MP and constituency report on Stephane Dion

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Stéphane Dion was born in Quebec City, Quebec on September28, 1955. He studied Political Science at the Université Laval in 1977 and obtained a bachelors degree in the same field of study. In 1979 he completed his Masters degree from the Université Laval and later on his Doctorate in Sociology from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris. Dion taught Political Science at the Université de Moncton in 1984 and the Université de Montréal from 1984 to January 1996. In January 1996, Mr. Dion became the Intergovernmental Affairs Minister under former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, where he worked to improve our federation. He helped governments work better together trying to cooperate with each other and brought clarity and logic to the debate on Canadian unity.

Dion’s academic and political skills led him to be elected to the Canadian Parliament, as a liberal, in 1996. Mr. Dion also served as Foreign Affairs Critic in Interim Leader Bill Graham’s shadow cabinet before becoming liberal leader.

He then served as minister of the environment from 2004 to 2006 under Paul Martin. Following the Liberal party’s defeat in the 2006 elections, Paul Martin resigned as party leader, and Dion, who was not favoured to succeed him, was nonetheless elected to the post. Dion won the international agreement to extend the Kyoto protocol beyond 2012 after the Kyoto conference on Climate Change in Montreal and announced funding to help protect species at risk and their habitat. Stéphane Dion is noted as the principal author of the Clarity Act (2000), which sets strict terms for any future move to establish independence for Quebec. Currently, Mr. Dion is working on his three-pillar policy approach which integrates economic prosperity, social justice and environmental sustainability.

Stéphane Dion is currently representing the Liberal Party of Canada for the riding of Saint-Laurent-Cartierville in the province of Quebec. The riding of Saint- Laurent-Cartierville is located at the west end of Montreal on the south shore of Rivière-des-Prairies. The majority of the riding is made up of the former city of St-Laurent. The riding is bounded by Autoroute des Laurentides in the north, Autoroute Métropolitaine, Boulevard Cavendish, the CN line, Highway 13 and Boulevard de la Côte-Vertu in the east, the limits of the former city of St-Laurent and the boundary between Montreal and Pierrefonds in the south and Rivière-des Prairies in the west. In the 1986 redistribution, the riding of St-Laurent was created from 51 percent of Dollard, 22 percent of Laval-des-Rapides and 12 per cent of St-Denis. The riding name was changed to St-Laurent-Cartierville in 1989.

This riding is highly industrialized and is home to part of Pierre Trudeau Airport, Bombardier's Canadair division and CAE Electronics. The riding’s main industry is manufacturing, followed by retail trade and health and social services. About 30 percent of the residents over age 25 have a university certificate or degree. The average family income is $71,038 and unemployment is 10.3 percent.

In the 2006 census it was reported that the immigrant population was 49.9 percent. Immigrants in this riding are mainly Lebanese, Chinese, Jewish, Italian and Greek communities which contribute to the different ethnicities that characterizes this riding. The 2006 census, as well, showed an increase of 8.2 percent of the population since 2001, making the Riding’s population 109,015.

Because this riding is located in Quebec, thirty percent of residents have French as their mother tongue and only 14 percent listed English as their main language. Because this riding has a large concentration of immigrants, fifty-one percent listed a language other than French or English as their mother tongue, with Arabic leading this category at 13 percent.

In this Riding, 57% of people live in rental properties while the remaining 43% are currently homeowners. Stéphane Dion closely monitors his riding and the demographics of it in order to assure his riding’s full support. His main focus relies on issues that involve immigration, the housing market and unemployment.

Mr. Dion currently tackles issues that concern immigrants, such as changes in immigration laws that facilitate the reunion of immigrants and their families that are still abroad and desire to come to Canada. As well, he creates protection laws that can ensure the fair treatment of immigrants in society and the workplace. Because the majority of people in his riding speak other languages beside French or English, he should introduce other languages as an elective such as Arabic or Chinese in the school system in order to target these communities, which form the majority of his Riding.

This riding has a high percentage of people who live in rental properties. Therefore, Mr. Dion’s main focus is on the housing sector, mainly because housing shortages are imminent problems that could arise at any moment. Having a constant growing population and 57% of people living in rented places, he should consider making available more affordable housing as the population increases and demands it.

This riding has an unemployment rate of 10.3%, which should be a priority in Mr Dion’s agenda. He should consider implementing a plan to create more job opportunities which would expand the job market in order to bring more people into the workforce and decrease the unemployment rate.

Stephane Dion represents a Riding whose demographics can allow him to implement many tools into his agenda in order to target the main issues that concern the population. Many of the same issues that his Riding has, are the same issues that Canada currently experiences. He can introduce his plan starting at a micro-level which is with the riding of Saint- Laurent-Cartierville in order to manage the societies problems and assure its riding’s support.

Works Cited"Stéphane Dion." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 07 Oct. 2008 .

Canadian Parliament. “The Pairlament of Canada.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia: Microsoft Corporation. 2008.http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761553359/ Canadian_Parliament.html"Canadian Federal Election of 2008." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 07 Oct. 2008 .

Canadian Liberal. “Liberal Party of Canada.” Federal Liberal Agency of Canada. 2008. http://www.liberal.ca/glance_e.aspx