thinks this is a great thing.
If anything, picking Dion to be the new Liberal leader might very well be all that Harper needs to win his coveted majority.
If that's the case, I too support Dion.
To add a kicker to all of this:
By the birth of his mother, Stephane Dion is also a citizen of France. How can someone who wishes to be a Prime Minister of one country (Canada) have loyalty to another?
And why hasn't Dion ever mentioned that he is a citizen of a foreign nation while he occupies such an important position within the government of Canada?
When asked by the media if he would renounce his French citizenship. His answer was emphatically no!
As Canada's current head of the “loyal” opposition.
To whom is Dion is loyal?
Is this a man we can or should trust?