A person responding to a previous blog suggested that Frank McKenna might be angling for the post Stephane Dion job as head of the federal Liberals.
It is certainly true that he and his handlers are keeping his name in the national press. Just in the last couple of weeks he was praising Calgary, he made a rousing speech on literacy which was picked up in several media outlets, he was making an passionate speech on the importance of free trade among the Maritimes and finally he was widely quoted this week defending the strength of the Canadian dollar. He also co-chaired a Buzz Hargrove tribute dinner. This in addition to his speech on education in New Brunwick last week.
And to top it off, he’s about to win The Lincoln Alexander Outstanding Leader Award in Ontario.
Think about that for a minute.
With the other big banks in Canada it was the bank Chief Economists or CEOs talking about the dollar. With TD it was the bank’s ‘vice chairman’? Just for fun do a Google News search on Scotiabank and chairman to see how many stories you get. Zip. Same for the other banks.
It does seem like Frank is polishing up the old national profile these days.
However, I can’t believe the Liberals will dump Stephane Dion before another election and I further believe that Stephen Harper won’t have the cahones to call an election anytime soon and will likely try to make the legislated date for an election (I think 2010?). Then you have a dump Dion movement, a convention and the selection of a new Liberal leader by at the earliest 2011. At that, Frank would still be the Leader of the Opposition until sometime after that.
I don’t see any scenario that puts Frank in the big chair before 2013.
Postscript: Bleary-eyed Gille Duceppe has “named his terms” for supporting the Conservatives this fall. They will be a non-starter. We may be going to the polls quicker than I suggest above. Once again, my political instincts are shaky at best.