PERSPECTIVES: STEPHANE DION 101

Dumb dope digs alienates Liberal leader from students

I wasn't surprised that Stephane Dion managed to fill Hebb Theatre
last Tuesday-the Liberal faithful are desperate to snatch victory from
the jaws of defeat, despite their leader's lack of 'leaderliness.'
And-like kissing babies or rolling up sleeves-standing before
hundreds of clapping, cheering fresh faces plays excellently to the
camera.

I wasn't surprised that the supposedly 'unscreened' questions asked by
students (most wearing large 'Liberal' buttons) often started in
French and ended with, "I, too, would like to see you as our next
prime minister."

And, of course, the jabs at the Conservatives were more than expected
in an election this close, both at the national and riding levels.
Those, along with jokes about Bush's 2000 'win' in Flor-ida, and
various digs about the Conservative's record on the tar sands were
excellent examples of audience-appropriate pandering.

Despite all of this, there were plenty of surprises at the rally, and
the biggest was the almost complete absence of challenges or hostility
towards either Dion or his Liberal party.

Given the closeness-at least from the perspective of the 'radical
left' on campus (Knolligarchy, Trek Parktivists, SDSers, et cetera)-of
the Liberals and the Conservatives on issues ranging from Afghanistan,
to free trade, to general fiscal policy, I was shocked at the lack of
any opposing voices at the rally. Maybe it can be chalked up to a
general ABC (Anything But Conserva-tive) attitude, but one would think
a party so openly sparring the darlings of the campus left, the NDP,
would have been the brunt of something resembling criticism.

On the topic of the NDP, I was surprised by the frequency and
intensity of the attacks on Canada's other viable party on the left.
While it's obvious that the Liberals are terrified of a vote splitting
shift to the NDP, it might not have been wise to so viciously attack a
party which, at least in my opinion, represents the unfettered
idealism of many left-leaning students much more clearly than the
hulking, oft-compromised Liberals.

With the majority of the rally's attacks focused on blaming Layton and
his party for the vote of non-confidence which ultimately led to a
Conservative minority, the whole 'house-that- Jack-built' argument
comes off as slightly hypocritical given recent NDP attempts (or at
least claimed attempts) to work with the Liberals to defeat the
Conservatives.

The stupidest surprise though, were the repeated negative jokes about
the recent NDP resignations surrounding marijuana use. Dominic
LeBlanc, New Brunswick Liberal MP and party platform author, elicited
boos from the otherwise supportive audience after he slammed the party
with a series of hackneyed pot jokes.

LeBlanc's dated dope digs weren't the only area where the disconnect
between the audience and the party leaders was evident. When a
question, accompanied by cheers and applause, was posed about
Vancouver's controversial safe injection site, InSite, Dion was
unclear and unsatisfying. Likewise, when asked about Afghanistan, the
Liberal leader dodged the question almost entirely. All of this, along
with Dion's decision to answer several questions either partially or
completely in French, and his repeated, substanceless jabs at the NDP,
showed how far the Liberals and Dion were from the issues UBC students
seem worried about.