Dion and Iggy

So apparently Dion has named Ignatieff as his deputy leader.

Interesting. Of course, it's sort of a play taken from Chretien's book, who made Paul Martin his de facto number two by making him Finance Minister after defeating him for the leadership of the Liberal Party.

I had sort of thought that Kennedy would be deputy leader, but given he doesn't have a seat in the Commons, that doesn't make much sense.

But now the question will be how much of the Opposition leadership is given to former leadership candidates, at the expense of some of the very talented current MPs? Carolyn Bennett comes to mind (though she had been a candidate), David McGuinty is a good guy to have around (not least to keep relations with Queen's Park good), and of course Bill Graham and Lucienne Robillard did a good job of holding down the fort. What about Irwin Cotler, Ralph Goodale? Mark Holland? Etc. Etc.

I think that he can leave the bottom four out as a matter of course (or give them critic positions)--they don't have legions of followers who could conspire in the manner of Paul Martin to bring Dion down. That said, Martha is a rising star and should be given something, not least because of her staying in the race so tenaciously. Giving Rae an important role would also help him shed the image of having a recent conversion to the Liberal party. The better roles need to go to people who have seats.

So exciting.