2008-10-16

The Liberals Learn Their Lesson

The choice of Stéphane Dion as Liberal leader may have been a compromise. But it was also a decision to choose a thinker, rather than a communicator, as leader, someone more capable of being Prime Minister than being elected as Prime Minister. This was followed up by the adoption of the politically difficult green shift policy. This was a policy designed to tackle the problem of climate change and implement an economic policy based on sustainable development, a policy designed to solve the country's problems rather than win election. These were very principled decisions taken by the Liberal Party.

And look what happened in the election.

This will not happen again. It will be back to the tradition of opportunism for the Liberal Party in short order.

2 comments:

Oxford County Liberals said...

Perhaps that's why the NDP has never managed to even come remotely close to Official Opposition, let alone PM.

That's not a criticism, by the way.

Anonymous said...

That's interesting, I was going to remark (before I saw Scott's answer) that the Liberals picked up an NDP sized victory because they actually were honest about what they were going to do this time. Jack's corporate tax cut line is the reason he was punished at the polls too. Honest politicians aren't allowed to get ahead. Look at Elizabeth May.