Candidate Profile: Stephane Dion

Continuing on in our profile series, we come to the #4 candidate, Stephane Dion.

Stephane Dion

I've had many different opinions of Stephane. At first, I thought he was a decent candidate, and probably my second choice. Then came LPC(O) back in May, and as with many others, my opinion of him increased. At that point he became for sure my second choice, and I was really impressed with him.

I held that opinion over most of the summer, Dion being the guy that I always liked and would not be sad in the least if he won. Then something happened. I honestly don't quite remember what it was, but around late August/early September he started doing stuff I didn't like. I didn't become so sold on him. I wavered.

And that opinion has continued along. Even today, I got a phone call from the Strategic Council asking about my delegate intentions, and I said I was unsure of my second choice [on a side note, I'm interested to see, especially for the lower people, what the answers for the question about your candidate dropping off if you keep your choice or go by the candidate's].

I still believe that Dion would be a good leader, but I'm not sure if this is the right time for him. That being said, he's still got a good chance, since if Kennedy drops off, it's between him, Rae, and Iggy. He's an academic and a politician. While he may not have gotten much done in his time as environment minister, he does have credibility there. He did great work with the clarity act. Even if he is Quebecois, he is mostly untainted by sponsorship.

Convention Prediction:
Dion's gonna have to do lots of smoozing in the first few days. He'll come into the convention about 50-100 delegates behind Kennedy, so he needs to pick up that many more than Kennedy early on to win. If he does pick up enough, then he will probably win. If not, then he will unfortunately finish in 4th. While he would probably win on a form of Condorcet voting, that's not how this thing is run.

Future:
If he wins, he becomes leader, and hopefully PM soon. If he doesn't win, then it depends who he endorses, and who actually wins. If he picks the winner, then I have no doubt that he will be a major figure in their eventual cabinet, since he is a very smart guy and will probably be a big part of whoever does win. If he picks wrong, then I would hope that the winner gives him a position anyways. He could probably be an admirable minister for nearly any portfolio.