KEY POINTS:
MONTREAL - Canada's opposition Liberals yesterday unexpectedly chose former Environment Minister Stephane Dion as their new leader, overlooking his political shortcomings that could undermine the party in an election expected next year.
Dion, 51, who was in fourth place at the start of the race, beat favourite and former Harvard academic Michael Ignatieff on the fourth and final ballot.
The Liberals lost power to the Conservatives in a January election after a century of dominance. But the Conservatives' minority government looks likely to fall next year.
Dion focused his campaign on protecting the environment - a topic of increasing importance to Canadians - and the need to defeat the Conservatives as soon as possible.
Dion has two strikes against him. He speaks English with a heavy French accent, which could make it hard to win voters in a predominantly English-speaking country.
He is also unpopular in his French-speaking home province of Quebec, which accounts for a quarter of the seats in the federal Parliament.
Separatists dislike him for his efforts to make it harder for them to hold a referendum on whether Quebec should break away from the rest of Canada. Separatist Quebec governments lost two previous referendums on the issue.
- REUTERS
