Comment
Politics in every corner
by Michelle Minnoch

The election for the new leader of the Liberal Party on Saturday night was certainly a surprise for most. While Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae had been the two most talked about candidates for the leadership position in recent months, it was former Environment Minister Stephane Dion who stole the show at the end of the evening, beating Ignatieff by almost 10%.

While I was torn about who I thought was best suited for the position, I also knew who I did not want the role; Ignatieff and Rae.

The highlight of the show for me was the rousing speech by Jean Chretien, who received the most applause when he mentioned how his government said no to the war in Iraq. While there are many who did not like his form of governing, I found his passion is inspiring, and his personal style appealing. I am one of those rare birds who actually miss this street fighter from Shawinigan on the political stage.

The Liberals now have another leader from Quebec and now have to pull the party up by their bootstraps and get in gear.

Of course, many media outlets are speaking of a spring election, and I am sure most Canadians do not want to go through that again so soon after the last go around.

Let Dion put in some time as the leader of the opposition. Let him show voters who he is and what he actually stands for before asking us to determine whether or not he is a good candidate to run this country.

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Tonight is the inaugural meeting of the newly elected council. The meeting will be held in Stroud at the Banquet Hall in the Stroud Community Centre, starting at 7pm.

Members of the community are invited to come out while the council elects take their oath of office for their term for the next four years. While tonight's meeting is ceremonial, starting next week, the eight gentlemen and one lady the people voted to represent their concerns will be sitting in council chambers every week and will start to make crucial decisions over the next four years.

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Congratulations to our MP, Peter Van Loan - he has been appointed Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Sport, as well as President of the Queen's Privy Council.