Akaash Maharaj - Media Advisory - Endorsement of Stephane Dion

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this note finds you well, and looking forward to the Liberal Party of Canada’s leadership convention in Montreal this week.

As you know, this is the first federal Liberal leadership election in more than a generation whose outcome is genuinely uncertain. As a result, whether we vote at the convention as direct attendees, guide our ridings’ delegates as grassroots Liberals, or shape the context of the election as informed Canadians, the choices we make this week will have a decisive impact on the future of Canada.

I am writing to let you know why I have chosen to support Stéphane Dion.

Throughout his decades of public service, Stéphane has consistently displayed political courage, loyalty to the national interest, and irreproachable personal integrity.

As author of the Clarity Act and as our party’s most unwavering proponent of the Kyoto Protocol, Stéphane has always displayed the courage of genuinely Liberal convictions. While others shrank from the debate, he lived the creed that government must stand prepared to do what is right not in spite of the difficulty, but precisely because of the difficulty.

During the arduous transition between the Chrétien and Martin leaderships, Stéphane was as steadfast a beacon for party unity as he has been for national unity. He understood that a principled political party must remain bound together through loyalty to a shared set of ideas and ideals, and must be more than just the vehicle for the ambitions of any one person.

Above all else, throughout his public and professional life, Stéphane has been recognised by friend and foe alike as a person of the highest ethical standing. For a party whose adversaries have so traduced us over scandals real and manufactured, we can only hope to re-earn the confidence of Canadians if we choose a leader whose entire record speaks to the nobility of public service.

Irrespective of the outcome of the leadership election, Stéphane will work towards an open and inclusive Liberal Party: one that will value the contributions of all leadership candidates and their teams, one that will draw Liberals together after the convention, and one that will present itself to Canadians as worthy and able to govern Canada.

Stéphane Dion is the Prime Minister Canada deserves and the leader the Liberal Party needs. I hope you will join me in making both a reality.

With best wishes,

Akaash

www.Maharaj.org

Contact:

Michael Van Dusen
Office of Akaash Maharaj
telephone (416) 570 0203
mvd@sympatico.ca