Well Mr. Dion does not understand ” windfall profits tax” seems not to know what a “car pool” is either. Or was the confusing part ” if you become Prime Minister” Obviously he is really struggling with English. How can he hope to lead a predominately English speaking nation?
Cheers Bubba

First he didn't answer the question at all.

2nd Interesting quote…”I think the world needs fossil fuels for a long time…for 85% or our needs”, isn't the green shift supposed to move us away from fossil fuels?

If we need them, then why does Dion want us to do everything we can to get away from them?

And Fife or Oliver said last night on the news that the Liberal team is hoping Dion can deliver a knock-out punch in the debates!? Can you believe it! Of course Lizzie will have to do the punching for him, that's why he wanted her included.

***Laughter***** Deep breath****more laughter

Well, well, picking myself off the floor, he wants to lead the Country?
This is another example of how out of the loop the man is. Did he live in a bubble while living in Ottawa and sitting in the HOC for several years?

Maybe he's all shook up from the big red Liberal plane having technical problems and having to abort a flight from Sherbrooke to London and touching down in Montreal instead. That sort of frigs plans a bit no doubt.

Yeah, good luck to Mr. Dion in the debates, it appears he's in for a tough ride.

Your headline graphic says it all, Dion is running on empty, or better yet, fumes. Cost me $70 bucks to fill the tank on the disability Van. Last time it was $60 dollars. Whomever is punished by a carbon tax will just pass it along to the consumers. Perhaps we should just keep all our oil here instead of selling it to the Americans. Pull a Hugo Chavez, sell cheap at home, gouge the exports.

Why only a windfall profit tax on the oil industry? Why not a windfall profit tax on all industries? I never understood why we wanted to single out and punish the industry responsible for heat and transportation in a big, cold country …

Dion confirmed today in his so called answer on taxing windfall profits of the oil companies he doesn not understand the economy and more importantly taxation. This man should never be prime minister of Canada and should be sent packing by the Liberal party and the voters of Canada on Oct. 15th.
I listened to his answer very closely a couple of times and could not for the life of me understand what point he was trying to get across. He said I will answer the question “in my own way”. People say his English is getting better. If it is his understanding of the English language leaves a lot to be desired.
For Canadians who support the current incarnation of the Liberal party and this leader I feel very sorry for them.
There is only choice in this election and that is Stephen Harper. The opposition parties are running amok in their desperartion promising billions of dollars in new spending as per their left wing ideologies but let's hope Canadians show them what they think of their spend thrift ways.

I actually thought his answer was very smart. And this is coming from someone who is definitely not voting for him.

Yeah – um, Good luck, Stephane – sounds like you're gonna need it!

He didn't answer the question.

As near as I can tell, there is no such thing as the “World Energy Association,” which Mr. Dion referenced in his non-answer.

So, in the span of less than a minute, Stephane Dion:

1) Wilfully and admittedly ignored a pertinent question by a reporter.
2) Made up a false third party to support his non-answer.
3) Brought up acid rain, for some reason.
4) Completely contradicted the purported impetus (going off fossil fuels) of his central election plank.

Wow.

Just wow.

This guy is an absolute disaster. Look for an immediate 5 point bump in the polls for the Tories after the english debates.

The poor man is a train wreck for the Libs even when he has everyhing scripted. Then, when he has to think and speak on his feet….well, everytime he does the Libs drop 2 points in the polls probably. The Libs better get Bob Rae by his side, or the good ship Liberal is not only sinking, it's imploding. Come on Libs, even though you're not going to win the elction, as least pull it together enough not to let Layton and the NDP surpass you – now THAT would be painful.

I think I realize now why the Liberals wanted Elizabeth May in the debates.

As it currently stands, the debate is extremely cluttered. There is very little one on one debating that goes on. The addition of Elizabeth May only complicates that even more. This reduces the time that Dion will have to speak, and reduces the opportunities for Stephen Harper to make Dion look like a fool.

EofE: “In all fairness, the question could have been put to him in French.”

Why should it be? Prime Minister Stephen Harper is asked questions en francais tout le temp, and answers them en francais, having understood what he was being asked. Canada–thanks to a francophone Liberal–is now an “officially” bilingual country and English speakers have suffered ever since. English speakers who live nowhere near French speakers are expected to be bilingual if they want a federal job.

Stephane Dion is running to be the Prime Minister of officially bilingual Canada. He needs to know how to express himself in English and, as someone else has noted, he had YEARS in the HOC to hone his English skills. Stephen Harper has had to hone his French skills—and no one has ever given him a handicap.

As for Stephen Dion having a translator… LOL!! The poor guy would never live it down; the optics would be disastrous for him. On the other hand, perhaps his appearing in public with a translator would be LESS disastrous than his trying to answer questions of which he hasn’t understood the import …

Either way, Stephane Dion needs a guardian angel. I wonder if there is one for political debates?

It’s one thing to be a Liberal and stand by your convictions. I can respect that, and I can have an honest debate with you. But Stephane Dion Is NOT ready to lead our COUNTRY. I think that liberals don’t realize this! How can we vote for this man? HOW?!

In all fairness, the question could have been put to him in French. The way it stands, it is clear that he does not understand the question and his answer is correspondingly weak. I do not know why he does not have a translator with him when he is in front of the press.

He admitted that we need fossil fuels and he still wants to go ahead with a carbon tax on everything? Somebody has given this poor man some very bad advice.

That’s why his answer sounded intelligent.

“Either way, Stephane Dion needs a guardian angel. I wonder if there is one for political debates?”

Yes, she's called Elizabeth May. Her wings are an iridescent green.

Citoyen Dion should never be the PM of Canada for a lot of reasons. My primary reason is the fact that he is a citizen of France, the hotty from Haiti had to give up her French Citizenship to become GG. In order to become a French Citizen, he would have to (if it is the same as becoming a Canadian Citizen, and I presume so) swear allegiance to the French state. IMO he cannot be the PM of Canada and hold allegiance to any other country….argee

Agreed – but Harper prepared himself to be leader of our country. He speaks French quite well and his comprehension is impeccable. Dion may be a professor but that does not mean that he is overly intelligent or driven. From my experience with professors at university, they are well-rounded and experts in their chosen field but normally are not overly swift in other areas. Harper is both intelligent and driven so he made sure that he was functionally bilingual in order to lead our country. I am a bilingual Canadian and have was so long before Trudeau ever forced our country to be officially bilingual. I have always been opposed to forced bilingualism even though I love languages and am a quick study in that arena.

Dion is trying and, to be honest, I think he was made leader because he is the most innocuous of the parties from which the LPC could choose. Ignatieff, although highly intelligent and accomplished, is off-putting. Rae wrecked Ontario in a very short period of time and he, also, is off-putting. Dion appears to be mild and harmless. Unfortunately, he has had some mentors who fall short of stellar.

He must learn English but he should also admit when he does not understand a question – this would show that he is human and is man enough to admit his shortcomings. I fault him for his pride and his dismissiveness – as he clearly indicated in the video.

Gabby: “Yes, she's called Elizabeth May. Her wings are an iridescent green.”

What a great image! Though I can't see her bearing Steffi onwards and upwards. I see them both crashing into the underbrush.

PS–I caught Ellie May on Don Newman's BRAWWWWDCAST tonight. O–M–G. She never stopped talking. She must have been an indulged and spoiled child and still has no one in her life to gently nudge her under the table (or into her earphone) to pipe down for crying out loud…

Wow! My A-Channel newscast failed to show that clip of him on the trail. They showed a less harmful one. Could that be bias at work?

It seems most of Dion's campaign clips he comes off being angry when speaking in his angry tone almost always appearing to shout with that look of he's going to cry because things aren't going his way. The CPAC Nanos poll had Dion drop 16 points on the Leader's Index Score Card to 32 with Harper climbing to 108 points after the appearance of Bob Rae yesterday on Dion's campaign trail.

The Liberals are not to be trusted with running this country. There is still that issue of Adscam money not being recoverd to the tune of 40 – 60 million and not one Liberal held truly accountable (jail time). They can't even manage a 2 million dollar gun registry – true cost 2 billion and counting – effectiveness, practically nil. Gross incompetence at the highest level. Any private company financial fiasco like this and you'd be out of a job instead Allan Rock gets a plum position at Ottawa U. So when the Liberals talk about the economy and that they're best to manage it I'd have to disagree on above reasons.

As far as Dion stating emphatically that Harper was a Liar at the beginning of the campaign someone should remind Stephane Dion about his blatant lie about his childhood stories he recounted to a CBC reporter about his adventures with his neighbour (an ex-university prof if I recall correctly). When followed up by the reporter the neighbour outright denied any such event having taken place. So Stephane Dion…a question for you…what have you to say about lying? Did your neighbour lie about those events not having taken place? Or was it you Stephane Dion that lied?

The only party that truly represents average middle-income Canadians is the Conservative Party of Canada.

Argee:

I would have to agree with you on the dual citizenship.
The leader of a country cannot have his loyalties compromised in such a way…in any way for that matter.
Not much chance of a PM Dion; though a Lizzie-Dion marriage could be a remote possibility.

Does anyone out there know whether Ms May has dual citizenship?…just wonderin’.

I must agree with agree. One can have only one master.

Dion clearly beats to his own drummer – maybe he can get a job at Western teaching BS101 after this election..

Hello, Batb.
Unfortunately, I cannot be as certain as you are about the green duo falling flat on their face. Tonight, for some reason, I feel some apprehension about the Conservatives' chances.

Perhaps it's because I've been listening to so many negative things aimed at the Conservatives, all of it based on misinformation, including a CPAC segment on Danny Williams' ABC campaign. The hatred inhabiting that man is palpable. It truly is dispiriting to hear such rancorous comments.

Ah well, as Scarlett O'Hara used to say: After all, tomorrow is another day.

I really have a hard time understanding how Canadians seem to be snowed by this clown. I find it inconcevable that people can't see through him… wah, wah, wah…Steven Harpers a bad guy, Steven Harper single handedly ruined the economy, Steven Harpers responsible for the dirty cutting blade at Maple Lefs packing plant, If it weren't for Steven Harper I'd be in charge and I'd have personally cleaned that blade and no one would have been poisoned or died, wah, wah, wah….. Acid Rain is Steven Harpers Fault, we built a surplus economy when everyone else was in recession(of course that was because Oil and natural resource exports to the USA and China thanks mainly to Crosby's NAFTA and Free Trade went up 300% and we raised personal taxes to the highest levels in Canadian History…but we won't mention or question that…)

How the hell does this clown think he can ever be taken seriously on a world stage let alone at home.

Please, Please, Please Canada…Vote NDP if you won't vote Conservative… don't vote for this clown if you're not going to vote for PMSH… kill this middle of the road, which ever way the polling wind is blowing this week, stand for nothing, believe in nothing, do nothing party once and for all for all Canadians in future generations to come and finally make a stand… Left or Right…no grey or Red area this time as there really quit litterally is no middle of the road choice. Stop taking the pole from the party that will poll you to govern… send them to the dust bin for good.

At least Jack is willing to stand up and say what his party stands for without us needing an inturprater…

Hear hear. Not only is Dion your typical politician-liar, he also associated himself with the most blatant prevaricator of them all – Garth. He appears to have distanced himself from Garth but the black mark will stick with him until he fires Garth. Harper's government is the only choice we have if we want decisiveness and intelligence.

this is why the Liberals are displaying Bob Rae all of a sudden.Just look Who is doing the talking, Rae! & the MSM is giving more air time to Rae then Dion, Because No One Can Figure Out What Dion is Saying anyways(French or English).

I'm actually impressed with his newly developed english speaking capability here, as compared to before.
I feel this clip is an improvement over his… 'english'.

So good for him on that, but he is still a dithering buffoon and not fit to govern and neither is his party for that matter.

I expect their numbers to dwindle by final week.
With the exception of a few ridings and Toronto… which, for the most part, is still stuck in its own bubble.

Poor Steffi is tilting at windfalls. I can imagine that on the night of the debate Bob Rae will show up and present a note to the moderators from Mrs.Dion explaining that Stephan has a tummy-ache and can't make it to the debate,so would you mind if Bobby takes his place.Off topic,but over on Garth's weblog there is a cartoon showing a pack of cold cuts with the conservative brand on it . Go to, http://www.garth.ca/weblog/page/9/ ,be sure to read the comment at 1:15 a.m.

Poor Steffi is tilting at windfalls. I can imagine that on the night of the debate Bob Rae will show up and present a note to the moderators from Mrs.Dion explaining that Stephan has a tummy-ache and can't make it to the debate,so would you mind if Bobby takes his place.Off topic,but over on Garth's weblog there is a cartoon showing a pack of cold cuts with the conservative brand on it . Go to, http://www.garth.ca/weblog/page/9/ ,be sure to read the comment at 1:15 a.m.