Stéphane Dion: Lost in the Barrens

First it was Jocelyn Coulon. Then Marc Garneau, Jamie Carroll, and Liberal candidates and activists Pierre-Luc Bellerose and Michel Joncas.

Now it’s Stéphane Dion’s ability to leave Ottawa that is the latest victim of the NDP’s stunning win in Outremont.

On Wednesday, Dion cancelled his scheduled three-day trip to the Arctic to cope with the growing crisis in his party.

Dion can’t talk about anything else, can’t build a cohesive team and now he can’t even do the simple things that a leader is supposed to do.

Compare that to Jack Layton who didn’t have any problems going to the Arctic. In August, Layton led an NDP delegation to the North to see first hand the challenges facing ordinary Canadians in the Arctic. The NDP Leader has called on Harper to protect Arctic sovereignty by taking on the social, economic and environmental challenges facing Northern families.

Meanwhile, the Outremont by-election loss has shaken the Liberal Party to its core -- prompting a degree of infighting and self-doubt that has essentially put Dion under house arrest.