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| Affiliation | Liberal |
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| Name | Stéphane Dion |
| Address |
Saint-Laurent, Québec , Canada |
| Email | Dion.S@parl.gc.ca |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
September 28, 1955 |
| Died |
Still Living
(70 years) |
| Contributor | User 13 |
| Last Modifed | IndyGeorgia
May 20, 2016 11:01pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Stéphane Maurice Dion
Stéphane Dion, PC, MP, BA, MA, Ph.D., is the current leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons. Since 1996, he has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal.
Dion is the second of five children born to federalist Quebec academic Léon Dion and Denyse Dion, a real-estate agent born in France. Dion was raised in a modest home in Quebec City. While growing up, he remembers being taunted for his family's secularism in a society which was then predominantly Catholic.
He studied political science at Laval University, and this was also where he met his future wife, Janine Krieber. He obtained BA and MA degrees in 1977 and 1979 respectively, after which he and Janine departed together for France.
Dion was involved with the sovereignty movement, first as a teenager and later as a university student campaigning for Parti Québécois candidate Louise Beaudoin in the 1976 election. Dion has said that his involvement as "an activist for the separatist cause" ended during a five-hour discussion with a federalist household while he was going door-to-door for the PQ, but he did not openly commit to federalism until much later. At the time of the 1980 referendum, his sentiments were neutral.
Dion spent four years in Paris, living with Janine in the Montmartre district and studying public administration under the tutelage of noted sociologist Michel Crozier. After receiving a doctorate in sociology from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Dr. Dion worked briefly as a teaching assistant at the Université de Moncton in 1984 before moving on to the Université de Montréal to assume an assistant professor position. Dion taught at the Université de Montréal until January 1996, specializing in the study of public administration and organizational analysis and theory, and was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. during a 1990-91 sabbatical.
In April 1986, Stephane Dion married Krieber, and later the same year, they adopted their only child, Jeanne. Krieber now teaches political science and sociology at Royal Military College's campus in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990, Dion directed his intellectual inquiry towards an analysis of Quebec nationalism. His decisive conversion to federalism occurred as he was preparing for a presentation in Washington. An expert in public administration, Dion emerged as a key figure in publicly criticizing sovereignty. His appearances on the TV programme Le Point brought him to the attention of Aline Chrétien, who urged her husband, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, to recruit him.
In anticipation of by-elections in early 1996, Jean Chrétien appointed two new "star candidates" from Quebec – Stephane Dion and Pierre Pettigrew – to Cabinet. On January 25, 1996, Dion was named Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. Chrétien felt safe in appointing Dion to Cabinet because Dion was slated to run in Saint-Laurent–Cartierville, the second-safest Liberal riding in Quebec. In the March 25 by-election, he was easily elected. Dion won a full term in the general election of 1997, and was reelected again in the 2000, 2004, and 2006 elections. Dion served as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs until the end of Jean Chrétien's ministry on December 12, 2003.
Dion had a significant role in events leading up to the Supreme Court ruling on the unilateral secession of Quebec, handed down on August 20, 1998 which adjudged that there is no right, under international law or under the Constitution of Canada, for the National Assembly to effect the secession of Quebec from Canada unilaterally. He also played an important role in the creation of the Clarity Act of March 15, 2000.
Dion has often been described as a Trudeau centralist due to his strong defence of Canadian federalism. However, his position on federalism is far more nuanced. It would be most accurate to describe him as a federal autonomist. While Dion supports cooperation, flexibility, and interdependence in the Canadian federation, he unequivocally argues against jurisdictional intrusion.
Dion had a prominent role within the Chrétien administration at the time of the sponsorship scandal, and his position as "National Unity" minister made him a figure of particular interest to the subsequent Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities. Dion was exonerated of all responsibility in the affair in the Phase I report of the Gomery Commission.
After Paul Martin's assumption of the office of Prime Minister, Dion was dropped from Cabinet. He was also criticized by Jean Lapierre, Martin's new Quebec Lieutenant. An unconfirmed CTV report in 2004 claimed that Martin's organizers were planning a nomination challenge in Dion's riding.
At the time of the June 2004 federal election, Liberal support had dropped significantly, especially in Quebec where various members of the party had been implicated in the sponsorship scandal. The Liberals were reduced to a minority government due in part to their defeat in Quebec at the hands of the Bloc Québécois. With Quebec MPs in short supply, Paul Martin brought Dion in from the cold, returning him to the front benches as Minister of the Environment.
As Environment Minister, Dion championed a "new industrial revolution" focussed on "environmentally-sustainable technologies and products", and he sought to nurture a collaborative relationship with big business rather than a confrontational one. Dion's priority on economics nevertheless created friction in some quarters. Also problematic was Dion's inability to make significant progress towards reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.
Stéphane Dion announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party on April 7, 2006. His leadership campaign was referred to as the three-pillar approach. This approach focused on social justice, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability, and a claim that a combination of these pillars would bring Canada into the 21st century. Dion was a lower-key figure during most of the leadership race, with much of the media and political attention being centered on the race's two most high-profile candidates, Michael Ignatieff and former Ontario New Democratic Party premier Bob Rae. Federal NDP leader Jack Layton described Dion as "A man of principle and conviction and therefore almost certain not to be elected leader of the Liberal party." For much of the campaign, front-runner Ignatieff had the strongest support in Dion's home province of Quebec.
On December 2, 2006 at the convention, Dion finished third after the first ballot, garnering 17.8% of the delegates. After the second ballot, Gerard Kennedy threw his support behind Dion. Earlier, the two leadership contenders had allegedly struck a pact in which the first off the ballot would throw his support to the other. Pundits said that this surprise move had caught the Ignatieff and Rae strategists off guard. When the totals of the third ballot were released, Dion held a narrow lead with 37%, followed closely by Michael Ignatieff. Bob Rae freed his delegates, many of whom backed Dion On the fourth ballot, Dion captured 54.7% of votes cast and was declared the 11th leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Adapted from Wikipedia |
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