BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
The new leader of the federal Liberal party must be well respected and capable, but above all, he or she should definitely come from outside Quebec, according to newly re-elected Nickel Belt MP Ray Bonin.
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Bonin |
Former Prime Minister Paul Martin stepped down as Liberal leader after his party lost the election Monday night, sparking a leadership race.
"They should be from outside Quebec for no other reason than we really have to separate the opposition associating every Liberal with four thieves in Montreal involved with the sponsorship scandal),? says Bonin.
Names that come to the MP's mind are former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna and former Newfoundland premier Brian Tobin.
McKenna, who was appointed Canadian Ambassador to the United States by the prime minister less than a year ago, resigned from the post Wednesday.
His resignation started speculation that he might seek the Liberal leadership.
"McKenna has a good track record from when he was premier of New Brunswick.
Everyone respects him. He was not associated with anything that is suggested of the past of the Liberal party," says Bonin.
Tobin is another good contender because like McKenna, he has a proven record as premier of Newfoundland, Bonin says. The MP also likes Tobin's take-no-prisoners attitude.
"What I like about Brian Tobin is he is a fighter. I feel that we have not been fighting false accusations hard enough," he says.
"Tobin would be a person that every time there's an accusation, he wouldn't stop fighting until he clears it on the spot, gets an apology, and straightens it out. There's been too many accusations in the past 12 years, none of which have been what has been suggested, except of course the Gomery inquiry, which Paul Martin called."
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Marleau |
Noted scholar and newly minted MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore Michael Ignatieff has been touted as a leadership hopeful, but Bonin says he knows nothing about him and doubts he has enough support to win.
Bonin will remember Martin as a brilliant finance minister who drastically improved Canada's economy.
"As prime minister he was thrown more hurdles than any prime minister I remember. He surmounted it, and history will show that Canadians punished the wrong person," he says.
"But politics are thankless, and those of us who are in it should know that. When the electorate decides to vote differently, they don't have to give a reason."
Sudbury MP Diane Marleau, who is heading back to Ottawa for her sixth term in office, can think of a lot of people who might want to claim the Liberal leadership crown.
Allan Rock, McKenna, Tobin, Joe Volpe, Martin Cauchon, Scott Bryson, Belinda Stronach, Anne McLellan and Ignatieff are all possibilities, she says.
But the veteran politician and former health and public works minister won't be on the ballot herself.
"It just takes too much money. Traditionally, if you're from the regions of Canada and not the big cities, you have a harder time getting the money to put in a successful bid," she says.
"So no, you won't see Diane Marleau's name, unless there was a huge wave saying, 'Come on, run'."
Like Bonin, Marleau praises Martin's record as finance minister, saying that Canada has come a long way since the Liberals were elected in 1993.
She thinks it's "too bad" Martin, whom she's known since they sat next to each other as opposition MPs in the House of Commons in 1988, didn't get to be prime minister for very long.
"I guess it wasn't to be," she says. "He could have done worse though. He actually became the prime minister and was in that job since December 2003. So he's not the shortest serving prime minister."
