The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
By-elections Federal, provincial and even local by-elections are usually held when an elected official dies, quits or is thrown in jail (which has happened, particularly in the U.S.). Some think they are an important test of the government of the day, while others say they are really not that important. However the three federal Quebec by-elections held September 17 have been given a new meaning as observers saw the results as a minor referendum on Liberal leader Stephane Dion. And may mean bye-bye, Stephane. Dion has been described in this column and nearly everywhere else as politically unpopular nearly everywhere in the country, mainly because of his perceived arrogance, lack of new ideas and inability to communicate in English. Up to now he has denied his unpopularity and continuously promotes old Chretien/Martin policies. The kicking his party took in the three ridings may have woke him up to reality, or at least that's what he says now. The results were quite interesting and certainly played up by the media. The downtown riding of Outremont in Montreal had been held forever by the Liberals with the exception of the Mulroney landslide in 1984. The two rural ridings were considered bastions of the Bloc, although both had been Conservative ridings in the past. Losing Outremont to the NDP was considered a shocker, but was it really? The New Democrats had not won a Quebec seat in years, not since Doug Edmundson. Jack Layton was crowing about this win as a beginning for his party, but is it? Edmundson was a popular former provincial cabinet minister and a most aggressive campaigner. Dion personally chose the Liberal candidate to run against Edmundson. Dion and some other big Liberals downplayed the losses and spoke unbelievable nonsense to the media, claiming Dion was still "the man." In Roberval, the mayor running for the Tories won easily over the Bloc, and the Liberals and NDP didn't make double digits. In St. Hyacinthe, the Bloc barely hung on with the Conservatives almost beating them and the Liberals and NDP way below 10 per cent of the vote. That's not much encouragement for Dion and Jacko to force an election this fall. Dion has taken blame for the losses and quickly attacked the Tories on their foreign policy. He claims a Liberal government would ban cluster bombs as they tried to do with land mines. Remember when Lloyd Axworthy led the charge to have countries sign up to ban land mines? He got a lot of signatures, but from countries that use them, and the result meant nothing. As their head pollster said in August at a meeting of big Liberals, the party needs to "freshen up' and come up with new ideas. He told them that over 62 per cent of Canadians approve of Harper's performance and over 50 per cent have no opinion of Dion. Dion obviously paid no attention to the pollster's advice and has continued to bash the Tories. Is anyone listening? Waiting in the wings is deputy leader Michael Ignatieff, but it is unlikely the Liberals will turf Dion until at least after the next election. How about a couple of Manitoba by-elections from the past? It was 1968, and new Premier Walter Weir had called three by-elections, including one to replace former premier Duff Roblin, who had resigned to contest the national leadership the year before. During the campaign, Weir was on TV with Pierre Trudeau and did very well in the debate. When Weir came home, he was advised by key Tories to cancel the by-elections and call a general election, catching the Liberals and NDP off guard. He didn't listen, won the by-elections but lost in the general election the next year to new leader Ed Schreyer, who became the province's first NDP premier. The by-election wins meant absolutely nothing! Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
