Liberal Nightmare

I’d hate to be Stephane Dion at the moment…

After eighty years of nearly uninterrupted rule, the Liberals have lost power in their traditional Montreal stronghold of Outremont to the charismatic NDP candidate Thomas Mulcair. The final results have yet to be announced, but the latest tallies show the NDP gathering nearly 50% of the votes with the Liberals trailing nearly twenty percent behind.

This by-election in Outremont has long been considered a sort of referendum of Stéphane Dion. A strong victory was required to strengthen his leadership and give the Liberal party a new breath of air heading into the fall sitting of the house. But instead, he has seen his hand-picked star candidate and academic get trounced by a charismatic Teacher and ex-Quebec environment minister.

The party is going to be furious. If they can’t win in Outremont, what proves that they can still win in Toronto, is Vancouver? Is there any such thing left as an impenetrable Liberal bastion.

Dion has a lot of work ahead of him. A by-election is only a by-election, and Outremont has already gone once to the Conservatives when Brian Mulroney came to power. But as Bette Davis once said "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride."