Last we heard, Harper, the PM (leader of the Conservative party) prorogued Parliament until the budget vote at the end of January. Stephan Dion (leader of the Liberal party) was becoming increasingly unpopular and announced his intention to resign in May. Up until yesterday there were three candidates to replace him.
My opinion: I am not a Liberal and I totally respect the absolute right of the party to choose their own leader, so my opinion is worth nothing. I liked Dion a lot but understand that he was absolutely the wrong man for the job. I remember Bob Rae (I live in Ontario) and I like him fine too (he’s always struck me as very smart), but I don’t think he can escape his baggage.
I don’t really trust Iggy (torture-lite, political history, etc) but I hardly know him. I have heard Conservative voters say that they would support Iggy over Harper if he was the leader of the Liberal party. This is a pretty big deal to me, as my primary allegiance is to Harper never getting a majority, and it seems like Iggy would most effectively serve that goal.
So: what do you think / know of Ignatieff? (International dopers welcome. This man might be our next PM.)
I actually know little of Ignatieff except that he is an academic who has worked in several universities around the world. Here’s his Wikipedia page. He is also pretty untested and untried as a politician.
I think the Liberals would be idiots to choose Rae, given his history as NDP Premier of Ontario and the concern about the current recession, but they seem to be aware of that issue. I am glad that they’re switching leaders quickly, but am frustrated that this looks like it’s going to be yet another coronation (like for Paul Martin).
Ignatieff is probably not a good choice in the long term and he’s being chosen under pressure, but he is infinitely better than Bob Rae. If that’s their choice they’d be damned fools not to get Rae out of the way.
In general I think they’re doing the right thing, except that it’s awfully sketchy for the party executive to make the decision. I think the party members should be the ones to vote on it. I understand it’s complicated and will take a bit of time, but the Liberal party leader at this critical time is too important a job to just hand to Ignatieff without an election.
All that said, the job is SO important that this might be one of those rare occasions where the egregious process violation is worth it for the greater good.
The Libs national executive has tried to make this look slightly more democratic by “allowing the party’s riding association presidents, club presidents, and defeated candidates to weigh in, in addition to Liberal MPs and senators”. But this is really turning into a coronation with nothing to weigh in on.
Wow. That’s a genuine out-of-left-field shock. Rae was the one who’s been pushing and bitching for a leadership race. As recentky as last night he prevailed upon party leadership to expand the selection process.
What I find puzzling is that this may well increase the chance of there being a cessation of hostilities in Parliament come January, inasmuch as Ignatieff has generally been regarded as one of the cooler heads in the room. But if they’re willing to stop playing chicken with the Tories, why rush into this? Why not hold a proper leadership convention?
Perhaps it would be best to name Ignatieff interim leader, and go ahead with a convention.
They needed to get Dion out of the public eye ASAP before Parliament wakes up in January - that fiasco with the video I think must’ve been the last straw.
I believe that technically they’re doing what you suggest - naming Ignatieff interim leader, but with no competition he will end up being confirmed when they do hold the official convention.
Interesting to see how the NDP react to this. Would Jack Layton actually want to appear to be working with Ignatieff given how he’s perceived as Conservative-lite?
matt any views to how Ignatieff is viewed inside the NDP? Assuming you can talk about it, that is.
Jack Layton is already on record as saying he is looking forward to cooperating with whoever the new leader of the Coalition (read: Liberals) would be.
So I wasn’t dreaming that - I was sure I’d heard Rae bitching about the selection process…and then suddenly drops out. Somebody drove a dumptruck of money up to someone’s house…
I kid.
It’s still rather a shock.
Here’s a very long article on Michael Ignatieff’s biography. Reading it, I was very impressed by his intelligence, experience, and credentials; I think I am probably on the same page as he is for most of his policies, but I have a couple of deep misgivings - I am still deeply disturbed by the idea of a Prime Minister who hasn’t been in Canada for 27 of the last 30 years, and I also haven’t seen anything anywhere that tells me he has the faintest inkling of how to handle a strong, economical powerhouse West - he is practically the epitome of an elite Toronto intellectual.
I think your concerns are valid and I definitely appreciate the perspective from the West (it’s hard to see outside of Toronto sometimes… believe it or not!). I too am impressed by his intelligence, experience, and credentials. However, I know a lot of smart people with experience and credentials, but politics is a completely different animal.
Example from the other side: Elizabeth May is very smart, experienced and credentialled, but she is not a good politician at all (and I say this as a small-g green who would love to support the Green Party of Canada) - she really belongs in non-profits. (Note: The only point of comparison I am making here is that May and Iggy have both distinguished themselves in non-political fields before taking on a party leadership position. May is extremely smart but totally failed to grasp how politics works; this demonstrates that smart/experience/credentials are not necessarily sufficient for being a good politician.)
I confess I’m getting discouraged at the fact that nobody seems to know why he’d be a good guy to support. I understand that it might be the best thing for the country for a strong, unified Liberal party, no matter who the leader is, but I’d like an opposition party leader who people actually knew something about.
Like many, I know little about Ignatieff (but will be investing some time in that bio…thanks featherlou). However, I am definitely hoping that he takes up that big space in the centre–and does it well. I am largely a conservative (and a former Conservative), and feel that the CPOC has left its right-of-centre base behind in a bid to out-Liberal the Liberals. I have high hopes for Ignatieff and his ability to unite the centrists and provide a viable alternative to the CPOC. My hope is that he can force the Conservatives to become better conservatives; and if they can’t or won’t, then give me another place where I can park a vote.