this is the narrative that the tory media is pushing in canada, and it's wrong on it's face.

dion was not a poor candidate, and did not perform poorly at the polls. he actually increased his seat count (in quebec) in what was a very tough political environment. as was the case with notley's recent loss in alberta, it's unclear what kind of path dion could have constructed to actually win. he didn't really have a strategy that he could have used.

first, dion had the memory of the cuts to services during the chretien-martin years on his back, which was the primary factor driving the ndp vote. harper was never a popular leader, and only ever managed to increase his vote totals by amounts that are within the margin of error (and could be better explained by decreases in turnout than increases in popularity). but, the liberals were bleeding substantively to the ndp and to the greens in this period, especially west of quebec. what dion had to do was find a way to stop the vote from splitting on the left, a hard task when faced with the reality of defending a neo-liberal party, and while he wasn't able to reverse it, he was at least able to hold the fort.

it was only when ignatieff came in and ran as a right-wing democrat that the liberal vote collapsed, the conservatives got their majority and the ndp were elected as the opposition party.

so, the idea that the green shift fell flat is wrong. it was the right tactic to use at that time in the face of a resurgent left, and it succeeded in preventing the liberals from collapsing, at least for a while. and, when it was abandoned, liberal support fell very sharply - mirroring what is happening right now.

since then, the oil industry has taken over all three major parties in canada, which is the reason that the tory media is projecting this warped messaging around something it still considers to be a threat. they're turning him into a trotsky-esque villain, admonishing him in a ritual of hate. and, it took me not much more than two minutes to type this, too.

in the long run, dion will be seen as the visionary that we were too stupid to embrace. actual historians - not bought and paid for propagandists like aaron wherry - will look back at that period with regret, and they will blame the liberal party apparatchik for not giving him enough time to hone in on his messaging. we could have been ahead of the curve on this, rather than be one of the planet's worst climate criminals.

trudeau had a chance to be on the right side of history, to govern for a long stretch while overseeng a substantive transition in our way of life, and he utterly failed. i told you this in 2015: if he governs on the left, we'll never get rid of him. if he embraces neo-liberalism, he'll be gone in one term.

he has embraced neo-liberalism. and, while he might survive this election in a minority context, he'll be gone, soon.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/08/24/stphane-dions-green-shift-fell-flat-so-why-did-justin-trudeau-think-the-carbon-tax-would-work.html