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From Sympatico news :John McCallum to be Interim Liberal Leader If Dion Quits

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John McCallum to be Liberal interim leader: CTV


Ontario Liberal MP John McCallum has been tapped to take over the reins of his party as interim leader if Stephane Dion steps down as expected on Monday, CTV News has learned.


Liberal finance critic John McCallum speaking on Canada AM on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.

CTV.ca News Staff

"People in the Liberal Party are still telling us Dion intends to quit Monday afternoon," CTV's chief political correspondent Craig Oliver said Saturday.

Dion's office released a media alert on Friday announcing Monday's 2 p.m. press conference.

Dion has not spoken publicly since losing his bid to become prime minister in Tuesday's election.

Oliver said that McCallum was chosen because he is bilingual, an authority on finance and well-regarded by the Liberal caucus.

"He's thought of as a consensual interim leader, he's not going to be flying off on his own making decisions that they can't support," Oliver said.

The Liberals have a convention in May, which may be used for a leadership convention.

If Dion stays on he would face a leadership review, which it is believed he would not pass.

Numerous Liberals, on and off the record, have signalled they want Dion out after Tuesday's disastrous election results.

The Liberals are in debt and are looking to rebuild after watching their popular vote numbers drop to near-historic lows for the party.

McCallum was first elected in Markham riding just above northeast Toronto in 2000. He has won re-election in the redistributed Markham-Unionville riding three times since. In Tuesday's general election, McCallum captured 54.9 per cent of the vote.


Before he entered politics, McCallum had been a senior vice-president and chief economist for the Royal Bank of Canada. In office, he had held several portfolios including national revenue and defence.

 
I think McCallum would be a good choice.

He is all the things Sympatico/MSN says plus he is a scrapper. He’s quick and highly partisan – just the thing the Liberals need on the floor of the house, going head-to-head with an equally talented, quick and highly partisan Stephen Harper.

McCallum’s main weakness is that he is not attractive on TV – same as Dion – and I’m not sure that Canadians are going to ‘like’ him any better than they like Harper. And, as we saw during the campaign, empathy matters.
 
E.R. Campbell said:
McCallum’s main weakness is that he is not attractive on TV – same as Dion – and I’m not sure that Canadians are going to ‘like’ him any better than they like Harper. And, as we saw during the campaign, empathy matters.

And that's a good thing
 
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