[ridenrain]

Quote:

B.C. power couple invaluable in shaping successful Dion team

HUGH WINSOR
Special to The Globe and Mail

MONTREAL -- A political power couple from Vancouver, a former House of Commons busboy who became a cabinet minister, and one of the deans of the Ottawa lobbyist/government-relations corps led the team that catapulted Stéphane Dion from wonkish academic-turned-cabinet-minister into leader of the Liberal Party and, possibly, the next prime minister.

Vancouver government-relations consultant Mark Marissen, who used to be part of Paul Martin's inner circle of advisers, is credited with providing much of the organizational clout behind Mr. Dion's surprising victory.

Mr. Marissen's involvement began when he and his wife, Christie Clark, a former B.C. education minister and deputy premier, threw a reception for Mr. Dion in their home during his first trip west in the leadership campaign.

The consultant liked what he saw and volunteered to help. A few days later, Mr. Dion asked him to run the national campaign. The key campaign strategy was networking. One of Ms. Clark's close friends is Joyce Murray, former B.C. environment minister, who had met Mr. Dion when he was the federal environment minister. Thus the network grew.

Mr. Marissen's contribution helped dispel doubts about Mr. Dion's ability as a politician, and he showed that a successful national campaign could be run from Vancouver, mainly by computer and BlackBerry. He has been a prominent strategist in the backrooms of the Liberal Party in British Columbia and chaired Mr. Martin's campaign organization in B.C. for the 2004 and 2006 elections, almost doubling B.C. representation in the Liberal caucus.

He barely knew Mr. Dion, but he soon became convinced the candidate's sincerity, credibility and lack of political baggage could be sold to the Liberal Party, not by gimmicks but by presenting the former environment minister for what he is. The Marissen team provided the support to get out the message, but Mr. Dion's "three-pillar" campaign theme -- national unity, sustainable development and economic prosperity -- was his own.

Mr. Marissen was on the Hill yesterday, having discussions about the possibility of joining the Dion team in Ottawa.

As much as Mr. Dion's campaign was challenging the Liberal Party establishment, it still required an Ottawa insider and deal maker who had good relations across the spectrum. Mr. Marissen reached out to Herb Metcalfe, president of the Capitol Hill Group, one of Ottawa's most successful lobbying and government-relations firms. Mr. Metcalfe had worked as a ministerial assistant in the Trudeau era and was chosen by former deputy prime minister John Manley to run his short-lived leadership campaign.

Because of his stature, Mr. Metcalfe had been approached by several candidates. But he decided, after questioning him, that Mr. Dion had the best vision of Canada, knew where he was going and had the best ideas about getting there. Mr. Metcalfe was hooked and became Mr. Dion's senior adviser and co-chair of the convention organization, where his extensive contacts helped him to reach out to the other camps.

One of the first people to rally to Mr. Dion's cause was his seatmate in the House of Commons, Don Boudria, who had worked closely with Mr. Dion when Mr. Boudria was government house leader in former prime minister Jean Chrétien's cabinet.

Mr. Boudria, a franco-Ontarian of modest origins, first worked on Parliament Hill in the House of Commons cafeteria. He eventually entered municipal politics, then provincial politics and finally was elected as a member of Parliament. Mr. Chrétien noticed his political smarts, loyalty and capacity for hard work.

Mr. Boudria was one of the first people Mr. Dion called to ask whether he should run for the leadership, and his response played a determining role in persuading his former seatmate to go for it.

Mr. Dion appointed him his campaign chairman and Mr. Boudria provided credibility with other Liberals, especially in the early days. He was designated spokesperson, provided strategic advice and even used his van to drive Dion staffers to an all-candidates debate in Moncton because they couldn't afford airfare.

His new role is to advise Mr. Dion on Question Period strategy, drawing on his extensive experience in the Commons. He is being urged to run again because the Liberals think he could regain his old seat from the Conservatives.

Another key player in the Dion team was Andrew Bevan, a long-time Parliament Hill staffer who had worked for Mr. Dion and briefly in Mr. Martin's office. As director of policy and research for the Dion campaign, he and his group helped shape the candidate's message. But Mr. Bevan's most important contribution was to liaise with Mark Holland, the young MP who headed the Gerard Kennedy campaign.

[BluesBud]

It is SOOOOO good of you to educate us ridenrain. Why don't you put these posts under the "conservative party" forums. Or better yet! It seems your great goal in life is to be "The Great Tory Spin Weasel" Start your own site! I for one am so very tired of your hard line fascist point of view. Not to mention the fact that you seem to think that anybody that sees things differently is an idiot and has no right to express themselves. If you have all the answers to all the problems in Canada...nay the world. Why don't you run for public office and see how far you can go. OH! That's right you would not be able to hide in your parents basement posting all day to us mere fools.

[IcedCap]

I haven't seen a ridenrain posting frenzy like this since the last election hmmm maybe he got the bat signal from his riding association to start teh campaign

[PluggyRug]

BluesBud wrote:

It is SOOOOO good of you to educate us ridenrain. Why don't you put these posts under the "conservative party" forums. Or better yet! It seems your great goal in life is to be "The Great Tory Spin Weasel" Start your own site! I for one am so very tired of your hard line fascist point of view. Not to mention the fact that you seem to think that anybody that sees things differently is an idiot and has no right to express themselves. If you have all the answers to all the problems in Canada...nay the world. Why don't you run for public office and see how far you can go. OH! That's right you would not be able to hide in your parents basement posting all day to us mere fools.

Wotsa matter....truth finally slapped some sense and knocked you off the fence.

Education is a good thing....is it not?

Now back to spinning in my basement...t-shirts anyone?

[ridenrain]

Blow it out you're ass: Blue!

This is Liberal background news that I found interesting so it goes in the liberal section, with no spin. If you didn't find it interesting, don't read it, but don't acuse me of Joseph Goebbel's propaganda if there's none there.

[OnTheIce]

I think it's interesting news. Despite Trevor telling us that with Dion, were
out with the old, in with the new..the fact remains that it's nothing like that at all. Not much has changed.

[Ripcat]

Preston Manning......LOL.

[Always4Iggy]

OnTheIce wrote:

I think it's interesting news. Despite Trevor telling us that with Dion, were
out with the old, in with the new..the fact remains that it's nothing like that at all. Not much has changed.

I agree with 'OnTheIce' this is interesting news from ridernrain. But I must caution people in thinking that Mark Marissen is such a cat and got Dion elected!

Let us not forget that for all the efforts, Dion was the first choice of less than one fifth of the voters at the convention. As if on cue, in todays 'National Post' Julie Smyth reports as follows:

Quote:

Quote:

The thin line between success and failure: Mark Marissen, Mr. Dion's campaign manager acknowledged this week he had estimated Mr. Dion would be 50 votes behind Gerard Kennedy on the first ballot. If that had happened, Mr. Dion would likely have lost the momentum, as Mr. Kennedy did, and it could have been a different story - different leader - today.

Even to this day, Mark has not realised that Dion never did build momentum, but was dwindling throughout. Actually, in the second round, Gerard Kennedy had taken 12 of Dion's votes, in addition to 18 from the top rated Bob Rae, and was the only one besides my Iggy who showed momentum!

A full analysis is on the Michael Igantieff website, unfortunately I cannot post a URL here, but it is easy to get to it:

a. go to michaelignatieff dot ca

b. go to 'Policy Forums'

c. then to 'Start Your Own Debate'

d. then to 'How did that Happen'

e. check the last page of posts there.

Counting by factions, instead of simple total votes, Gerard read the numbers wrong and gave up too soon. Mark Marissen still reads the numbers wrong!

[hwacker]

A significant number of delegates went to Montreal as more than Liberals, or even Canadians — they went as pressure points for ethnic and foreign interests.

Groups with ties to Sri Lanka's complex conflict are being singled out for their aggressive tactics. Ignatieff organizers say one Montreal faction put the price of its support on a future Liberal government establishing a consulate in the area fighting for independence. And Rae supporter Tarek Fatah this week exposed detailed discussions with Tamils allegedly offering to trade votes for a promise to delist Tiger guerrillas as terrorists.

Both campaigns say they rejected those and other ethnic overtures, claims strengthened by their conspicuous failure to win late-ballot converts. And there's no evidence yet that anyone agreed to anything contrary to Canadian hegemony.




source



Yeah that a party I want to be associated with.

[Firecat]

I do agree that Kennedy quit too early. That said, however, I accept without reservation the decision of the convention. Talking about the number of delegates that did not support Dion is a waste of time. Once someone wins they are the leader, pure and simple. Martin and his supporters' behaviour after losing to Chretien caused great problems within the Party more typical of the old Tories.