The Liberal Leadership

Stéphane Dion, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada announced on Monday that he is stepping down from his position as leader of the opposition. Originally he had planned to stay until the Liberals selected a new leader in May, but due to wide spread unpopularity amongst Canadians and dissension in his own party he has agreed to step aside after the party is able to select a successor before parliament begins on January 26th.

There were three candidates vying for the Liberal leadership; Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc. LeBlanc dropped out of the leadership race after Dion announced his intention to step down and gave his support to Michael Ignatieff. This leaves Ignatieff as the likely successor if the Liberals go through with their plan to select the new leader based on a vote by the Liberal caucus. Bob Rae is strongly opposed to the new leader being selected solely by the Liberal caucus, however. Rae has called for a leadership vote by all members of the Liberal party in order to select Dion's successor.

Whatever the outcome it is certainly clear that the Liberals are the weak link in this coalition agreement. Dion is unpopular amongst Canadian voters and the Liberal Party needs a more charismatic and popular leader if it's going to have a chance of forming the government, let alone face an election. Come January 26th we should know who the new leader will be and whether or not this coalition will hold together. We can only hope it will.