Crooked in Canada

We learn from our mistakes right, or at least we should, but we’re not perfect and just as often as we do learn from the mistakes we sometimes make the same mistakes over and over again.  Loyal Liberal Party of Canada supporters and probably some rank and file members of the battered and bruised political party appear to have not learned from the mistake that saw Stephane Dion named as leader of the LPC.  An online petition is proof of that.

Then there is the adage, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” Dion fooled the Liberal Party once into naming the party leader, but if he is reconfirmed as the party leader after leading the Liberals to what will be remembered as the second or third worst showing in an election in the Liberals history, then shame on LPC members.

The petition I mentioned a moment ago was written by Christine Campbell (cccphd@yahoo.ca), is hosted by www.PetitionOnline.com, and signed off by Jean Proulx of Montreal. Not sure if Proulx is a man or a woman, but it doesn’t matter for this Crooked in Canada entry.

Below is a copy of that petition, which by the way surely has to be an object of ridicule in Canadian cyberspace by now.

To: Liberal Party Of Canada

Doug Ferguson
National President Liberal Party of Canada
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6M8

I am opposed to the movement underway by anonymous Liberal ‘insiders” to remove Mr. Dion from the leadership. Who are these people? Why do they have more say than ordinary Liberal members? There may be reasonable arguments to change leaders, but there are very few reasons to do so in a precipitous manner. In fact there are many reasons not to do so, including:

1. Many of the people who ran for leader in 2006 are still paying off their campaign debts

2. Engaging in an internally divisive leadership contest will distract us from the important work of thinking about why we lost this election and what we need to do to win the next one and remove Stephen Harper from office. He need to discuss how we strengthen our organizational infrastructure so that we can run a more effective election campaign next time (having a plane might help for example).

3. Mr. Dion ran an honourable and substantive campaign. Although some people may not like him, very few people do not respect him. He has provided invaluable service to our party. He deserves more time to think about his own future.

Please consider my feelings and the feelings of other grassroots Liberals before allowing Mr. Dion to be forced out of office. My attitude towards our party’s frequent fundraising appeals will depend in part on the attitude the party’s leaders take with regards to this issue. I doubt I am alone in that.

Respectfully, your fellow Liberal and citizen,

Jean A. Proulx
Montréal (QC)

cc: Robert Fragasso, President – Parti Libéral du Canada (Québec)
Marc Garneau, MP – Westmount-Ville-Marie

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

At the time of writing this article there were 983 signatures.

Obviously those 983 supporters (most of whom are Liberal, and some who are Conservatives who feel as long as Dion is the leader of the LPC, the Conservatives will remain in power) do not put any merit into the fact that Dion has done absolutely nothing, nada, zero, zilch, in improving the LPC’s fortunes, and more importantly they are ignoring the fact that the cause of the LPC losing 19 seats in last week’s election was due to the fact that Canadians don’t like Dion. The latter being acknowledged by Dion himself when he spoke to reporters this past Monday (see October 21 blog entry).

Dion said himself that after consulting with Liberal Party members about the election defeat that he had heard from door knockers that people whose doors they knocked on had stated on many occasions that their door knocks were answered with the statement, “I don’t like your leader.”  I’m paraphrasing of course, but that’s the gist of what Dion said to the media as far as the reason the LPC did so poorly in Election 08.

A petition to keep Dion in his leadership position despite leading the Liberals to a humiliating defeat and the fact that the Liberal Party knows that Canadians don’t like Dion. Get real! He should be replaced with an interim leader now. Let the leadership race begin by dumping Dion now.

How effin’ stupid is Proulx for thinking that it’s a good idea to keep Dion on as the leader while the Liberals figure out where they went wrong and what they need to do to fix what is wrong. Proulx is just a foolish thinker, albeit one looking for a little attention. Whoever this Proulx is, he or she needs to pull his or ass in. It’s either that or Proulx should consider installing a windshield and a mirror in his or her belly button so that he or she can see where they are going.

Message to Proulx: The problem with the Liberals begins at the top mate. Dion is a cancer to the Liberal Party and the sooner they remove that cancer, the quicker the Liberals can begin their rehabilitation. There is no reason to keep Dion at the helm, and if anything your petition is ridiculous, inane, and just plain retarded.

Maybe Proulx is having a little fun at the LPC’s expense.

I can’t think of any other reason for somebody outside of the rank and file membership to circulate a petition asking that the soon-to-be backbencher (maybe he’ll score a Shadow Cabinet post, which would merely be a token gesture made by the next LPC leader) be allowed to remain as leader while the party tries to figure out where they went wrong.

I think most Liberals will agree now that Dion isn’t the guy who can lead them into the future, nor is he the guy who can help right a ship that began listing the moment it was discovered that there was something very shonky with the former Unity Fund, which as it turned out was the scandal that brought the Liberal Party down in the end.

Look where the Liberals are today.

Dion can help fix what is wrong with the Liberals now and keeping him on as leader even an interim one does nothing to convince me that the Liberals know what they are doing. Keeping Dion at the helm when he has failed the party so terribly is just stupid, and for Proulx to rally to his defence (if this petition isn’t a joke) is just as stupid as Dion.

I can’t believe somebody had the balls to circulate such a petition, especially given Dion’s record as leader of the LPC.

Proulx is a moron, what more can I say.

Leads:

Loyalist fight to keep Stephane Dion as their leader