Baitun Nur had its grand opening to the public on July 5, 2008, with 5000 people in attendance, including dignitaries such as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Opposition Leader Stéphane Dion, and Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier.
The five participants were Conservative leader and incumbent prime minister Stephen Harper, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, NDP leader Jack Layton, Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, and Green Party leader Elizabeth May.
In the 2008 Canadian federal election a carbon tax proposed by Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion, known as the Green Shift, became a central issue in the campaign.
Mahfouz was a supporter of former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion’s “Green Shift”, a plan intended to cut income taxes, price carbon emissions, and fight poverty.
The Liberal Party of Canada under Stéphane Dion placed the environment at the front of its political agenda, proposing an ecotax and tax shift it called the Green Shift.
Celine Dion | Stéphane Grappelli | Céline Dion | Dion Boucicault | Stéphane Dion | Stéphane Mallarmé | Stephane Grappelli | Stéphane Lambiel | Mark Dion | Dion Workman | Stéphane Sednaoui | Dion Woods | Dion | De Dion-Bouton | Stéphane Rousseau | Stéphane Mallat | Stéphane Denève | Dion Nash | Stéphane Van Der Heyden | Stéphane Rotenberg | Stephane Rolland | Stéphane Lannoy | Stéphane Houdet | Stéphane Courtois | Stéphane Boudin | John Creamer & Stephane K | Dion Neutra | Dion Gales | Dion and the Belmonts | Celiné Dion |
The group usually targets Canadian politicians, and has pied former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, provincial premiers such as Jean Charest and Ralph Klein, and cabinet ministers such as Stéphane Dion, Allan Rock and Pierre Pettigrew, among other political figures.
During the 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership contest Scarpaleggia was one of two Quebec MPs who backed the candidacy of Stéphane Dion, who ultimately went on to win the race on December 2, 2006 at the Montreal convention centre.
For 10 years, she worked for the then Liberal government acting as chief of staff from 1993 to 1996 to Brian Tobin, former Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and, from 1996 to 1999, as chief of staff to Stéphane Dion, then Minister of Inter-governmental Affairs.
He was named Opposition House Leader by interim Liberal leader Bill Graham in 2006, and continued to serve in this role under the leadership of Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff until September 2010 when he was promoted to Deputy Leader.
Two parties, the Conservatives and the NDP, opposed the inclusion of the Green Party, citing a deal struck between the Green Party and Liberals where the Liberals would not run in Green Party leader Elizabeth May's riding, Central Nova, and the Green party in Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's riding, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville.