Liberals pick Dion to be PM in coalition

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The parliamentary caucus of Canada's Liberals, the main opposition, agreed on Monday that party leader Stephane Dion would be prime minister if opposition parties bring down the Conservatives and form a coalition government.

Liberal legislator Dominic LeBlanc told reporters: "The caucus is in complete agreement with the idea of a coalition government. The deal that was presented to us received unanimous backing ... We've decided that the only person and the best person to lead and form a coalition government is the elected leader of our party, the leader of the opposition, Stephane Dion. We are comfortable with that, we support that."

He said a party vote to replace Dion as leader would go ahead as planned next May.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; writing by Peter Galloway; Editing by Jeffrey Jones)