2006 Liberal leadership bid by Stéphane Dion

Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...

won the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

on December 2, 2006.

With the defeat of the Liberal Party in the 2006 federal election

Canadian federal election, 2006

The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

, Dion was suggested as a potential leadership candidate for the party. On April 7, 2006, he announced his candidacy at the Montreal Convention Centre

Palais des congrès de Montréal

The Palais des congrès de Montréal is a convention center located in the Quartier international de Montréal at the north end of Old Montreal in Montreal's borough of Ville-Marie....

at 7:30 am, the day of the official beginning of the race and the candidacy announcement by Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff

Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...

.

Dion's 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

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

into the 21st century. He said that his campaign would focus on sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

of the economy

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

and creating a "hyper-educated" Canadian workforce in order to compete with China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. Dion has been able to draw from three factions of the party to date, with Chrétien

Jean Chrétien

Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

Cabinet member Don Boudria

Don Boudria

Donald "Don" Boudria, PC is a former Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien....

, former Martin BC Campaign Chair Mark Marissen

Mark Marissen

Mark Allan Marissen is a senior strategist for the Liberal Party of Canada. He is currently a VP of Vision Critical, a public opinion and market research firm headquartered in Vancouver and was chairman of the Burrard Group, a strategic communications and government relations firm he operated...

and former John Manley

John Manley

John Manley may refer to:* John Manley , English soldier, MP and Postmaster General* John Manley, Canadian politician* John Manley , British archaeologist* John H. Manley, American nuclear physicist...

Campaign Chair Herb Metcalfe agreeing to sign on to his campaign.

Dion was a lower-key figure in the leadership race, with much of the media and political attention being centered on the race's two most high-profile candidates, Michael Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff

Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...

and former Ontario New Democratic Party

Ontario New Democratic Party

The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...

premier Bob Rae

Bob Rae

Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

. Federal NDP

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

leader Jack Layton

Jack Layton

John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...

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. Dion's level of support was similar to that of former Ontario cabinet minister Gerard Kennedy

Gerard Kennedy

Gerard Michael Kennedy is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada...

, both candidates being in a distant third/fourth place, though still significantly higher than the other four leadership contestants.

Nevertheless, some analysts argued that Dion had several advantages over other candidates. Dion was able to draw support from the two factions

2004 Liberal Party of Canada infighting

The period between Paul Martin's assumption of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada on November 14, 2003, and the 2004 federal election being called on May 23, 2004, saw a considerable amount of infighting within the party...

of the party. The Chrétien

Jean Chrétien

wing of the party was represented by Chrétien-era Cabinet member Don Boudria

Don Boudria

, while former John Manley

John Manley

Campaign Chair Herb Metcalfe also signed on to Dion's campaign. The Martin

Paul Martin

Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

wing of the party was represented by former Martin BC Campaign Chair Mark Marissen

Mark Marissen

and two-time losing Liberal candidate in Burnaby—Douglas

Burnaby—Douglas

Burnaby—Douglas is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-History:...

, Bill Cunningham. Others predicted that Dion had an edge as the only French Canadian

French Canadian

French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

in the race, as the Liberal Party has a famous tradition of rotating its leadership between francophones and anglophones, and it was arguably a francophone's "turn." Some analysts also felt Dion had an advantage because, unlike Ignatieff and Rae, he had served in Martin's Cabinet. Since 1948, every Liberal leader has been a minister under his predecessor.

As of October 1, 2006, Dion had captured approximately 17% of the delegate spots available for the December leadership convention in Montreal. This resulted in his entering the convention in fourth place behind Ignatieff, Rae and former Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy

Gerard Kennedy

.

On December 2, 2006 at the Liberal Party leadership convention, he nevertheless managed to leapfrog Kennedy to finish third after the first ballot by two votes, garnering 17.8% compared to 17.7% for Kennedy. On the second ballot he took a 90-vote lead over Kennedy, after which Kennedy withdrew, throwing his support behind Dion.

On the third ballot he was in first place with 37%, followed by Michael Ignatieff with 34.5%. Rae, with 28.5%—thus eliminated—freed his delegates to vote as they wished. Many threw their support behind Dion, as did former leadership candidates Ken Dryden

Ken Dryden

Kenneth Wayne Dryden, PC, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former NHL goaltender. Dryden is married with two children and four grandchildren and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame...

and Joe Volpe

Joe Volpe

Giuseppe Joseph "Joe" Volpe, PC, was a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 until the 2011 federal election, being surpassed by the conservative member Joe Oliver Joe Oliver, and held two senior positions in Prime Minister Paul Martin's Cabinet...

.

On the fourth ballot, Dion captured roughly 54.7% and was declared the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

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