Ottawa

The spectre of Stephane Dion

A New Democrat MP worries that the party might end up with its third choice.

Mr. Brahmi said the current situation reminds him of the 2006 Liberal convention, where Stéphane Dion came from behind to beat Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae. He added that at the 1995 NDP leadership convention, Alexa McDonough finished in second place on the first ballot, but still won the crown when Svend Robinson conceded victory.

Mr. Brahmi called on fellow MPs to remind NDP members to “be very careful” about their second choice on their ballots in the one-member, one-vote leadership convention. “I’m behind Thomas Mulcair,” he said. “However, I’d prefer if the winner were Brian Topp instead of everyone’s second choice.”

In this analogy, Paul Dewar and Peggy Nash are potential versions of Stephane Dion, at least insofar as how they might come to win the NDP leadership and at least so long as you assume that Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Topp are running first and second (or second and first). Whether that would then doom Mr. Dewar or Ms. Nash to something like Mr. Dion’s fate is another question entirely.

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