The Liberal Party of Canada chooses a new leader

Moments ago, the Liberal Party of Canada elected Stéphane Dion as their new leader, making him the Leader of the Official Opposition and the next Prime Minister of my country as soon as we can send the nasty gang of Neo-con dinosaurs currently occupying Cabinet packing with the electorate's footprints firmly in their socially-regressive arses.

I like Dion, have always liked him, but then I've always had a soft spot for unabashedly federalist francophone Quebécois. Beyond that, he comes across as a smart, thoughtful, fundamentally decent guy; he is strong on environmental issues (he was Minister of the Environment under Paul Martin); and he has experience and a history with the Party notably lacking in some other candidates.

But even if I didn't like Dion, I would be hugely relieved that the Party stepped back from what at one time seemed to be the unstoppable train wreck of electing a wooden academic who's lived outside the country for the best part of the past 30 years, who, as a Harvard University Professor, supported the invasion of Iraq, and whose most notable traits are his tendency to speak condescendingly during interviews ("parse the sentence, Avi") and his obvious Messiah Complex.

Whatever placed the blinkers around the eyes of the delegates who supported him, Michael Ignatieff is absolutely, positively unelectable in almost all of Canada. Try selling this guy in Newfoundland, in Cape Breton, in Calgary, in most of Ontario.

Now let's get our s#$t together and take back our country.

ronnie