Michael Ignatieff is set to lead the federal Liberals after caucus members gave him the green light in a closed door meeting earlier today.
Their decision made the Toronto MP interim leader in everything but name. That title came later this afternoon when the Liberal national executive officially approved Ignatieff’s leadership.
Until Bob Rae withdrew his bid yesterday, the former Ontario premier was considered the only competition for the position. But today he helped nominate Ignatieff and joined outgoing Liberal leader Stephane Dion in praising the political newcomer.
According to recent reports, Liberals said they weren’t certain whether the party would spearhead a drive to topple Stephen Harper’s government when Parliament meets next month.
They indicated the decision to pursue a coalition with the NDP would depend on the economic stimulus measures contained in the budget proposed by the Conservatives on Jan. 27.
Even though Ignatieff is now essentially a shoe-in to lead the Liberals, next May’s party convention in Vancouver will still take place as planned.
Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for the Hook.
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zorya
3 years ago
is democracy lost?
now we have the Grits agreeing with the Tories that, sometimes, bending democracy is more convenient, to the bender at least
Sandwichman
3 years ago
Walking Backward into the Future...
For a while in the 1990s I used a quote from a book review by the new Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff, in my signature file: "Only in mediocre art does life unfold as fate." As fate would have it, 12 years later I can now Google search the phrase and come up with 70 or so of my own musings from a decade ago. I was only able to find the actual source of the quote, "The Illusion of Fate" in the February 13, 1995 New Republic, by truncating the phrase.
Earlier in his review -- commenting on the demise of the "grand narratives" of Marx, Freud, Weber, Durkheim, etc. -- Ignatieff celebrated "contingency" and observed that the passing of those grand theories "leaves us in a curious state of intellectual denudation. For theories of the past are always maps of a possible future. Now we are walking backward into the future, and without maps."
alive
3 years ago
predictions
The liberals will unite behind Iggy now; they will use the coalition to boost the image of their shattered party and eventually drop the NDP on its head.
This is not the liberal party that the NDP had an agreement with, what we have now is a milder version of a conservative agenda, and Rae's influence is gone!
This may be a good time for the NDP to rethink just exactly what good will come of this caper?
My only hope is that the voters will realize that there now are two right wing parties inCanada, and maybe split their vote and let the NDP gain some advantage that way.
RickW
3 years ago
Well, There Goes The Country.......
.....Ignatieff has more in common with Harper in hooking this wagon we call Canada to the falling star that is the United States, than he does in reviving our independence.
The Blackbird
3 years ago
Ignatieff on permissable duress during coercive interrogation
"We need a presidential order or Congressional legislation that defines exactly what constitutes acceptable degrees of coercive interrogation. Here we are deep into lesser-evil territory. Permissible duress might include forms of sleep deprivation that do not result in lasting harm to mental or physical health, together with disinformation and disorientation (like keeping prisoners in hoods) that would produce stress. What crosses the line into the impermissible would be any physical coercion or abuse, any involuntary use of drugs or serums, any withholding of necessary medicines or basic food, water and essential rest."