Parliamentary research and staff budgets are, ultimately, a function of the number of seats your party wins in a general election. The Liberals, of course, did pretty poorly in the last election, getting fewer votes and fewer seats. The fact of fewer votes will mean less money for the party and fewer seats means their slice of the parliamentary budget will thinner.
We understand that, this afternoon, thinner budgets means fewer people working in the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition. At least eleven staffers have been let go in the OLO. While the party is appropriately reluctant to relesase names, an OLO official says there will be fewer people in the OLO working on policy or on the regional desks or on Leaders' Tour. After all, with only a few months left in his leadership, Dion is not going to be developing new policies or travelling the country whipping up support. That will be up to the new leader.
Stéphane Dion's core communications team — shop leader Mark Dunn and team members Sarah Bain and Jean-François del Torchio — will remain on the job.