{"id":609,"date":"2008-10-01T18:04:58","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T23:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/election08.cusjc.ca\/?p=609"},"modified":"2008-10-01T18:04:58","modified_gmt":"2008-10-01T23:04:58","slug":"a-walk-in-the-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/?p=609","title":{"rendered":"A walk in the park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Cohen<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As dusk fell, a man, a woman and their dog made their way through the Rockeries, the crimson gardens high above the Ottawa River. The couple was followed by a bodyguard, less relaxed, wearing an earpiece.<\/p>\n

The air was still. The afternoon sun was fading into the folds of the sky.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In the middle distance, you could see the re-erected Corinthian columns salvaged from the portico of the old Carnegie Library in Ottawa. To these strollers facing calamity, these faux ruins might have seemed a metaphor too far.<\/p>\n

On this trail, though, there were no signs or handbills. There were no handlers or hangers-on. When a pair of cyclists wheeled by the couple, no hands were extended and no votes were solicited.<\/p>\n

If St\u00e9phane Dion, his wife and his dog found some peace the other night, he surely deserved it. After all, it was his birthday. He was 53. There was little to celebrate.<\/p>\n

Did he need any more reminders of his misery? There he was, on Saturday, staring out quizzically from the front page of The Citizen<\/em>. The headline was devastating: \u201cFortress to flophouse? Has the once impregnable Liberal Party of Canada mortgaged its hold on power?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the newspaper, Mr. Dion could read headlines declaring \u201cLiberals \u2018are falling apart\u2019\u201d and \u201cRough day for Liberals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, the agony of being St\u00e9phane Dion. Oh, the agony of being a Liberal.<\/p>\n

If he had the stomach to read on, Mr. Dion could learn about the collapse of the party which has held power for most of Canada\u2019s 141 years. He could learn how things are \u201cso bad that some analysts believe the Liberals are about to enter an extended \u2013 eight year? \u2013 wander through the political wilderness.\u201d<\/p>\n

No \u201canalysts\u201d actually said that in the article. No matter. There was more than enough bad news for Mr. Dion to digest on his twilight constitutional.<\/p>\n

He could read how his party has no money, how its \u201cGreen Shift\u201d is a political loser and how his successors are cheering his demise. He could also read about the rise of the Conservatives, and Stephen Harper\u2019s grand plan of building an enduring Conservative majority in Canada as strategist Karl Rove dreamed of building an enduring Republican majority in the United States.<\/p>\n

The besieged Mr. Dion could also learn, if he hadn\u2019t heard enough, of the country\u2019s new political realignment, growing out of an unprecedented polarization between the fragmented parties of the left against the Conservatives on the right.<\/p>\n

And you know, the journalistic hyperbole notwithstanding, all this may be true. Perhaps the Liberals are through. Perhaps the party\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

It may also be true that St\u00e9phane Dion is the catalyst, though surely not the cause. The trouble began with the vainglorious Paul Martin, Jr., who slayed his patron, Jean Chr\u00e9tien, touching off an internecine struggle worthy of an Italian opera.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s another story Mr. Dion will have much time to contemplate in political exile. To believe the death notices, that is what awaits him on the morning of October 15.<\/p>\n

So assuming that the Liberals are going to disintegrate in two weeks \u2013 which, let us hasten to caution, won\u2019t necessarily be so if Canadians deny the Conservatives a majority — what is left for the obituary writers to say about St\u00e9phane Dion? What to say as the vultures circle and the hyenas cackle?<\/p>\n

Well, quite a lot.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dion is a Canadian who fought for Canada in Quebec in the referendum campaign of 1995. Few others of his ilk did. Mr. Dion exposed the sophistry of the secessionists. It took guts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This is a loyalist who spearheaded the Clarity Act of 2000. The sovereigntists again threatened chaos. But it passed, and it makes an ambiguous referendum question and a unilateral declaration of independence harder. It took guile.<\/p>\n

This is a street fighter who refused to let Mr. Martin take away his seat. This is a reformer who thinks that global warming needs a creative response.<\/p>\n

This is a decent man caught in a rough game. Pooping puffins. Demonization. Humiliation. Mr. Dion as reckless, dangerous, unsteady, awkward, hopeless.<\/p>\n

In truth, he was never cut out for it; his style is pedantic, his English ragged. He is stubborn and proud, which take you only so\u00a0 <\/span>far in this game.<\/p>\n

In politics, flaws are magnified mercilessly, especially in the age of the Internet. Robert Stanfield, Joe Clark, Walter Mondale and Adlai Stevenson all offered their splendid corpses to the cause of political science. They were glorious failures, which doesn\u2019t mean that we shouldn\u2019t honour their service.<\/p>\n

When Mr. Dion leaves, there will be more debts than tears — and surely no thanks. Remember, politics is a blood sport.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But there will be more walks in the park, and happier birthdays.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This column originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Andrew Cohen, a professor of journalism and international affairs at Carleton University, is the author of Extraordinary Canadians: Lester B. Pearson. Email: andrewzcohen@yahoo.ca\\<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Cohen As dusk fell, a man, a woman and their dog made their way through the Rockeries, the crimson gardens high above the Ottawa River. The couple was followed by a bodyguard, less relaxed, wearing an earpiece. The air was still. The afternoon sun was fading into the folds of the sky. \u00a0In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election2008","category-election-2008-campaign-strategy","category-election-2008-faculty-links"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":612,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions\/612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}