During a recent drop-in visit to a town hall meeting at Espanola, Ontario, Stéphane Dion let it slip that, were he ever fortunate enough to grasp the reigns of power, he would be very reluctant to let them go.

“…I want to go into the next election, not to rule for four years, but for the next 40 years,” Dion told his audience (Mid-North Monitor, April 6).

We can only assume Mr. Dion’s musings were just another one of his trademark slips of the tongue.  After all, considering all of the effort he is going through to prop up the current Minority Parliament and avoid facing even one election, it is doubtful he is particularly keen on winning the next ten.

But still, the hypothetical question is intriguing.  What might 40 years of Stéphane Dion look like? 

Vulnerable Canadians would be much poorer.  Mr Dion would push 24,000 families into poverty by snatching away the Conservative Government’s $1,200 Child Care Benefit.  Over 40 years that number would surely grow.

Canada would be in a lot more debt.  A Stéphane Dion Liberal Government would plunge Canada at least $62.5 billion deeper into debt over the next four years alone.   Over 40 years Canadians could count on him to add hundreds of billions more.

Greenhouse gas emissions would be through the roof.  Today Canada is still recovering from the damage caused by Mr. Dion’s record of inaction in just a couple of years as Environment Minister.  One can only imagine what 40 years of Mr. Dion ‘not getting it done’ would look like.

And the Canadian economy would be in a tail spin, thanks to years of new Dion taxes such as a higher GST and a punitive “carbon” tax that would increase the price of gas, electricity, home heating fuel and almost everything else Canadians buy.  Of course, we wouldn’t have to wait 40 years. Mr. Dion's love of new taxes would cripple Canada's economy today.

There would also likely be a few more frustrated Liberals.  At times it looks doubtful whether Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae are prepared to sit through another four months of Mr. Dion’s weak, ineffective leadership.  It is certainly doubtful they would be happy sitting through another four decades of it.

Instead of dreaming and speculating about what 40 years in power would feel like, Stéphane Dion would make better use of his time by trying to get himself out of his current mess.  But then, if he was any sort of leader, he’d already know that.

Stéphane Dion. Not a leader. Not worth the risk.