I’ve got to hand it to Gerard Kennedy’s people. Whether by design or not, the slogan (drum-beat, even) that leads their charge into Super Weekend — “REAL. LIBERAL. CHANGE.” — offers a direct challenge to Kennedy’s three chief rivals: Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, and Stéphane Dion. All are credible candidates and quality people, but they aren’t the best choice for Liberal leader at a time when, after 13 years in power, the Party must re-build from the ground up.
REAL. One of the biggest challenges that Bob Rae faces (apart from his belief that no new ideas are needed to win the race) is convincing Liberals that he is a real Liberal. Bob Rae joined the Liberal Party a few months ago to run for its leadership, and as late as the January 23 election, he donated to NDP candidates who narrowly defeated Liberal candidates. Unlike Rae, Kennedy has always been a Liberal, and has worked for socially progressive causes under the Liberal banner. That Kennedy held a strong NDP riding as a Liberal attests to his ability to attract progressive voters (Liberals got 24% before Kennedy, 56% with Kennedy, and 33% after Kennedy). A recent straw poll at Progressive Bloggers showed that 42% of people thought Kennedy was the most progressive candidate (vs. 20% for Dion and Rae, and just 6% for Ignatieff). As the most progressive and most Liberal candidate in the field, Kennedy offers the best hope for a united practical progressive Canada, one lead by the Liberal Party.
LIBERAL. That Michael Ignatieff’s foreign policy is largely indistinguishable from Stephen Harper’s suggests that he will have difficulty attracting progressive voters to the Liberal Party; indeed, some wonder whether his absence from Canada for the past 30 years, his abandonment of Canada’s peace-building role, and his desire to recognize Quebec as a nation (and thus, re-open the academic constitutional debate) genuinely represent Liberal values. His support for the Iraq War and George W. Bush’s theory of pre-emptive use of force (what Ignatieff has called “Empire Lite”) also worries many Liberals. By contrast, Kennedy, as a defender of using Canadian military forces in the service of peace-building, has strongly criticized the Afghanistan mission — a mission where just 6% of Canadian funds are going to aid and reconstruction. Kennedy asserts that only by helping build a viable, Opium-free economy, empowering Afghani civil society, and helping re-build their institutions, can the security that our soliders are bravely fighting for hold in the long-term. These are Liberal values and these are Canadian values.
CHANGE. Stéphane Dion is perhaps most like Kennedy – they are both strong defenders of social justice, gender equality, and sustainable development. Yet for a Party looking to heal old wounds and re-energize itself, Dion does not represent change – he presents the past, being tried to both Martin and Chretien administrations. Now is a time for the Liberal Party to re-new itself, to earn back the trust of everyday Canadians outside of urban Liberal strongholds, and to instill a spirit of enterprise in government — one that makes end-results on the ground the barometer of success, not abstract top-down policies that don’t perform. Herein lies Dion’s paradox — as former Environment Minister, he is a credible environmental spokesman, but by failing to take action on the environment in the Martin administration, many question whether Dion can take the bold steps necessary to bring about real change. By contract, Kennedy evaluates success not by what is said, but by what gets done. Whether as a successful Education Minister in 10 years of politics or 13 years literally feeding the poorest among us through his non-profit work, Kennedy has a track record of not dictating policy from above but rolling up his sleeves, listening to stakeholders, and delivering results, from the bottom up.
The stakes are high for the Liberal Party and for Canada. In some ways, the Ignatieff vs. Rae battle for which the media yearns — the college rivalry too good a story to pass up — mirrors the battles of times past, only with Ignatieff and Rae replacing Martin and Chrétien (it is notable that key backers of those camps are key backers of the current players). And the strategies are likewise familiar — Martin’s propensity for promising everything to everyone is echoed in Ignatieff’s call to ensure no one is adversely impacted by tackling the climate crisis (when clearly, with 40% of Canada’s C02 emissions, Alberta will be impacted). Chretien’s safe but un-ambitious agenda is likewise mirrored in Rae’s failure to bring new ideas to the table.
Old battles orchestrated by the powerful and well-connected may play out again in Montreal. But there are alternatives. Dion is a credible alternative. But he is a safe choice, not a bold choice. Kennedy represents something different — “REAL. LIBERAL. CHANGE.” Unlike Ignatieff and Rae, who are pushing 60, Kennedy is Stephen Harper’s contemporary. Experienced in opposition and in government, Kennedy would make a formidable Leader of the Opposition, first, and come election time, can take on Harper and win in the very heart of conservativism: in the west and the small towns and villages of rural Canada (in Quebec and elsewhere). This is the new Liberal Party — policy driven by results not rhetoric, where immigrant success and gender equality aren’t just hopes, but are realities, where economic success through small businesses and international trade is used to ensure shared prosperity and empower people, where the public sector mobilizes citizens at the grassroots level rather, where Liberal support grows beyond its traditional urban base, and is led by a young and experienced leader who has attracted a new generation of Liberals to the Party. This is a Liberal Party led by Gerard Kennedy.
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