OTTAWA - Stephane Dion has laid off 11 staff members in the Opposition leader's office as Liberals continue to feel the ripple effect from last month's electoral drubbing.
Sarah Bain, a spokesperson for Dion, said the layoffs are a direct result of the Oct. 14 election, in which the Liberals won only 77 seats -- down from 103 in 2006.
"Obviously, the reality is that after the election our budget was cut," Bain said.
"When you lose seats, you lose budget."
Parliamentary funding is determined after every election based on the number of seats won by each party.
For the Liberal party, the reduction in seats means it has lost $1 million in funding from the House of Commons for research, staff and other resources.
The leader's office was particularly hard hit. Its budget has dropped to $3.1 million from $3.8 million.
Funding for the Liberal research bureau, House leader's office and whip's office has also dropped -- by just over $400,000 in total.
Among the staffers who left the leader's office Friday was Quebec adviser Andre Lamarre, a longtime aide who has been with Dion since he first entered politics 12 years ago.
The others let go were relatively junior staffers who had been manning the various regional desks in Dion's office, handling tour arrangements and developing policy.
According to an insider, the positions eliminated were deemed to be unnecessary now that Dion has announced he'll step aside as soon as a successor is chosen next May.
Dion also announced his shadow cabinet Friday, filling in gaps left by defeated MPs.
Among other moves, he named Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison as the party's finance critic, an all-important post given that the coming parliamentary session is likely to focus almost exclusively on the economy.
Toronto MP John McCallum, a former bank economist who had been finance critic, was named chair of a special leader's advisory committee on economic strategy.
Newly elected Toronto MP Gerard Kennedy was named industry critic.
Three prominent MPs who've declared their intention to run for the Liberal leadership -- Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc -- were not given any role in shadow cabinet.
