With almost everyone taking swipes at Canadian Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff these days, any sort of critical comment seems like kicking a cripple.
I seem to be in a minority in that I have difficulty even thinking of him as a conventional Big “L” Liberal. It strikes me that his views are influenced by whatever the issue is, not by what he thinks the party stands for.
Maybe I’m wrong. If so, there’s always a first time.
As leader of the Liberals he has to behave foolishly at times.
Like when Parliament re-convened, he felt he had to introduce a non-confidence motion which he and everyone else knew he’d lose because neither the NDP nor Bloc wanted an election. Nor, I suspect, did Ignatieff.
But Jack Layton drew the short straw and sided with the government by abstaining on the confidence vote, using the fabricated excuse that he wanted Employment Insurance laws modified to be more generous and fair.
Ignatieff gave a scathing speech deriding the Harper government, to which no one, except possibly Mrs. Ignatieff, paid attention. Least of all Harper.
The question begs why Ignatieff would waste all that bile which he could have saved for when the country was ready for change, and a rollicking speech might have electrified the country, if only for its passion and unexpectedness.
A political leader can only shout “fire” in a crowded room once to gain attention. Too many times, and the shout is ignored.
There’s abundant evidence that Ignatieff is out of tune with the country. The Toronto Star’s Angus Reid poll shows 37% of Canadians would vote Tory, with 27% favoring Liberals. The Globe and Mail/CTV poll has Tories ahead of Liberals 41% to 28%. A CBC poll shows Tories getting a majority, with Libs at 26%.
As usual, the NDP are in the teens; forget about the Greens – with Elizabeth May as leader, it’s doomed to remain a pimple on the butt of democracy.
It’s not political enemies that plague Ignatieff, it’s his own party and the likes of Denis Coderre who quit as the Liberals top MP in Quebec because he felt Ignatieff took too much advice from Toronto. Coderre may be a big deal in his own mind, but his runaway ego is an embarrassment.
Appointing former astronaut Marc Garneau as his main guy in Quebec was shrewd of Ignatieff. It’s pretty hard not to admire Garneau, who is universally respected and is neither demagogic nor bossy as Coderre was.
The appointment of Garneau also sidelines Martin Cauchon whom some expected to get the job, and which would have exacerbated rifts caused by Coderre.
All Canadians should want the Liberal party to be vibrant - but in opposition for a while, and not running the country as they feel is their god-given right.
While Liberal popularity in Quebec is now 21%, good for third place, the party is resilient and one should not underestimate Ignatieff.
No Liberal leader would fare well at the moment. Canada is in better shape than most countries and people increasingly realize this, even though they don’t see Harper as warm and fuzzy – despite his recent coup of playing the piano like a regular guy.
Ignatieff knows all this, and may be biding his time. Harvard was never like this.
2 responses so far
1 DFL // Oct 14, 2009 at 2:01 pm
This is a very fine piece but for one item- Canada would do best if the Grits stay down for a long, long time. Best yet for Canada would be for the Liberals, New Democrats and Greens to remain political scorched cats for a couple of decades.
2 Gary M // Oct 14, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Count me in as a fan of NM’s coverage of Canada. Although I haven’t been north of the 49th parallel since, oh, 1968, the counrty is well worth the coverage for its own sake, and it’s interesting how many unique angles Canada adds to discussing U.S. issues. It’s no accident that prominent Hollywood conservative intellectual Lionel Chetwynd is Canadian, and so was the late, much-missed uber-blogger Cathy Seipp; the smoke-free bike paths of Malibu are an oddly appropriate place to talk about differing visions of the social contract…
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