Stéphane Dion In Depth

On December 2, 2006, at one of the most exciting Liberal leadership conventions in party history, Stéphane Dion was elected as the 11th leader of the Liberal Party of Canada on the fourth ballot.

Mr. Dion’s three-pillar policy approach, which integrates economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability, garnered him the support of a majority of Liberal delegates, allowing him to emerge from fourth place going into the convention to beat out seven contenders in total.

First elected in a 1996 by-election, Stéphane Dion was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006 in the riding of Saint-Laurent – Cartierville.

Before entering the race to become Liberal leader, Mr. Dion served as Foreign Affairs Critic in Interim Leader Bill Graham’s shadow cabinet.

In July 2004, under former Prime Minister Paul Martin, Mr. Dion was appointed Environment Minister. In that position, he helped prepare Canada for the challenges of a sustainable economy and played a key role in developing the greenest budget since Confederation.

Among his accomplishments as Environment Minister, Mr. Dion won international agreement to extend the Kyoto protocol beyond 2012 at the follow-up to the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change in Montreal in December 2005. This followed his announcement, in April 2005, of Project Green – an updated climate change plan to honour its Kyoto commitments. In June 2005, Mr. Dion also announced $9.2 million in funding to help protect species at risk and their habitat.

As Minister for the Parks Canada Agency, Mr. Dion was also responsible for the protection of Canada's heritage sites. Key aspects of Canada’s rich cultural heritage were commemorated through Mr. Dion’s work to designate sites, events and persons of national importance.

Mr. Dion became Intergovernmental Affairs Minister in January 1996 under former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, where he worked to improve our federation. He helped governments work better together and systematically brought clarity and logic to the debate on Canadian unity. He developed the federal government's case against unilateral secession, which would have jeopardized the rights of Quebecers and all Canadians, obtained a favourable opinion from the Supreme Court of Canada, and turned the court's opinion into law through the Clarity Act, passed in 2000.

Mr. Dion graduated from Université Laval with a B.A. in 1977 and an M.A. in 1979, both in political science. In 1986 he received his doctorate in sociology from the Institut d'études politiques in Paris.

Before entering politics, Mr. Dion taught public administration and political science at the Université de Montréal from 1984 to 1996 and authored numerous books and scientific articles. He lectured at the Université de Moncton in 1984, was a visiting professor at the Brookings Institution in Washington, at the Laboratoire d'économie politique in Paris and at the Canadian Centre for Management Development in Ottawa. In 1999, McGill Queen's University Press published Straight Talk: Speeches and Writings on Canadian Unity, which was short-listed for the Donner Prize that year. In 2002 he received an honourary doctorate from the Carlos III University of Madrid.

Mr. Dion was born on September 28, 1955 in Quebec City. He is married to Janine Krieber, and has one daughter, Jeanne.