Stéphane Dion has been elected the 11th leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He outdistanced Michael Ignatieff at this weekend's federal leadership convention in Montreal, with a fourth and final ballot win. Dion drew 2,521 votes (54 %), ahead of Ignatieff's 2,084 votes (45%).
Considered a "dark horse" candidate by some, Dion rose to victory from a fourth place finish on Friday's first ballot. The first ballot had been won by Ignatieff, widely regarded as the early frontrunner.
Dion, a 55 year old native of Quebec City, was first elected to Parliament in 1996. He previously served in the Cabinets of Prime Ministers Jean Crétien and Paul Martin.
He is perhaps best known to Canadians for his previous role as Unity Minister, in which he initiated the 2000 Clarity Act, establishing firm federal protocols for dealing with Quebec sovereignists' aspitations within a Constituitional framework.
His leadership campaign adopted a "three-pillar approach," focusing on social justice, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability.
In his speech to the Leadership Convention on Friday, Dion had rallied the party for an imminent election, and directly challenged the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
Eleven years ago, Jean Chrétien invited me to join his government to help keep Canada united, to bring clarity about the unity of our country. I stood up for Canada. And I delivered for my Prime Minister, my party and my country.
Two years ago, Paul Martin invited me to stand up for Canada’s environment – the most important challenge of our generation and the next. And I delivered for my Prime Minister, my party and my country.
Today, I humbly stand to serve you once again.
...Today we face a very right-wing Government, much more like the current US Republican Party than the old Tories, the former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
Canada has a Prime Minister who thinks that the United States is not only our ally, but also our model.
A Prime Minister who would have immersed us in the Iraq nightmare.
A Prime Minister who, last Spring, blackmailed Parliament with the threat of an election, in order to impose on Canada, blindly, two more years in Afghanistan with no clear mandate.
A Prime Minister who is mirroring the style of his hero to the point that President Bush should be getting royalties from Mr. Harper’s speeches.
A Prime Minister who imposes ideological cuts to women, aboriginal people, official language communities, literacy, arts and culture.
...A Prime Minister who – make no mistake -- is undermining the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, sending a chilling signal for what he intends to do if he gets a majority government.
... A Prime Minister who tore up our Climate Change Plan, Project Green, which would have allowed us to honour our international Kyoto Commitments. Instead, he’s put forward an inept Clean Air Act, which is nothing more than an excuse not to act, a smokescreen.
A Prime Minister who is virtually pulling us out of Kyoto.
Remember that a year ago, here in the Montreal Convention Center, in the name of Canada, I presided over a United Nations conference which brought the world together, 182 nations, for a joint action plan against the greatest ecological threat facing humanity: climate change.
And this year, at the same Conference in Nairobi, this Conservative government has shamefully failed the world and tarnished Canada’s international reputation.
What a disgraceful way to govern.
I helped bring the world together to fight Climate Change. Since then, Stephen Harper has wedged the world apart.
Well, my fellow liberals, the world needs Canada. Under my leadership, Canada will not fail the world.
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