Surprised the Sun Chain even published this.The more I learn about Stephane Dion, the more I think it would be dumb of the Conservatives to underestimate him.
I know, according to the punditocracy, the federal Liberal leader is a dud-man-walking.
But they also told us Stephen Harper was a dud and Paul Martin was dynamite.
Oops.
Two books suggest why Dion could be a serious threat in the next election.
The easier read is Linda Diebel's Stephane Dion, Against the Current, published earlier this year.
The tougher but more eye-opening one is 1999's Straight Talk -- a collection of Dion's speeches and writings when he was Canada's unity minister, following the near-disaster of the 1995 Quebec referendum.
Reading these pieces, you quickly discover that Dion is, like Harper, scary smart.
His speeches, letters and essays -- most given when he first entered Jean Chretien's cabinet on the advice of Chretien's wife, Aline -- literally demolish the separatists' arguments.
No wonder they hate him. He's smarter than they are.
Dion takes apart every myth they've ever propagated -- that Canada will have no choice but to accept a unilateral declaration of Quebec's independence following a referendum victory, that Quebec's borders are indivisible, that the international community will rush to recognize a self-proclaimed Quebec nation.
Dion is far smarter than the Harperites.
Read the rest here