According to a report, Stéphane Dion will announce he will be stepping down as leader of the Liberal Party later today. The announcement comes only two days after the federal election in which the Liberals had dismal results.
Digital Journal — The Toronto Star is reporting Dion stayed out of the public eye yesterday, instead spending time with family and advisers.
The Star cites Liberal party insiders who say Dion will likely step down in an announcement later today, but he will stay on as leader until a successor is chosen. According to CTV, however, this report is false and Dion will not step down today.
A “well-connected party member” told the Globe and Mail if Dion didn’t announce he would be stepping down quickly, the party should move furniture out of his office. As the Globe notes, Dion is “…noted for his stubbornness and a tendency not to take counsel from within his party.”
The Liberals turned up a mere 26 per cent of the popular vote in Tuesday’s election and that number is among the worst the party has ever had. The Liberals’ seat count dropped from 95 to 76 while the Conservatives grew from 127 to 143 seats.
The Liberals have a biennial conference in Vancouver in May 2009 and many political analysts believe this would be the likely place to choose a successor to Dion, and the conference could turn into a leadership convention.
Since Tuesday, Dion has been referred to as “leader of Toronto” by an Ontario MP because his party only scored well in the Greater Toronto Area. The Star calls him a “reserved, unexciting former professor” who “was a liability for Liberal candidates on voters’ doorsteps.”
Harper did so well in this election because of economic fears, pundits say. As the focus shifted from green issues to a shaky economy, Canadians tend to put their confidence behind Harper because of his experience in economics.
And as the Star reports:
Insiders said problems with the Green Shift were compounded by Dion’s inability to fight effectively the negative attacks that the Conservatives’ Stephen Harper launched against the proposal.
Going into a leadership convention, Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae are the most likely front-runners.
Update:
Liberal spokesperson George Young emailed the Canadian Press today saying “media reports that M. Dion will be resigning today” are false.
Update 2:
Looks like this might actually happen; Dion has a press conference scheduled for today at 2 p.m. and CBC says he could resign during this speech.
