Stéphane Dion still can’t make priorities

March 26, 2008

This week Stéphane Dion took his weak leadership express into Fredericton, New Brunswick, where local families got to see first hand that he still finds it very difficult to make priorities.

Mr. Dion shellacked his local audience with a barrage of promises on issues ranging from the debt to the environment, to blocking non-existent bulk water exports, to poverty and post-secondary education.

Unfortunately, when he wasn’t pausing for breath from rhyming off all of these promises, Mr. Dion failed to go into many details.

This is unfortunate but not surprising. When it comes to promises from Stéphane Dion it always pays to read the fine print.

Under strong Conservative leadership, debt is going down. In contrast, a comprehensive costing of Liberal promises to date reveals that a Stéphane Dion Liberal government would plunge Canada at least $62.5 billion deeper into debt.

Under strong Conservative leadership, Canada has its first ever mandatory greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. In contrast, under the Liberal government in which Mr. Dion served as Environment Minister, greenhouse gas emissions actually rose 32% over Canada's Kyoto targets and Mr. Dion’s own deputy leader scolded him saying “Stéphane, we didn’t get it done”.

Under strong Conservative leadership, lower and middle-income Canadian families are saving money on every major purchase thanks to the Conservative Government cutting the GST and providing parents with $1200 per year per child under the age of six. In contrast, a Stéphane Dion Liberal Government would push more than 20,000 Canadian families into poverty through his plans to cancel the $1200 per year Universal Childcare Benefit, impose secret “tax shifts” and jack up the GST.

Under strong Conservative leadership, more Canadians can save for their children’s education and plan for the future with confidence thanks to new investments such as Tax Free Savings Accounts and Canada Student Grants. In contrast, Mr. Dion’s priorities on post-secondary education are so confused he forced his caucus to vote down a post-secondary education bill from one of his own MPs.

It doesn’t matter whether Mr. Dion is speaking in Fredericton, Flin Flon, or Fort McMurray. No matter what the issue, what the region or what the language; Stéphane Dion is a weak leader who is unable to make priorities.

Stéphane Dion. Not a leader. Not worth the risk.