Dion

As was widely expected, Michael Ignatieff recently announced his intention to enter the leadership race to replace Stéphane Dion. That the race will feature a renewed battle between the Rae and Ignatieff camps, means that Canadians will likely see Liberal knives out a little while longer before they see them sheathed away. 

The Liberal party, its leadership candidates and their supporters are rightly examining the Democrats’ recent victory for clues on how to not only energize their increasingly disillusioned base, but to again appear relevant to an increasingly skeptical Canadian public. While a lot of focus has been on Barack Obama, I think there’s a more fundamental lesson on party solidarity to be learned from Hillary Clinton.  

Last week, Stéphane Dion resigned as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. A leadership convention to choose Mr. Dion’s successor will likely be held in 2009. This is a important opportunity to talk about what the priorities of the next Liberal leader should be. That’s why PSB is adding a new section: Agenda.

Agenda will feature posts advocating policies on various issues that contributors believe should be central to the next Liberal leader’s platform. Canada’s natural governing party needs to change, both philosophically and organizationally. 

Canadian democracy is in crisis and it’s largely the media’s fault. The recent federal election campaign demonstrates the extent to which the Canadian media has abdicated its responsibility as the fourth branch of government. There are two possible explanations for this tragedy. Either media coverage reflects the attributes of journalists, or it portrays the attributes of citizens.

Based on the coverage of the federal election, this means that either journalists are superficial, unsophisticated, and lazy, or that Canadians are superficial, unsophisticated, and lazy. Both phenomena are equally troubling. But I’m convinced that the cheap coverage we just witnessed is a reflection on the media rather than the citizenry.