Your memory's defective, Gabby. Meech Lake was not controversial until the point where John Turner declared it to be Liberal party policy. Up til then it had attracted virtually no comment, and the criticism of it came entirely from Quebec separatists. Turner spoke up out of concern that too many of his Quebec caucus mates were pandering to separatist sentiment by questioning Meech.

As sson as Turner was committed, Trudeau declared himself aganst Meech. At that point the pundits fell in line.

It appears both our memories are somewhat “defective.”

http://www.answers.com/topic/meech-lake-accord
“Opposition leaders generally agreed to the Accord. Liberal Party leader John Turner was put into a tough position, considering the popularity of the agreement in Quebec (a traditional Liberal stronghold) and the Trudeau ideal of federal power. He soon agreed to the Accord, causing a rift in his party. New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent also agreed with the Accord. Preston Manning of the upstart Reform Party opposed it, saying it gave Quebec unequal status among provinces. ….

Arguments against the Accord also focused on the devolution of federal powers and control to the provincial governments. Former Canadian Prime Minister and arch-federalist Pierre Trudeau spoke out against the Accord, claiming Mulroney "sold out" to the provinces. …

As the deadline approached, however, the consensus began to unravel. Pressure from voters at home brought many premiers, especially those in the Western provinces, under fire. The Accord became an issue in some provincial elections, as New Brunswick elected the Liberal government of Frank McKenna, which revoked the previous government's approval of the Accord. Newfoundland Premier Clyde Wells would soon do likewise. …”

Ah well, sometimes memory does serve well, sometimes not.

It makes not a wit of difference who the next leader will be because the inherent problem with the Liberals is their arrogance. The Libs need to jettison their "Natural Governing Party" mantra and that is going to require more humility than the Pope.

Reg McKenna did fight to get the abortion clinic closed. He also proposed having single mothers name the father of their child as a condiction to get welfare. The left wing of the Liberal Party will go insane if he even throws his name in.

Please McKenna, for the good of all Blue Grits out there, run for the leadership of the LPC. This Party needs you more than ever. It is time to take back our Party from these left-wing loonie-tunes.

Frank McKenna for P.M.!!!!!

I'm really hoping Joe Volpe runs again!

Well, if not Frank, then maybe they should lure Brian Tobin aka "Captain Canada" out of retirement. His standing up to the Spanish fishing fleets made him pretty popular, even out west. The only people who poo-poohed it were, if I remember correctly, the overly politcially correct police.

May has as much chance of becoming leader of the Liberal Party, as Layton does of becoming PM. Not happenin' - ever. In fact, I would be surprised if the Libs would want May in the party in any capacity, other than maybe water girl/boy.

He is the best who can unite the party and brings back some decency and integrity. Both Ignatieff and Rae are outsiders and opportunistic (especially Rae). He is centrist and well respected. Go Frank! Your country needs you.

If memory serves, Frank McKenna was the first to have second doubts about the Meech Lake Accord. i.e. first he signed on, then when a few pundits began to question it, he did so too.

So ... McKenna's decency and integrity? Questionable.
Rae and Ignatieff opportunistic? You bet! Liberals own the patent on that.

I can think of several Liberals who might be possible contenders. In addition to McKenna, for example John Manley comes to mind. However with a diminished voter base thus reduced Fed. contribution,( their main financial support), and heavily indebted after the election, this is not a party ready to party! To reclaim a semblance of a contending party will be a long uphill slog. You're stuck with Rae, Iggy, and the gang.

"Wasn't Frank McKenna the premier that was fighting against Morgentaler opening abortion clinics in N.B.? How will that play with the progressives???"

I'm going to add something to my earlier comment. Frank, if he is a true Liberal, would have no problem re-jigging his values anyway. Kind of like pro-life Elizabeth May now saying she is pro-choice. Or "Catholic" Paul Martin being pro-choice. Values aren't worth much to a liberal anyway, especially if they'll lose votes!

Being the son of a former high liberal didn't help Paul Martin.
Whoever the new leader is, he must have support outside of TO and caucus.
Toronto is no longer the only place liberals need MPs to form Government.
How many liberal mps are there west of Ontario.

If the Liberals think a trumped up messiah, riding on his fathers coat-tails like Justin will lead them out of the wilderness, the Liberals are smoking the good stuff. Harper has created big shoes to fill for the next guy who thinks they can be the Prime Minister of Canada. And with a stronger minority and long horizon to scope out in the near term a little government belt-tightening seems in order. Triming the sails to sharpen the economy and keep it moving forward will be every Canadians concern no matter their politics. All members of Parliament should remember that protecting the people from economic harm is their main prority.

Matter of fact, all governments from the Federal level right on down to the local council should be putting forward solutions that right-size and trim their sails too, since we are all in this together. I submit that there will be provincial and municipal elections held long before the next federal one so as citizens and taxpayers we should be asking questions now ahead of time.

MPAC assessments are out which will directly effect the amount of local taxes you pay to run local government.

How will local governments use the windfall of cash as homes are assessed ever higher? Will they use this cash to lower their municipalities accumulated debt or year end deficits, or will they throw it at infrastructure investements like roads and sewers that have been neglected?.

stephen: i don't think you will see any former contenders other then Rae or Ignatieff run as the cost is enormous plus have they even paid off the prior debt's. I also think yes you will see the liberal elite think that they have a chance with Trudeau & will try to convince him to take a run at it. On the far side of the Moon i would not be surprised at all to see the Closet Liberal May resign from the Green, join the liberals and try her luck there. i think if she did get in as leader someone would give up a secure seat for her to run in a by-election. Now that being said the Real far stretch would be that a Coalition is struck with the NDP with Jack either becoming leader or deputy leader. All this is of course all depends on what Frank decides, Now i know this sounds a bit wacky, but Nothing coming out of the liberals these days would surprise me.

As an economic refugee from New Brunswick, let me say WHAT A CROCK!!!

To answer Soccermom's question; no, he most certainly did not. Like most successful Liberals, his only ideology was pursuing and holding onto power.

Come on Frank do it.
The Liberal Centre-Right needs a candidate which is lacked last time. Someone who understands finance.

'Caught Justin on Mike Duffy Live last night. Duffy breathless, Justin clueless.

Justin says at one point, "I have so much to learn from the people in Papineau." So, this gig is his learning curve, the people in Papineau are his political sciene lab. Lucky them. 'Agree with others that Justin is a total light weight, and he showed it in his inconsequential, talking-out-of-all-sides-of-his-mouth-in-every-direction answers to Duffy's questions, many of which he hadn't actually listened to.

He seemed totally out of his depth and if it wasn't for his personal fortune and his famous dad, he'd still be in that classroom--where he was a teacher? I can't even see him as a teacher, let alone an MP.

Ye gads.

The obvious thing for the Liberals to do is to unite the four parties of the left.

I don't see Mckenna in the running. He was asked last time to consider it. Not only did he take a pass, but he seemed pretty complacent... not sure his heart would be in it. Besides? How is McKenna relevant. What makes him a savior anyways? He's not relevant to today's politics. He's part of yesteryear. The electorate aren't going to say, "Frank McKenna's running? Wow! I'm shocked but delighted." Most of the uneducated electorate (those would be mostly Liberal) wouldn't have a clue who he is. Just another false construct by MSM - bestowing "star" quality and status on people without reason... just like with Martha Hall Findley, whom keeps getting referenced by MSM as a "star" for reasons I don't quite get. Saw her more than most... she's often a guest on the Michael Coren Show, which isn't available in much of the country outside of Ontario. I don't understand what makes her so impressive. She's pushy and belligerent, offering nothing accept pretty standard partisan talking points, which she doesn't even use creativity to phrase.

"Sickening" as in "ailing". But I take your point - change made.

Justin Trudeau has a long way to go before he's ready for prime time and that may be never.
Although he is Pierre's son ,and the former PM had style(at least for his time): He also had a good sense of timing and political street smarts, I perceive Justin to be complacent.
Unfortunately Justin is also a product of Margaret Sinclair;his mother who was and still is an overemotional, touchy-feely basket case social butterfly..the quintesentially shallow 60's hippie girl who still can't get it right.( My opinion only !)
I find Justin to have a little too much of Mom in his DNA...Shallow, pampered ,indolent,and cocooned in his inherited wealth. He also doesn't have a resume of much worth .

I've never had much good to say about Pierre and believe he did Canada alot of harm...(NOW there's a politician with a hidden agenda).For a man who would NOT fight in a just war...he was very quick to implement the War Measures Act in 1970 and foist its intrusions on Cdns....Not an honourable move Mr Trudeau!

As for his son?...I find him shallow and would rather he hadn't won his seat last night but will wish him well and will watch his progress. Perhaps he will mature, though I believe politicians should bring valuable experience with them from the business/industry world in order to be knowlegable effective contributors to the political processes that make a country great.

Unfortunately for Canada, more and more Canadians are fooled by charm, and don't look for, or even care about - substance. Young Trudeau has gobs of charm, and little substance (background of credible achievements), which means the Lefty Canadians, and the ever gullible and fawning media, will fall all over him - Just watch. Young Trudeau was born with a silver spoon, has never even had a real job of any consequence, and in reality, has led a very pampered and privileged life. Watch for this to be all wall-papered over, and stretched a long way to make it look like he has actually done something. Example, Trudeau was involved in Katimavik - wow!. Trudeau apparently was a teacher - for I think 5 minutes, or until he found out it was actually like work. Trudeau apparently "is working on" (probably for 10 years between cocktail parties of the socialist elite) a Masters degree in geography or something - you know, this must mean he is an environmentalist.
Make no mistake - the charm of young Trudeau will have the ever-gullible, celebrity obsessed public, falling all over him.

I can just see the trudeau's debt like pere's who left mulroney with a $3.? hundred billion debt, I don't Alberta is not going to go through that again.
Bob Rae who bankrupt Ontario is giving the prime minister his version on " how to run an economy"
Talking about charm, Trudeau had charm, look what he did and left behind.
The MSM like charm, they liked to be used as whipping boys to cover up the liberals' mess.
Saddam had charm and his personal media just like liberals with CBC and look at what Saddam did to his own people.
Can you see Hedy FRY as liberal liberal leader : most likely you will get a 'burning cross' if you don't listen.
Why are we so worried about the liberals anyway. We have a prime minister.Let's help this one since he has no media to his name.

Danny Williams who caused a major uproar against the prime minister now wants in. Forget it, he cause his demise to have a representative in parliament by ORDERING his own people to vote against the consevatives. I hope the Nuffies remember that in the next provencial election :ANYBODY BUT DANNY WILLIAMS"

" ... I find him [Justin] shallow ..."
As Stephane Dion once said "... an inch thick and a mile wide ..." I think applies in this case.

But then, have the Liberals in recent history had any real substance? The overwhelming driving force has always been attaining power. They have usually borrowed shamelessly from other parties, first deriding other parties' policies, and later claiming them as their own.

He is too smart to run for leadership right now. The party is virtually bankrupt and will take a lot of time to get its financial house in order. Meanwhile, they can not push for an election because they can not finance one. Why would he want to sit in the house and abstain or vote for CPC bills. He would look as impotent as Dion did for the last three years. The leadership of the LPC is a toxic substance right now. Don't expect a big line up of serious contenders calling for Dion to resign.

Whoever authored that ad for McKenna is absolutely right. If McKenna ever wanted to run, he would be shoe-in for the Liberal leadership, and for the PM's job. It would also mean a very centrist Liberal organization and government, something Canadians would embrace. Better still, it would mean the doom of the Looney Left, as advocated by Joke Layton and Windbag May.
It would be a return to sensible Canadian politics again, without fear of the Looney Left Socialists ruining this country, like they are ruining Toronto right now.

Frank McKenna's French is even poorer than Dion's English.

Since Dion lost partly because of his poor English, I doubt McKenna would be welcomed by Francophone Quebecers, who, as we have just seen, play an important role in getting a majority.

Anyway, isn't the second coming about to emerge? It's Justin time.

Everyone has been so focusing on Bob Rae and Micheal Ignatief that they've forgotten about old Frankie boy. He bowed out after Martin quit, even though a lot of people were hoping he would take a run at the leadership. I bet a lot of Liberals would be more supportive of McKenna as Liberal leader then either Bob or Micheal.

Wasn't Frank McKenna the premier that was fighting against Morgentaler opening abortion clinics in N.B.? How will that play with the progressives???