This is from Greg Weston’s column in the Ottawa Sun:

HALIFAX — It was one of those unfortunate technical glitches that eventually bedevils every election campaign, a teleprompter that failed to roll at the start of Stephane Dion’s speech to the chamber of commerce here yesterday.

No fault of the Liberal leader, the miscue nonetheless provided a much needed reality check on this week’s dubious outbreak of Dionmania.

“Thank you to welcome me in the chamber of commerce of one of the most successful city of Canada and certainly the most resilient Halifax,” Dion began ad libbing as he waited for the teleprompter.

Thanking the person who introduced him and saying a word about local Liberal MP Scott Brison, who provided a warm-up act, should not have been too tricky for a prospective prime minister.

“Thank you very much, um … Thank you. Uh, and thank you also. Thank you, Valerie. I think exactly like … I will speak with my heart, okay?”

“Thank you Valerie. Thank you so much because what you have as an agenda is at the core of a plan that Scotch, um, Scott has shown, a plan that want development and for the next generations as well, build on the economy and environment together.”

The teleprompter finally operational, the Liberal leader reads the rehearsed script, decrying Stephen Harper and telling the crowd why Stephane Dion should be the next prime minister.

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