Former environment minister Dion picked to lead Canada's Liberal Party

A former environment minister beat the odds on Saturday to become leader of Canada's opposition Liberals and is likely to challenge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives in an election next year.

Delegates picked long-shot Stephane Dion, 51, over a hawkish ex-Harvard professor, an erstwhile Ontario premier, a hockey legend and four others at a weekend leadership convention here.

His win will mean "a lot of difficulties for Mr. Harper," Dion told reporters. "Our vision for the country is much more generous than his."

"We are counting the days until the next election," he added in a victory speech, despite surveys suggesting he could not unseat Harper anytime soon.

In a surprise push, Dion, a sociologist who named his dog Kyoto after the global climate change pact he helped shepherd at UN talks last year, overtook academic Michael Ignatieff in the third ballot before winning.

Ignatieff, 59, a world-renowned author, filmmaker and human rights champion who left a post at Harvard University to enter Canadian politics last year, initially led the contest to succeed former prime minister Paul Martin as party head.

But he fell to second spot in the third ballot when anti-poverty activist Gerard Kennedy dropped out and threw his support behind Dion.

Social democrat Bob Rae, who once led Canada's most populous province and economic engine, Ontario, bowed out after slipping to third place in the third round.

Some 5,000 delegates, chosen among 200,000 party members, cast their votes in the contest to replace Martin, who resigned in January after losing a general election to Harper's Conservatives, ending 12 years of Liberal rule.

Ignatieff was wooed by senior Liberals to join the race, but provoked a backlash in October by accusing Israel of a "war crime" for attacking civilians in its conflict with Hezbollah months earlier.

Later, the son of a leading Canadian Cold War diplomat and grandson of czarist aristocrats who fled to Canada following the Russian Revolution sparked a contentious debate over Quebec nationalism.

He was also attacked for his support of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Dion, the only candidate from Quebec Province, had positioned himself as an "acceptable compromise" to the various candidates who wished to lead the Liberals against the Conservatives.

He studied in Paris and taught at Canadian universities from 1984 to 1996 before being elected to the House of Commons and becoming intergovernmental affairs minister in former prime minister Jean Chretien's Cabinet immediately afterwards.

His hardline federalist ideology and policies made him an outcast in his native Quebec, where separatists wield great clout.

However, his fortunes began climbing in July 2004 when Martin named him Canada's environment minister.

Dion presided over a UN climate change conference in Montreal in December last year, shedding tears after securing a last-minute deal to save Kyoto Protocol negotiations.

Hoping to capitalize on that success, Dion made environmental protection a key element of his leadership platform.

"We cannot afford to miss out on the next industrial revolution: the sustainable economy," Dion said when he formally announced his bid for party leader on April 7.