Who will it be

The Palais des Congrès in Montreal (September 2004), venue for the Liberal leadership convention

In a few days the Liberal Party of Canada will have chosen its new leader from a list of eight potentials. In recent weeks I have ended up leaning towards Stéphane Dion as my favourite out of the four leading candidates. His emphasis on the environment and on a sustainable economy, his principled position on Québec and national unity, and his past political experience as one of Jean Chrétien's crowd is what makes it for me. Somehow I see him as being more sincere and principled than Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, more of a 'true Liberal' than those two, if you will. As prime minister I see him restoring Canada's position as a nation (there's that word again) committed to its social justice and environmental protection goals, a reputation that has been tarnished in recent years.

My second choice would probably be Gerard Kennedy, but he has many years ahead to try again for party leader. Of course it's quite possible, maybe even likely, that neither of the two will emerge as winners at the end of the Liberal convention. We'll have to wait and see how the ballots play out.