MONTREAL — Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion signalled he is on the election warpath in his victory speech Saturday night, placing the environment at the top of his platform.
Calling for party unity, Mr. Dion personally thanked the seven other candidates that he beat to the finish line, as well as former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.
“All together, we will succeed,” Mr. Dion said to thousands of cheering delegates.
“You have before you a Liberal dream team. Stephen Harper, we are counting the days to the next election.”
He vowed to borrow from the main ideas of the other Liberal candidates, along with his own plan to work on economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability.
Overall, he said, the Liberal Party will provide Canadians with “the best election platform they have [ever] seen.”
He also placed an emphasis on the issue of national unity, quoting large parts of the previous night's speech that he did not have time to deliver. Mr. Dion said that Quebeckers can feel at home in Canada, pointing to his own successes as someone who “speaks English with an accent.”
He went on to take shots at the Bloc Québécois, saying that he has “enough of blockages.”
Mr. Dion acknowledged the Liberal Party was shaken by its loss in the January election, and said the road to another electoral victory depends on the party's ability to provide solutions to global warming. He compared the challenge to the task facing the Liberal Party when it came to power in 1993 and inherited a $42-billion deficit.
“With Canadians, we will deliver again,” he said.
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