Dion Shakeup

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has replaced his previous principal secretary, the Hon. Marcel Masse, with Johanne Senecal, a former chief of staff to Dion and senior Chretien PMO staffer. Johanne is smart and experienced and will provide some much needed direction in Masse's absence.

In another move (that is either wrong or too late), Dion has accepted the resignation of Jamie Carroll as National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada. The difficulty that I have with this decision is that in politics either you hunker down and ride something out, or you take decisive action immediately. Here, Dion has defended Mr. Carroll's comments (as recently as in the weekend media) and has now accepted his resignation. Ditheringly decisive.

Finally, word on the street is that former Deputy Director of the LPC Marc Lavigne, who left a month ago will be replacing Carroll. Marc is a solid guy and will do an excellent job.

The question that remains is: whither OLO chief of Staff Andrew Bevan? A smart, likable guy who never really seemed to have full control over the various forces in Dion's operation. I believe that these moves shore up the team and hope that they re-enforce Andrew's ability to do what he is really good at: strategy, policy and politics.