{"id":688,"date":"2006-12-07T02:46:00","date_gmt":"2006-12-07T07:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=688"},"modified":"2018-08-19T20:03:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T00:03:19","slug":"thursday-december-7-2006-impressions-of-stephane-dion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=688","title":{"rendered":"Thursday, December 7, 2006 \u2014 Impressions of St\u00e9phane Dion"},"content":{"rendered":"

I watched the Lib\u00ader\u00adal Party\u2019s nation\u00adal lead\u00ader\u00adship con\u00adven\u00adtion with great inter\u00adest, because the cur\u00adrent Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive gov\u00adern\u00adment is rapid\u00adly los\u00ading the respect of the Cana\u00addi\u00adan peo\u00adple, and the Lib\u00ader\u00adals have a very good chance of win\u00adning the next elec\u00adtion. The con\u00adven\u00adtion opened with Michael Ignati\u00adeff as the favourite, with a strong lead. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ignati\u00adeff comes from an unusu\u00adal\u00adly pres\u00adti\u00adgious back\u00adground for a Cana\u00addi\u00adan politi\u00adcian. His grand\u00admoth\u00ader was Princess Natasha Mestch\u00ader\u00adsky and his grand\u00adfa\u00adther was Count Paul Ignati\u00adeff, a close advi\u00adsor to Czar Nicholas II<\/span> serv\u00ading as his last Min\u00adis\u00adter of Edu\u00adca\u00adtion. In 1918, Count Ignati\u00adeff was arrest\u00aded and slat\u00aded for exe\u00adcu\u00adtion but fled to Cana\u00adda with his fam\u00adi\u00adly after he was released by sym\u00adpa\u00adthet\u00adic guards. His father was a career diplo\u00admat who served as rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtive to NATO<\/span> (1963\u20131966), Cana\u00addi\u00adan Ambas\u00adsador to the Unit\u00aded Nations (1966\u20131969) and pres\u00adi\u00addent of the Unit\u00aded Nations Secu\u00adri\u00adty Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ignati\u00adeff offered impres\u00adsive cre\u00adden\u00adtials beyond his back\u00adground. He has authored six\u00adteen fic\u00adtion and non-fic\u00adtion books, and won some acclaim as a jour\u00adnal\u00adist and film-mak\u00ader. Apart from Cana\u00addi\u00adan uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adties, he has held fac\u00adul\u00adty posi\u00adtions at Cam\u00adbridge, Oxford and Harvard.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I did not trust him. As the inva\u00adsion of Iraq began, Ignati\u00adeff appar\u00adent\u00adly thought it was a good idea, when any\u00adone with com\u00admon sense could see oth\u00ader\u00adwise. That demon\u00adstrates some\u00adthing I\u2019ve had to learn from expe\u00adri\u00adence: that a man can be very well edu\u00adcat\u00aded, very intel\u00adli\u00adgent, and very sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded, and still be a blither\u00ading idiot. In addi\u00adtion, he has spent half his life out\u00adside the coun\u00adtry, has always moved in hi-falutin\u2019 cir\u00adcles, and could not pos\u00adsi\u00adbly under\u00adstand or iden\u00adti\u00adfy with the peo\u00adple of this coun\u00adtry. I didn\u2019t want this man as Prime Minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was able to live quite com\u00adfort\u00adably with any of the oth\u00ader three lead\u00ading can\u00addi\u00addates. Bob Rae had moved to the Lib\u00ader\u00adals a few years ago from the New Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Par\u00adty. Dur\u00ading his term as Pre\u00admier of Ontario, he was not a great suc\u00adcess. That brief NDP<\/span> admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion man\u00adaged to upset every\u00adone. After a few months in office, cham\u00adbers of com\u00admerce, unions, teach\u00aders, busi\u00adness\u00admen, sub\u00adur\u00adban\u00adites, farm\u00aders, were all equal\u00adly angered by the party\u2019s incom\u00adpe\u00adtence and inco\u00adher\u00adent poli\u00adcies. How\u00adev\u00ader, most peo\u00adple felt that Rae him\u00adself was an hon\u00adest and rea\u00adson\u00adably com\u00adpe\u00adtent man trapped in a par\u00adty that was designed to be in eter\u00adnal oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion and unfit to gov\u00adern. In the Lib\u00ader\u00adal par\u00adty, he had won a degree of respect, and was seen as the only seri\u00adous con\u00adtender to Ignatieff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trail\u00ading way behind the two front-run\u00adners were Ger\u00adard Kennedy and St\u00e9phane Dion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kennedy is a ris\u00ading star. Born and edu\u00adcat\u00aded in the West, he came to Toron\u00adto after uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty and built a rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion admin\u00adis\u00adter\u00ading food banks. He entered Ontario provin\u00adcial pol\u00adi\u00adtics in a 1996 bi-elec\u00adtion, and sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly won two land\u00adslide vic\u00adto\u00adries in one of the provinces\u2019 poor\u00adest and most prob\u00adlem-filled urban neigh\u00adbour\u00adhoods. As Min\u00adis\u00adter of Edu\u00adca\u00adtion in the cur\u00adrent Ontario Lib\u00ader\u00adal gov\u00adern\u00adment, he did a very impres\u00adsive job of clean\u00ading up the fis\u00adcal and admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtive mess the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives had made of the school sys\u00adtem. His polit\u00adi\u00adcal lia\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties are evi\u00addent: he is very young, has had a rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly short polit\u00adi\u00adcal career, and despite liv\u00ading in a bilin\u00adgual fam\u00adi\u00adly, he speaks French with an embarass\u00ading\u00adly bad accent. This is not an absolute\u00adly cru\u00adcial point in Cana\u00addi\u00adan pol\u00adi\u00adtics, but in the run\u00addown of sec\u00adond and third bal\u00adlots, it can play a role.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same prob\u00adlem faced St\u00e9phane Dion, who speaks Eng\u00adlish clum\u00adsi\u00adly. Though from a much more mod\u00adest social back\u00adground in Que\u00adbec City, he is as much a schol\u00adar as Ignati\u00adeff, and has pub\u00adlished numer\u00adous books on pub\u00adlic admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion, orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u00adal the\u00ado\u00adry and analy\u00adsis. His tren\u00adchant crit\u00adi\u00adcism of com\u00admon eco\u00adnom\u00adic mis\u00adcon\u00adcep\u00adtions in Que\u00adbec has at times angered both Sov\u00ader\u00adeign\u00adtists and Fed\u00ader\u00adal\u00adists, and he has almost no pub\u00adlic sup\u00adport in that province. Ignati\u00adeff is the favourite there. Also, Dion\u2019s pre\u00adoc\u00adcu\u00adpa\u00adtion with eco\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal issues and long-term eco\u00adnom\u00adic choic\u00ades are not the sort of thing that usu\u00adal\u00adly sounds \u201celec\u00adtable\u201d to par\u00adty delegates.<\/span><\/p>\n

How\u00adev\u00ader, the con\u00adven\u00adtion unfold\u00aded in a series of sur\u00adpris\u00ades. As the bal\u00adlot\u00ading pro\u00adgressed, Kennedy pulled out and threw his sup\u00adport to Dion, then Rae pulled out and asked his del\u00ade\u00adgates to \u201cvote their con\u00adscience\u201d. Ignatieff\u2019s strong lead erod\u00aded, as sec\u00adond thoughts, espe\u00adcial\u00adly about his sus\u00adpi\u00adcious suck\u00ading up to Amer\u00adi\u00adcan for\u00adeign pol\u00adi\u00adcy, start\u00aded to sur\u00adface. At the end of the day, Dion emerged as a gen\u00aduine \u201cdark horse\u201d win\u00adner, one of the most rapid and dra\u00admat\u00adic upsets at a lead\u00ader\u00adship convention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the ques\u00adtion for most peo\u00adple is what kind of a man he is. He has a good rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion as an admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtor, but, out\u00adside of his promi\u00adnent role dur\u00ading the sov\u00ader\u00adeign\u00adty ref\u00ader\u00aden\u00addum debates, he has nev\u00ader been a polit\u00adi\u00adcal celebri\u00adty or a cam\u00adera-hound. I\u2019ve been in the dark about this as any\u00adone else. I have known him large\u00adly as an abstrac\u00adtion attached to par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar poli\u00adcies, and sel\u00addom heard him inter\u00adviewed or speak\u00ading. Tonight, CBC<\/span> gave us an in-depth inter\u00adview in which he was asked to respond, unpre\u00adpared, to ques\u00adtions sub\u00admit\u00adted by cit\u00adi\u00adzens across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dion acquit\u00adted him\u00adself extreme\u00adly well. He came across as a per\u00adson who thinks seri\u00adous\u00adly about things, tries to find log\u00adi\u00adcal solu\u00adtions to prob\u00adlems, and uncon\u00adcerned with pro\u00adject\u00ading an image. His Eng\u00adlish is per\u00adfect\u00adly fine, he just has a more promi\u00adnent accent than is usu\u00adal in senior Cana\u00addi\u00adan politi\u00adcians, and he obvi\u00adous\u00adly doesn\u2019t feel com\u00adfort\u00adable with the lan\u00adguage. My guess is that he is accus\u00adtomed to think\u00ading clear\u00adly and pre\u00adcise\u00adly in French, and is irri\u00adtat\u00aded by his inabil\u00adi\u00adty to dupli\u00adcate the process in Eng\u00adlish, which leads to hes\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions and awk\u00adward phras\u00ading. When a politi\u00adcian is mouthing for\u00admu\u00adla phras\u00ades and try\u00ading to obfus\u00adcate issues, he usu\u00adal\u00adly doesn\u2019t feel this awk\u00adward\u00adness at all. It only comes up when you are try\u00ading to speak accu\u00adrate\u00adly and truth\u00adful\u00adly. Odd\u00adly enough, I sus\u00adpect that most of the pub\u00adlic will clue into this, and real\u00adize that they will be able to tell imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly if he is lying or cov\u00ader\u00ading some\u00adthing up. His answers in the inter\u00adview gave evi\u00addence that he is fair\u00adly hon\u00adest, as politi\u00adcians go. When he didn\u2019t know the answer some\u00adthing or hadn\u2019t made up his mind on a pol\u00adi\u00adcy, he sim\u00adply said so, with\u00adout any appar\u00adent embar\u00adrass\u00adment. When issues were com\u00adplex, he broke down his answers with clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Aris\u00adtotelian techiques, lay\u00ading out the parts and groups, defin\u00ading his terms, com\u00adpar\u00ading pos\u00adsi\u00adble solu\u00adtions, arriv\u00ading at a con\u00adclu\u00adsion where it was pos\u00adsi\u00adble. But this was not done in a cold, clin\u00adi\u00adcal way. He came across more as some\u00adone who delights in solv\u00ading com\u00adplex puz\u00adzles and wags his tail when he does so. I was very impressed. Could it be that we have actu\u00adal\u00adly got\u00adten lucky?<\/span><\/p>\n

I have heard noth\u00ading, so far, that sug\u00adgests any degree of per\u00adson\u00adal cor\u00adrup\u00adtion or dis\u00adhon\u00adourable behav\u00adiour. He looks com\u00adpe\u00adtent, has a good record, and most of what he said seemed pret\u00adty sen\u00adsi\u00adble. He was very thor\u00adough in his analy\u00adsis of what the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives have screwed up in their cur\u00adrent admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion, and could pin\u00adpoint the laps\u00ades in log\u00adic that have pre\u00adcip\u00adi\u00adtat\u00aded those screwups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anoth\u00ader piece of polit\u00adi\u00adcal news. After threat\u00aden\u00ading to force a \u201cre-open\u00ading\u201d of the gay mar\u00adriage issue, and demand\u00ading a free vote on the ques\u00adtion, the Harper\u2019s Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives got exact\u00adly what they deserved. When the final vote was count\u00aded, even more MPs had vot\u00aded to pro\u00adtect gay mar\u00adriage rights than had the first time around. This includ\u00aded some promi\u00adnent Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives. Harper\u2019s \u201ccore\u201d moron con\u00adstituen\u00adcy has been firm\u00adly, thump\u00ading\u00adly told to go to hell. That was the Cana\u00addi\u00adan peo\u00adple speak\u00ading. Cana\u00addi\u00adans are not stu\u00adpid, on the whole, and they are not going to let any par\u00adty, what\u00adev\u00ader oth\u00ader poli\u00adcies it might offer, play up to the small, noisy minor\u00adi\u00adty of igno\u00adrant nitwits.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I watched the Lib\u00ader\u00adal Party\u2019s nation\u00adal lead\u00ader\u00adship con\u00adven\u00adtion with great inter\u00adest, because the cur\u00adrent Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive gov\u00adern\u00adment is rapid\u00adly los\u00ading the respect of the Cana\u00addi\u00adan peo\u00adple, and the Lib\u00ader\u00adals have a very good chance of win\u00adning the next elec\u00adtion. The con\u00adven\u00adtion opened \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-at-blog-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=688"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9311,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions\/9311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}