Stephane Dion, the underdog, came up the middle between Bob Rae and frontrunner Michael Ignatieff and was voted new leader of the federal Liberal party tonight. I have to say I’m impressed. Ignatieff led the contest from Day One but Dion, 51, a former academic who was environment minister under the previous Liberal government, managed to gain enough support for a fourth-ballot victory.

Now, many could take shots at Dion simply because he was part of the previous Liberal regime that went down in flames amid scandal after scandal. This same government, while it had a grand vision for Kyoto and the environment, didn’t manage to turn talk into action. Fair enough.

That said, you could also say that as environment minister Dion’s hands were tied and that, as prime minister, he has the power to push through the ideas he never could as a cabinet minister. Dion, from the first day of this Liberal leadership campaign, has campaigned on the issue of sustainable development. He appears deeply concerned about the environment and committed to Kyoto. He said in his convention speech that ”Good social policy is good economic policy,” and that Canada needs to be the leader of a “green” revolution. He also said his most immediate challenge is to marry the environment with economic development.

I’m convinced he truly believes this. Earlier this summer, I got a call from Dion’s campaign office saying that Dion reads this Clean Break blog and wanted to speak with me (I’m sure he doesn’t read it, but one of his campaigners likely does). Anyway, a couple weeks later he called me at my home and we had a nice chat about a wide range of issues, but we mostly focused on the environment, energy, climate change and related issues. At the end of the discussion we talked about his strategy of trying to gain support through the blogging community. I thought that was pretty cool.

So what can I say? He was the only candidate to reach out to me, so I give him credit for that. I get a good vibe from Dion, and I think if Rae and Ignatieff stick around to support him, the Liberal party could re-emerge as a positive force for this country. The next election will be very, very interesting, if only because — unlike the last one — Kyoto and sustainability will be front and centre, not buried and ignored. And if Green Party leader Elizabeth May can get herself onto the televised election debates, we’ll see green policy given a higher priority in the coming years.

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