I am a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and a supporter of Stéphane Dion. I was very inspired by the classy, substantive campaign that Mr. Dion ran during the election and by his visionary Green Shift policy jointly supported by Elizabeth Manly and the Green Party. Although our party did poorly I feel this was not so much a reflection on Mr. Dion as on a number of other factors (lack of election preparation due to snap election; internal dissension within the LPC, collusion between Stephan Harper and Jack Layton against Dion, lack of cooperation between the centre-left opposition parties,etc.)

Now that the election is over and loyal Liberal volunteers are exhausted and inattentive, certain “un-named senior liberals” aided by a hostile right-wing media are trying to force Mr. Dion out of his leadership position without even giving a chance for ordinary Liberal members to consider whether this is in the interests of our party or Canadian democracy. They present this as a fait accompli. They say that Mr. Dion is isolated and finished politically. What they do not realize though is that Mr. Dion is NOT isolated. Grassroots Liberals were energized and inspired by his campaign, by the Green Shift, by his refusal to play politics as usual. We do not believe that engaging in another self-destructive round of LPC leadership politics will serve our party or the country well. What we need to do now is to serve Canadians by concentrating on our role of official Opposition. We need to think seriously as a party about why we lost this election and how we can better organize ourselves to win the support of Canadian voters next time. We will not let this leadership coup succeed without being heard from.

There has never been a LPC leader who has placed a higher role on environmental policies as Mr. Dion did this past election. Elizabeth May feels he is a man she can work with. Greens can play a role on this debate. We need to hear how Green voters feel about Mr. Dion’s leadership.

Go here to learn more about what we are doing and to join the revolt: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=40161095228&ref=mf

Best regards,

Jean Proulx

Here’s a copy of the email I sent to the four leaders.

Subject: Coalition please!

To the leaders of the four opposition parties:

I would like to echo the sentiments posted on

http://greenpolitics.ca/2008/10/10/coalition-negotiations-must-begin-immediately/

and add:

If the Harper Conservatives do not win a majority, but win enough seats again to form a minority government, it is very important that you leaders take _immediate_ action to put together a coalition government. It is so very clear that the majority of Canadians favor progressive policies and that your four parties share much common ground.

Even if the Bloc is a separatist party, it is in the vital interest the whole of northern North America, whether one nation or two, to rid ourselves of the inhumane, suppressive, short-sighted, simplistic, mean-spirited, dare I say, outright stupid policies of those running our present government.

There has been an increasingly strong movement recently toward strategic voting. This will probably not be enough to topple the conservatives. And it is not really a satisfactory solution anyway. A coalition government would be the most effective way presently available to implement desperately needed solutions that reflect the true aspirations of the Canadian majority.

Please, please, consider this seriously. I know there are long-standing animosites and some very serious policy differences among you. However they pale iin comparison to the impending catastrophe of climate change and to the myriad of human problems needing an intelligent and compassionate approach. The Conservatives are in denial on climate change, and as far as intelligence and compassion are concerned, well…… need I say more?

Freda Davies
South Gillies, Ontario