After the last leadership, factions were still present, Paul Martin was leader of a Party spilt from internal upheaval. That division led to an uncohesive Liberal Party which translated into a weak public image and problems behind the scenes. The battle between Chretien and Martin was such an underlying feature that the Liberal Party had poor prospect in sustaining government and then winning an election.
This great polarization all centred on the conduct of the two sides. Each escalating the other through aggresive tactics. These tactics are being repeated in this Leadership Race by a few of the candidates. If one of these candidates who attacks another candidate rather then Harper wins, it is likely that the factioned Liberal Party of yester-year will repeat itself, and we'll be in the same position relatively soon.
In the rivalry between Paul Martin and Jean Chretien, as in the Leadership race today, there is needed a candidate who has the opposition party as his target and not other Liberals. Unlike the last leadership race, today there ias such a candidate, Gerard Kennedy.
In the Globe and Mail, Gerard Kennedy is recognized as a Leadership candidate that maintains friendships with the other candidates and maintains a course ofaction directed at Stephen Harper; you can view the article here.
Mr. Kennedy, however, sought to stand out as the non-polarizing candidate, the one who did not try to land blows on fellow Liberals. His campaign decided that the roughly 5,500 delegates already know the other candidates' weak spots, and if they conclude the two leading candidates are unpalatably polarizing figures, they will look for someone else.It is by trying to maintain civility that Gerard Kennedy is contributing to the unity of the Liberal Party and not contributing to it's division.
"It doesn't do any good or help our cause to be out there attacking people. It's underlining the obvious," said Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland, Mr. Kennedy's Ontario campaign chair.
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