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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MONTREAL 001205 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR WHA/CAN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER MARR EINV CA
SUBJECT: CANADA'S LIBERAL LEADERSHIP RACE: DION EMERGES AS 
UNLIKELY WINNER 
 
REF: QUEBEC 150 
 
Classified By: Mary B. Marshall for reasons 1.4 b,d 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (C/NF) Former Environment Minister Stephane Dion emerged 
the surprise winner of the Liberal Leadership 
convention, held in Montreal from November 30-December 2, 
coming from fourth place to beat frontrunner Michael 
Ignatieff, 2521 to 2084 delegate votes.  Ignatieff, though an 
eloquent and passionate speaker with a motivated 
group of supporters, proved to be a divisive force within the 
Liberal party and the convention itself.  Dion, 
in contrast, who had slowly, but steadily gained momentum 
throughout the campaign, had first round votes from 
fewer than 20% of the delegates at the conference's outset. 
The Ignatieff and Rae camps feared Dion's moving 
beyond the first round vote, as it was clear Dion would have 
stronger support in second and third rounds, but 
underestimated the Dion momentum.  Dion's commitment to the 
environment, specifically the Kyoto protocol, his 
status as a respected (albeit a bit wonky) former Liberal 
minister, his being seen as the candidate with the 
least liabilities, as well as his strategic alliance with 
fourth-place leadership contender Gerard Kennedy, 
catapulted him in the successive votes to victory few pundits 
thought possible.  As the head of the official opposition, 
Dion is likely to mount attacks on Harper's environmental 
policy, Canada's continued presence in Afghanistan, and the 
Conservative government's perceived overly-close relationship 
with the Bush administration. 
The leadership race overshadowed the lackluster policy and 
procedural resolutions adopted at the Liberal 
convention. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Liberals Under Dion:  His Program and Challenges for 
U.S.-Canada Relations 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2. (C/NF) Dion campaigned on a three-pillar policy of 
economic prosperity, social justice, and environmental 
sustainability, though his victory speech left room for other 
Liberal policy ideas.  As expected, Dion focused 
most on this third pillar, trumpeting his Kyoto credentials 
during his bid for leadership (his white huskie named 
Kyoto became part of the campaign effort.)  However, Dion may 
run into problems if he strives to use his record as 
Environment Minister in Paul Martin's government as the 
backbone of his campaign.  Despite his endorsement of the 
Kyoto Protocol and reductions in GHG emissions, his time in 
the Environmental Ministry, according to a report by Canada's 
Auditor General, saw expenditures on projects with 
questionable contribution to GHG reductions.  But the 
issue of the environment is one that Canadians (and 
especially Quebeckers) hold dear, and might serve his 
campaign 
well if he is able to propose new and pragmatic initiatives 
to move Canada forward on this issue. Given the fact 
that Kennedy played kingmaker, Kennedy's strong interest on 
social issues will likely factor into the Liberal 
program, although the role that Kennedy will play within a 
Dion-led Liberal Party has yet to be determined. 
 
¶3. (C/NF) On Canada's Afghan deployment, Dion will continue 
to call for an "honorable way out."  He will target Harper's 
decision to extend Canada's mission there until 2009 without 
adequate Parliamentary debate.  The 
Liberals will no doubt be tempted to transform the next 
federal election, expected for the spring, into 
referendum on Afghanistan.  In addition, Dion will at least 
to some extent follow in the footsteps of his 
predecessors and target the Conservative policies as being 
too close to those of the U.S. "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," Mr. Dion stated during his 
speech Friday evening. "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." 
 
MONTREAL 00001205  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Two Salient Issues: the Environment and The Unity Question 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C/NF) Bernard Landry, former head of the separatist 
Parti Quebecois, endorsed Dion's victory as "the first step 
towards sovereignty."  This position might seem bizarre given 
Dion's hard-line stance against constitutional recognition of 
Quebec's "nation" status, or more powers that such a status 
might entail.  But Landry and other Parti Quebecois and Bloc 
Quebecois leaders have stated their views that Dion's 
position at the head of the Liberal camp is their chance to 
generate a groundswell in favor of sovereignty among 
Quebeckers who have trouble accepting Dion's pro-federalist 
stance. 
 
¶5.  (C/NF) Minister of Public Works Michael Fortier stated 
over the weekend that Dion was elected primarily by delegates 
from outside his home province, and that most Quebec 
delegates voted in favor of Ignatieff. The perception that 
Dion lacks a strong base of popular and Quebec Liberal MP 
support in his own province (due to his hard-line 
stance on Federal-Provincial relations) is being widely 
debated in the media and by delegates. Some see his stance 
on the environment as carrying more political cache among 
voters, especially among young voters, than the unity 
question.   However, a pre-convention Canadian Press poll 
showed that Stephane Dion was as popular in Quebec as Bob 
Rae or Michael Ignatieff.  In any case, however, he will 
attract the support of committed federalists in the 
province, so predictions of an electoral disaster there seem 
to be overdrawn. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
The Dion Image: A "brain on legs" or a political "Indiana 
Jones"? 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶6.  (C/NF) Dion has a reputation for being rigid in his 
beliefs and for having a difficult time forging compromises 
with those who have different ideological leanings.  His 
heavily-accented, labored English does not always translate 
well outside of Quebec. But he is also viewed as a sharp, 
strategic thinker with courage to speak his mind and the 
conviction and will to pursue his agenda.  Many political 
analysts wondered whether he would be able to overcome his 
image as a "brain on legs" during his December 1 speech to 
convention delegates.  Although some termed his convention 
speech as lackluster, due to his unchanging facial expression 
and the fact that he was unable to finish the final 20 
percent of his speech, continuing to speak as his microphone 
faded and the music volume increased, others respected 
his passion and determination as the sign of a political 
fighter: "Not since Indiana Jones has there been a 
university professor as tough, determined, and resourceful as 
Stephane Dion," wrote Don MacPherson of the Montreal Gazette. 
Others too have warned not to underestimate Dion, who has 
also been described as "the Francophone Harper."  Dion's 
image challenge is different outside of Quebec. He is not as 
known, and while his stance on national unity meshes well 
with the opinion in ROC, Dion risks falling victim to being 
the third Quebecker in a row as the Liberal candidate. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Delegates vote to continue convention formula, avoid debate 
on policy 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶7. (SBU) During the convention's plenary session, three 
"priority" resolutions on international affairs were adopted 
without any debate: 1) A resolution urging the Government of 
Canada to explore avenues to create an international 
convention regulating the global trade in small arms and 
light weapons; 2) A resolution urging the Canadian 
Government to respect water as a global good and basic human 
necessity which is ensured through public ownership and not 
as a marketable commodity controlled only by supply and 
demand; and 3) A resolution on the rights of indigenous 
people and Arctic sovereignty, which advocates the 
"development of a comprehensive Arctic sovereignty strategy 
that addresses issues such as trade, Arctic water pollution, 
regulations for shipping traffic, and aeronautics 
regulation." 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  The International Affairs policy workshop also saw 
the adoption of a resolution to establish a Secretary of 
State for Canada-U.S. relations under the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, a resolution on "northern sovereignty" stating that 
the Canadian government should require all foreign ships to 
 
MONTREAL 00001205  003 OF 004 
 
 
register in advance of "plying northern Canadian waters, 
including the Northwest Passage," and another on Canada's 
mission in Afghanistan that would urge the Canadian 
government to have a "full and open debate" in Parliament on 
the current goals and objectives of the mission with the aim 
of clearly defining the mission's goals and objectives for 
the Canadian people, "and using the success, or lack thereof, 
of meeting these objectives as the principal basis for 
determining how long, or whether, Canada maintains a military 
presence in Afghanistan." Of the seventeen resolutions 
introduced in the policy workshop, all but one was adopted, 
the exception being a resolution on Canada's role in 
peacekeeping, conflict resolution, and governance building, 
as some delegates expressed opposition to the mention of 
"military" methods (alongside "non-military" 
methods of peacekeeping). 
 
¶9.  (SBU) If the environment was a unifying theme, then the 
question of national unity was the divisive one that the 
Liberals intentionally avoided. In contrast to the virtual 
absence of debate among Liberal convention delegates over 
policy issues during plenary sessions, efforts to do away 
with future leadership conventions by changing the party's 
method of electing its leader to "one member, one vote" on 
November 30 raised significant controversy and passionate 
arguments from both sides of the debate.  Some policy issues 
gained prominence outside of plenary sessions, such as during 
a speech to youth delegates to the convention, where Michael 
Ignatieff seemed to soften his support for 
Canada's mission in Afghanistan, by stating that he saw no 
reason to extend Canadian troops' presence in the country 
after 2009. The real policy debates occurred among the 
leadership candidates themselves, during their December 1st 
speeches. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Convention organizers strive for the appearance of unity, but 
the "Nation" question dogs leadership candidates 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) A motion to have the Liberal party recognize 
Quebec as a Nation (following the adoption of a similar 
resolution at the Federal level on November 27--see reftel) 
threatened to introduce deep divisions into the 
leadership convention.  The motion followed from September 
2006 campaign statements by Ignatieff about Quebec's language 
and culture constituting a "nation" within Canada.  The 
Quebec wing of the Liberal party issued a 
statement November 27 withdrawing its planned resolution, 
saying the federal motion, though it differs slightly, 
delivers what the Liberal motion had sought. Political 
analysts and media said the tactic was to avoid an open 
debate during the convention, which would have shown the 
party as divided, and would have isolated the Liberal 
party as the only federal party that rejected the motion. 
Some political analysts have blamed Ignatieff's 
introduction of the formerly dormant, ever-divisive "Quebec 
nation" question, into the political discourse of the 
leadership race as one of the reasons for his failure to win 
the votes necessary to carry the election. 
 
¶11.  (C/NF) Dion's reputation as a hard-line Federalist and 
as the author of the Clarity Act (setting out a 
strict set of guidelines to be used in future referendums on 
Quebec Sovereignty) has made him unpopular among 
some Quebec nationalists.  Dion might opt to soften his 
position on this question somewhat in order to win more 
approval in Quebec, but such a change of ideology would 
require a dramatic departure from the vision of a united 
Canada he has been promoting throughout his political life. 
He did, however, vote for the motion in the House of Commons 
that recognized the Quebecois as a nation within a unified 
Canada. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12. (C/NF) Much of the press coverage regarding Dion has been 
positive, and a national poll taken in the afterglow 
of his election not surprisingly gave him a big bounce and 
pushed him in front of Harper, 37 to 31 percent.  He has 
critics however, and within minutes of his victory, they came 
out of the woodwork, including from members of his 
own party.  They took him to task for his faltering English, 
lack of charisma, absence of political acumen, and suspected 
inability to bring together an effective coalition.  But 
those who have underestimated Stephane Dion in 
the past have done so at their own expense.  The media 
commentary unanimously claimed the Liberals emerged with the 
 
MONTREAL 00001205  004 OF 004 
 
 
damage repaired from decades of feuding between Chretien and 
Martin camps, and the sponsorship scandal. Dion has mobilized 
the party's youth and taken the first steps towards gathering 
a strong base of support from his former opponents in the 
leadership race, hosting a lunch meeting December 2 with each 
of the former contenders to discuss strategies for moving 
forward. Whether the Liberals will be able to use the party's 
biennial convention and 
leadership race to pull themselves together and rally behind 
their new leader, who has pledged to reinvigorate the party, 
remains to be seen.  Pundits agree that Dion is 
well-positioned on the two most important issues coming out 
of the Liberal convention: the environment and national 
unity, much of his success will depend on Dion's ability 
to reinvent his image, renew his relations with Quebec 
federal liberals, and generate support for a unified Liberal 
program - promoting environmental issues without slowing down 
the economic prosperity.  Much will also depend on whether 
Harper re-takes the initiative and delivers on his campaign 
promises. Timing of the next elections, which 
most predict will be this spring, will give Dion a chance to 
demonstrate whether or not he was the right choice. 
MARSHALL