AMBASSADOR DION

Mr. Dion was a weak leader of the Liberal Party and most recently a weak foreign minister. He was cranky, contradictory and ornery, clashing frequently with cabinet colleagues (one of whom he scolded for speaking too little French.) He is an intellectual, innocent of political instinct, as if tutored by Michael Ignatieff.

But that’s not the big reason Mr. Dion should not be Canada’s Ambassador to Germany and the European Union.

This appointment is a folly on every level. It will offend the Germans, dilute Canada’s representation in Berlin and Brussels and alienate our better-qualified diplomats in Ottawa. In Donald Trump’s world, we need a professional, not a dilettante.

I'm trying hard to give a damn about the importance of any of it...