By Neala barton
MONTREAL — Erik Fortier gripped his red and white Scott Brison sign, pumping it in the air as he chanted “Bri-son, Bri-son, Bri-son,” – the rhythmic cry coming from the Liberal delegates around him.
The Liberal Leadership Convention’s floor was filled with thousands of delegates hoisting signs of varying colours and sizes, sporting matching t-shirts, and yelling and screaming their favourite candidates’ names loud enough that the end result was little more than a muddled and unintelligible hum.
Amid the chaos, Fortier could not wipe the smile off his face.
“It’s just a feeling, an adrenaline rush,” said the youth delegate.
The 25 year old was the only Brison delegate from Ottawa Centre, a riding he said was thick with Michael Ignatieff supporters.
On Dec. 2, he would watch Stéphane Dion give his victory speech, after days of anticipation and stress-filled hours where Fortier could only guess the end result.
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When voting began on Friday afternoon, convention rules meant Fortier was committed to Brison for the first ballot, even though the Maritime-based candidate had little chance of winning.
So, after being herded through a maze of ropes to cast his vote, Fortier started to consider which leadership contender he would support next.
He took in a couple of the candidates’ Friday night speeches but headed back to his hotel before they were done. He was tired and besides, “I honestly think we’ve heard everything they’re going to say,” he said.
Later that night, just before getting in line at the bar for his free drink at Gerard Kennedy’s after party, Fortier concluded that “Kennedy is the most viable other candidate to win this race.”
Fortier figured Brison would probably support Kennedy too – first ballot results had come late Friday night, and Brison had made little headway at the polls.
“It’s going to be a long day tomorrow,” Fortier said.
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Saturday started with a bang.
“I feel like someone just shot my dog,” Fortier said that morning.
Brison had dropped out of the race and handed his support to Bob Rae, Fortier’s least-favoured alternative. He thought Rae would fracture the party, not unite it. Fortier decided not to follow Brison’s lead, instead choosing Kennedy for his next vote.
“I’m in a minority,” he stressed. “A lot of people are going to support Scott with whatever decision he makes.”
Still wearing his Brison t-shirt, Fortier embellished it with a Kennedy button before heading back to the polls for the second ballot.
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Just before noon, the convention floor was teeming with people. Delegates ran around trying to locate fellow supporters, journalists tried to listen to their ear pieces over the noise, and TV cameras were ready to capture every angle the moment might provide.
Everyone was waiting for the results of the second ballot: only Kennedy, Ignatieff, Rae, Dion, and Ken Dryden remained in the race. As video screens broadcast candidates shaking hands, delegates began theorizing about the possible allegiances and alliances that were likely to be struck.
Fortier had his own predictions: “Dion will support Kennedy,” he told a delegate decked out head to toe in Dion paraphernalia.
“That’s not the way it’s going to happen,” she shot back definitively.
She was right; the results put Kennedy’s delegate support behind Dion. Not 10 minutes after Fortier predicted Dion would bow out of the race, he was close enough to the action to see Kennedy push his way through the crowd, media in tow, to give his support to Dion. With that, Fortier pinned a red Dion button on the Kennedy scarf that he had layered over his Brison shirt.
“It makes sense,” Fortier said of the Dion-Kennedy alliance. “Everyone knew they were going to get together, it was only a matter of when.”
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Fortier followed Kennedy’s lead. From that point on, he was a Dion man. He tied one of Dion’s green scarves around his head to show his new allegiance. Fortier, like most delegates, was covered in convention swag; he had embellished himself strategically with candidates’ buttons and scarves as though adding ornaments to a political Christmas tree.
The day moved quickly. By noon, the votes from the third ballot had been returned. The entire room gasped as it learned Dion had taken the lead with 37 per cent of delegate support. Ignatieff trailed slightly, and Rae came in last, meaning he would have to drop out of the race. Fortier was unsure what to think.
“It’s going to be a tough one,” he said nervously of the Ignatieff-Dion final ballot.
But he had little time to analyze – the polls had opened and the final vote was underway.
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Late Saturday afternoon, “I’m Too Sexy” blasted from the speakers as delegates on the convention floor waited anxiously for the results. Like most of his peers, Fortier decided to dance away his nerves, pumping his fists in the air to the beat as a way to ease the stress and pass the time.
“I’m nervous,” he said, before chanting Dion’s name along with the delegates around him.
Finally, the results arrived. After long days of expectation, there was relief for Fortier: Dion won with 54 per cent of delegates supporting him.
“I was like ‘thank God’!” said Fortier afterward. “I couldn’t see Ignatieff winning it.”
Dion’s victory was not the Ottawa-Centre delegate’s favoured outcome, but it was one he decided he could live with. At least, Fortier said, the suspense was over.
“The last two days were action packed – you never knew what was coming. Surprises all the time, especially today,” he said of his ever-changing emotions.
Dion’s victory meant Fortier’s job was done. As one of more than 5,000 delegates he had helped choose a Liberal leader, maybe a future prime minister.
The end of the convention meant new beginnings for the party he supports, Fortier emphasized.
“Now we can clean house, we can forget the petty bickering we had in the past, and we can really do what the Liberals are good at: governing this country.”