Why did Dion's wife help Harper? - thestar.com

Why did Dion's wife help Harper? - thestar.com: "It's unfortunate the Liberals don't have a leader like Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau or Jean Chretien. No doubt there are many intelligent, well educated, successful Liberals out there. One of them has to step up to the plate in order to combat the dangerous ideology of the Harper Conservatives. If Stephen Harper ever won a majority, it would make the rule of Mike Harris look like a Sunday school picnic."

This published letter to the editor in the TorStar is a perfect example of the thinking that will prevent the Liberals from returning to Government. They currently have a world class academic, who has resided at Harvard and on the BBC. I'm not sure what the commenter means when they say they need an "intelligent, well educated, successful Liberal" if Ignatieff doesn't fit that role.

Dion, the fallen former Leader of the Liberal Party and presumptive Prime Minister in Waiting was a leading academic in Quebec, trained at La Sorbonne before guiding Quebec through the Unity crisis, his role was the "No" side and he won. If this is not the definition the reader seeks I can't define it.

What is missing from the commentary, and from the pages of Liberal friendly newspapers is criticism that the party is lacking cohesion and general direction. What is the Liberal position on anything? Furthermore, if they state a position does it mean that they will compromise it?

The Liberals need to accept that they will lose the next election badly. This will allow their 'thinkers' to put together a policy that adheres to the liberal root of the name. Ignatieff is a global leader on human rights thinking, why has the Liberal Party not formed a cohesive policy that shames the current Conservative response? Dion is a master of unity, why not use his expertise to explain why no one in Alberta would ever consider voting Liberal?

The political IQR in Canada is currently being failed by the lack of ideology in the Liberal party, not the lack of leadership. They have to believe in something before people will believe in them.