And in his next sntence he says "...I hope I’ll be back in some shape or form."

Clearly he sees his living in CDA as being a mercinary one - he's only living here because the job Of PM requires it.

He's a carpetbagger.

Is it true if Ignatief becomes Prime Minister, he wants to be paid in American funds?

Headline could also read "appointed" or annointed.

The election referred to is as a liberal MP.
He has been back four years now -- long enough to apply for citizenship if he didn't already have it.

“My education, my politics, my basic view of the world is Canadian,” said Ignatieff in an interview yesterday. “I’ve been out of the country a while, and it seemed time to put something back.”

Many who are familiar with Ignatieff’s career say that the announcement is well in line with the trajectory of his work.

So, he comes from an "elite" Canadian family. Another case of elites telling us what to do and how to live.

His time in politics will be seen as an "extension of his teachings". More evidence of elites telling us what to do and how to live.

He will promote "national unity and multiculturalism". How 1970's of him. He's lost in time.

He's not one of us. Puke.

Yay Bruce!

I think I read somewhere since that Iggy maintains he was only kidding about that. Wish I could find the link.

"Ignatieff, attending a provincial election campaign rally in Dartmouth, said the Tories' poor record will provide enough ammunition for criticism.

"There's enough on the record that we can attack: record unemployment, record bankruptcies, record deficit," he said."
-30-
Sheesh. This out of touch guy has really been away too long.
RECORD unemployment???? A cursary check proves today's 8% is barely a squiggle in historic unemployment. In fact, a scant few years ago when the Chretien Liberals made the NOW they say unfair EI changes the rate was hovering around 10% for a number of years. 6% is considered a traditional norm even in boom times.
RECORD Bancruptcies???? : Ditto. He was obviously not in Canada during the National Energy Program fallout when Alberta literally went bust to name one. Interest rates at 22%. Unsustainable. Novice researchers can dispute this one in spades.

RECORD Defecit???? Whaaaaat? He was for sure NOT here for the majority of the past 40 years since Trudeau. In fact so far Canada is not in defecit - it is projected to be $80 Billion over 5 years if the world economy continues to fail.
But, there is nothing "projected about the reality of our current $480 BILLION in National Debt accrued from from massive defecit spending - mostly by Liberal governments.

So bring on your lame mistruth ads Mr. Ignatieff. You claim that is ammunition????
The facts prove your pea shooter has no bullets.

Oh right. As if Harvard would have him back after inflicting on the world that slop he tried to pass off as literature.

It's not that he was out of the country for such a long time (although that alone should raise some flags), it's that he considered himself and called himself an American. Not being born in the US his ambitions can only be satisfied here. Did he wave the Canadian flag in his travels? I believe him to be a citizen of convenience depending on where or how that suits his needs.

“I want to do my bit to bring Chinese Canadians, Ukrainian Canadians, Indian Canadians to the top of our political system,” Ignatieff said.

Where HAVE you been living,Michael, on WHAT planet?

Those ethnic groups are already well represented in Parliament and Legislatures all across the Country.

Iggy could have been a panelist on the gong show. I bet he could have wacked the snot out of that gong.

Iggy's family in Russia were high ranking members of the communist party.... that tells you everything you need to know about Iggy's own hidden agenda.

But, but, but... Ignatieff IS an expert in Human Rights. Trouble is, it is ANDREW Ignatieff- Mikey's younger brother. Mikey just wrote books and gave lectures, probably absconding his own brother's life's work.

"Andrew Ignatieff has worked for close to thirty years in international development cooperation in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Europe.

He has occupied positions of increasing responsibility in all aspects of delivery of development programs, volunteer coordination, education for development, government relations, communications and media relations...

His principle areas of experience have been in primary health care, gender and development, adult literacy, income generation programming, emergency programming, child centred development projects involving street children, working children, children affected by armed conflict, protection of children and promotion of children’s rights.

He has worked with both small development agencies and large ones such as Save the Children Canada and UNICEF Canada.

In addition to his work for a number of Canadian non-governmental organizations, Andrew has been active within the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC), including serving as the Chair of the Board of Directors.

http://idrf.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=256&Itemid=139

NOTE: Andrew's 30 year international career was as a Canadian and with Canadian organizations.

Maybe HE should run for PM since HE is with the TRUE experience. What do you think? Draft ndrew Ignatieff for PM?

thanks for saving me Kate. LOL

Lorraine,

That is the nub of it. It isnt being out of the country, it is whether you maintained your ties and committments.

the reason Wayne Gretzky is seen as Canadian is he kept up his Canadian charity work, kept coming back home every year and helped out Canadian organizations, like the Olympic Committee....MI did what high profile Canadian things, was part of what canadian organizations, participated in what Canadian charities or think tanks. He wrote articles and books targetted at US and British audiences...nothing wrong with that....but thats all he did.

Shoot even Steyn kept more Canadian ties than Ignatieff. Imagine what Lberals would say about him if he ran for PM.

However I like this hidden line in this article.

""This place makes me hungry," Mr. Ignatieff said as he passed the rows of gourmet cheeses."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1123819.html

Minor, and I like good cheese as well....but you don't think this guy is going to continually betray his patrician and coddled upbringing in an election......yeah right. MI will inadvertantly reinforce the con image, just like Dion did. Just give it time, this was one small drip on marble....

Ignatieff was both appointed and anointed.
The anointing was what the "convention" was all about.

Now he's got his feathers all fluffed up, calling for a fight.

Let's have at it Puffin Bird Man, you self absorbed, self proclaimed "impatient man" and arrogant Harvard alumnus.

Lorrie Goldstein asks; how can Liberals claim that telling the truth about Iggy is an attack ad ?

Besides, look in the mirror.

[ Further, as Liberal uber-strategist Warren Kinsella explains in his book on political campaigning appropriately titled, ahem, Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics, "oppo" short for "opposition research" is "all about scrutinizing the public record of one's adversary, and letting people know about things which he or she would prefer to keep off the front pages." ] LG

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/editorial/2009/05/25/9557506-sun.html

Attack ad ?

Those are infomercials.

iggy & the Liberanos will have to wait for the attack ads

very good article in NP

Raphael Alexander: Anyone who doesn't support easier EI is UnCanadian. Except Liberals Because its their program.
may 25/2009 NP Editor

* it wasnt until Pierre
Trudeau in 1971 that the program was really expanded in order to allow Canadians to recieve it more easily......
*the system was thereafter refered to as 10/42
*It Contributed to Canada's burgeoning Debt under Trudeau
*Paul Martin made it progressively more difficult to qualify for benefits.
*In fact a Signifigant part of federal fiscal surpluses of Jean Chretian & Paul Martin have come from abusing the EI Program, While the current Liberal Party uses the surpluses as an example of their strong fiscal Management style, The fact is that premiums from every working Canadian from 1994 onwards produced surpluses of the several Billion dollars that were funneled into general revenues.
*a program to help workers was then used to pay down the federal debt, creating an Unrealistic perception of Liberal federal fiscal management.

I keep having this vision of Borat Dion dressed as Neville Chamberlin coming out last December saying , " I have a piece of paper with Mr. Iggy's signature on it " Peace in our time, a coalition of the left , with mssr. duceppe in the drivers seat.

Iggy can never explain that away.

If I remember correctly, Preston Manning nearly burst a gasket when the Crechin and his finance minister seized the Unemployment Insurance fund and did not use the money for paying down the deficit. Maybe the UIC money is in the secret foundations the Liberano's set up ...or maybe they spent that fund on themselves and their pals in the same human hating agenda business as 'unka Mo'. The Puffins have no feathers to puff up in indignation on the UI file - well said Liz J! - they are the creeps who overtaxed employers and employees to give the fund such a huge surplus.

And the Liberanos seized the public service employee's pension fund - in case anyone is interested.

I would like to say something positive about Iggy. Here it is:

Among the soi-disant public intellectual set currently residing in Canada, Iggy's pronouncements are slightly less nauseating than those of Ralston Saul.

I love it - there's an ad for The Harvard Club of New York on the right-hand side of the link:

"Graduating?

If your're looking for a job in NYC, the Club is the place to be

The Harvard Club of New York"

And if your're still can't spell by the time you leave Harvard, that's just par're for the course.

Iggy: A New Model Citizen? “a desperate man.”

““I find Michael Ignatieff offensive.””

The resentment (shunning) of Michael Ignatieff is a river running through the Liberal Party of Canada.

The river will surface in due time and flush Iggy back to Harvard.

“Half a century later, the suffering of Capt. Frank Pickersgill, a Winnipeg-born war spy and saboteur, has been used at least twice by Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff in attempts to disarm critics who try to challenge his published views on human rights and terrorism.”

“Peter Pickersgill said of Ignatieff’s retort. “I shouldn’t be shocked because he’s a desperate man.”
…-

“Torture victim’s nephew offended by Ignatieff references

OTTAWA — The letter to Jack Pickersgill recounting how his brother Frank was tortured to death at Buchenwald concentration camp in the waning months of the Second World War suggested he keep the details from their mother: “A mother shouldn’t know about such sufferings of her son.”

Half a century later, the suffering of Capt. Frank Pickersgill, a Winnipeg-born war spy and saboteur, has been used at least twice by Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff in attempts to disarm critics who try to challenge his published views on human rights and terrorism.

Ignatieff does not name Pickersgill and spares his audience the details of his death at age 29 beaten and hanged from a meat hook in the basement of a crematorium on the night of Sept. 11, 1944. What Ignatieff does is ask how the son of a woman whose fiance was tortured to death at Buchenwald could possibly endorse the use of torture.

The reference is to Frank Pickersgill and it’s a reference that bothers some of Pickersgill’s relatives. One of them, Frank’s nephew Peter Pickersgill, says he finds it a shocking rhetorical device and a feeble way for Ignatieff to respond to those who legitimately question his views. “I don’t find it offensive,” he said in an interview. “I find Michael Ignatieff offensive.”

More …
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=12e7506b-a6aa-484e-be39-b2ba8643cb71

Ignatieff is aware of the difficulties. “I’ve gone into politics to test what you can achieve if you believe certain things,” says Ignatieff. “If I’m asked to do stuff that just seems to be in the dishonorable compromise realm, then I should get out. If I forget these noble words, my wife will kick me in the backside.” That is, only if the voters don’t do so first.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3352

Why did Iggy ever sign onto the coalition of the three stooges then?

The Liberal way with hypocrisy
Lorne Gunther
NP may 25/2009

What hypocrytes the liberals are. For more then 4 decades, the Liberal party of Canada has deliberatly confused its policies with our National Interest, Then labelled as "Un Canadian anyone who disagreed with them.

* Not a fan of Govt monopoly healthcare? Youre Un-Canadian.
Not big on easy Unemployment Benefits, official Bilingualism, Dismantling our military, begaring our economy in the name of enviormentalism, coddling criminals, huge public debt, activist judges, multiculturalism and so on shame on you for being so Un-Canadian.

*Now the Tories are using their own tactic against them and the Grits are sputtering with indignation.

Just visiting..........

But Randall Morck, visiting professor of Canadian studies at Harvard, said that [Ignatieff] winning the election may have its negatives.

Well, they certainly got that right.

So the Pickersgills are less than pleased with Iggy as well, add in the Grant's (his maternal side).

I get a funny feeling that these are litle landmines that will explode around election time.

Iggy can only hope his ex-wife, who apparently is earthquake angry at him still, doesn't choose to make a comment or so. MI has quite a collection of people who, if pushed, would not be nice character references for him. I wouldnt go looking for them if I were in the Con war room but I suspect if Iggy tries to paint himself in some light that doesnt resemble reality then a number of these skeletons will fall out of the closet.

Why is it relevant....it isnt unless he tries to paint himself as Mr warm and fuzzy or a kinder gentler person than Harper....if you think Harper is cold and distant you wont find a change in temperature with Ignatieff....warm, back slapping man of the people (hmmm gourmet cheese) he isn't.

Iggy would make a fine ambassador to the UN.

Question: You are said to understand rural Canada, but where do those comments come from?

Ignatieff: "I grew up in the barns of my uncle's dairy farm in ... Quebec."

"When I walk into the barns of [Quebec town, didn't catch the name] I like the smell."

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/12/10/live-blog-ignatieff-s-first-news-conference-as-liberal-leader.aspx

There are some interesting comments from Iggy re:coalition from Dec 10, 2008

Ignatieff "grew up" in the barns of Quebec????

How did he do that. He was taken out of Canada at age 6 weeks and did not return until he was 11 years old when he was placed in a boarding school to go to Upper Canada College. He was there for 6 years. So that leaves until age 17 - darn near grown up that he did not live in ANY traditional community in Canada except on a colledge campus.

He HAS written that he VISITED his Russian relatives in Quebec and said that it was English only community and that he had never actually MET a Quebequois in those visits.

Gee - I visited lots of places as a kid. Maybe I could say I "grew up" in Hawaii, or London, or Banff, etc.

Sheesh. For someone who claims to be educated Ignatieff sure does use muddy and befuddling English.

Personally, I'm flattered. Grateful. Given the choice, Iggy would put the Prime Ministership of Canada AHEAD of his gig at Harvard. Harvard is his B-plan.
It's a very prestigious university, you know.

Black Mamba - maybe being a tenured professor at Harvard would be considered quite prestigious.

Ignatieff was not a professor there at all - tenured or otherwise.

He was the Director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights which just happens to be located in a building on the Harvard campus.

It is a Think Tank sort of like Canada's Manning Centre or Fraser Institute.

I'm sure he is making MUCH bigger bucks these days as an MP and then topped of with the Leader's salary and perks not to mention that glorious ego stroking media attention and adulation he has craved all of his life.

PLUS - he gets to work towards a nice pension here - only needs three more years towards the six needed. About when he will qualify for his Old Age Security (if he has been in Canada long enough to qualify).

Has Ignatieff worked long enough in Canada to collect EI?

Well... I'm still grateful, dammit! It's nice of him to be willing to put up with the winters here. And try scoring lunch with Martin Amis when you live in Ottawa. Yeah.

iggy, would you like a little cheese with your whine?

From master of the cruel attack ads Warren Kinsella:

"Criticizing an opponent's public record - their quotes and votes, as we put it - is generally okay.

Going after their personality, or their character or appearance, generally isn't. There's blowback when you do that sort of thing."

So, Warren - you cruelly and with malice going after Stockwell Day's religion or him a wet suit was baaaad??? Why did you do it then?

Keeping with your logic - Conservatives now using Ignatieff's own words (public quotes) is generally okay?

Thanks for the affirmation that the current Conseervative Ignatieff truth ads are above board and fair.

**This just posted a NNW

Liberal Party van blocks Handicap Parking spaces
the coast may 25/09

I decided to investigate Ignatieff's timeline in Canada for myself.

A search leadfing to links to a slideshow and story line regarding Iggy's timeline were oops "no longer available". However, I did find a site which gives his career timeline and a link to comments from an annonymous poster who gives an accurate synopsis.

Below are the links:

http://devinjohnston.ca/blog/2009/05/12/ignatieff-living-america#comment-1006

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/features/timelines/ignatieff/ignatieff.xml

BCVoiceOfReason said:

25,000 hits on THE U-tube of Mr. Ignatieff waving his claw and banging it to the ground!!??

25,000 hits!!! That would mean that there is probably less than 10,000 individuals who have seen the ads as Jane Taber would have it on auto play.

Wow ! Small wonder Warren K. was basically begging Craig Oliver to show excepts of this on CTV's question period.

Each time the Ignatieff truth ads are played on HNiC they are viewed by over a million Canadians.

Even people who are not politically involved have to hate Ignatieff as he is taking up time away from the hockey game.

This is a HUGE indication of the decline in the influence of the MSM. They are definitely not directing the dialog and apparently have virtually no influence on it anymore."
...-

"Dishonest Signalling: Is Michael Ignatieff the fiddler crab of Canadian politics?"
http://stevejanke.com/archives/287710.php#idc-ctools

felis corpulentis: "Among the soi-disant public intellectual set currently residing in Canada, Iggy's pronouncements are slightly less nauseating than those of Ralston Saul."

Ooo, that's nasty, but I like it. ;-)

What’s wrong with an American taking over the (American) Social Experiment called Canada???

Don't you know why the "Tigers" demonstrate in front of the US Embassy????

You Lab rats are messing up...big time!

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/05/25/lorne-gunter-the-liberal-way-with-hypocrisy.aspx

Ignatieff to Harper: Mess with me at your peril:

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/485594

Summary: Stop pretending you're not scared of me. Ignatieff is threatening to force an election Harper wants him to force. In the Spring; on our streets.

Don't the Grits know the treatment Ignatieff can expect in an election will make these ads seem like good natured ribbing? They're going to tear him apart. Ignatieff has piles of political baggage, no policy experience, running a party that is flat broke. Everybody knows it and they obviously don't care.

Grits went negative on Harper from minute one, and been hypocritically bleating that he's a bully ever since. Their philosopher king was supposed to inherit power, not opposition, where you actually have to present an alternative view and agenda (Ignatieff is quoted as saying that's not his job as Leader of HMLO).

No he isn't the White Northern Obama, as some GlobeMail columnist opined. That would require charisma and an ability to excite your grassroots.

Right now, Canadians want, as Warren Kinsella says an, "everyman" such as Stephen Harper, though he is also expected to be a politician too, despite our complaining. (Yes, WK does have some redeeming qualities, he actually admires PMSH).

They don't want to be invited to a seminar or town hall meeting. Elections are small blips in our national culture and you have to seize the moment.

PMSM didn't quite do that in the last election, and that IMO, coupled with the sub prime meltdown, cost him a majority.

He doesn't appear prepared to make that mistake again. The MSM, of course are outraged at Harper's negativity, though they were gleefully silent during the "woman shot with unregistered handgun while attempting to have an abortion in a back alley on an aircraft carrier, " commercials.

The Tim Horton's set, who actually decide elections now, though disinterested, are not blind to double standards. The Liberals have harpooned themselves supporting the cockeyed coalition with silly Jack and Gilles. They haven't paid back any of the ill gotten Adscam booty. They haven't formulated anything resembling a policy framework or platform.

In short, they're huffing and puffing with empty election threats, mainly because Jack and Gilles likely won't let them anyway.

Lorraine at May 25, 2009 3:03 PM

Now that's how to baste a Turkey. (O:}

It would be a nice thing to try to figure out if in 3 years Iggy would have put enough into the CPP to earn what he will get out.

As well, how do you declare income when you are a Canadian expat. Isnt it paying taxes to the local government....did any of that tax money ever come back to canada? In other words he has paid less tax than Brian Mulroney!

Stephen,

In the case of US and Canadian tax, the income is taxed where it is earned. If you continue to be a resident of Canada, taxes are paid first to the US without any of the usual deductions, then it is reported as foreign tax paid in Canada and reduces the Canadian portion of the tax bill, dollar for dollar (adjusted for exchange).

I doubt Mr. Ignatieff kept Canadian residency or any property. In which case, he has not paid a dime of tax in Canada since he left. He will likely collect US social security rather than CPP as he had not worked in Canada for very long and would have contributed in the US.

Ignatieff is not smart as demonstrated by some of the mistakes he made on policy over three short years. Its shown that rather than basing his statements on some belief he holds near and dear, he jettisons those policy statements when they become inconvenient.
But more importantly, he ends up having to "change" his mind because he didn't consider the outcome.
He reacts to what is fashionable not what is practical.
The guy isn't smart, he's an academic, someone that has spent his entire life in an institution learning about theory.
While Ignatieff was in the UK theorizing policy, Harper was in Canada working in the oil patch and going to school to earn a degree.

Ignatieff's attitude towards Canadians follows the same research paradigm as Diane Fossey's method & commitment to her Apes.

Canadians! Give up the false Gods (Phd's)

Sorry, folks, I still think these ads, while accurate, are very poorly done. They don't entice the undecided; they repel them. The nasty, sneering voice, and the saturation are not winning people over - even at the generally conservative National Post, the mail is running approximately 50/50 for/against.

If you want to entice people, you don't harangue them - you plant seeds of doubt about what they believe, and then let them grow. The current ads are clumsy, over the top, and counter productive. Whoever runs the Tory ad campaign should be shot.

The sad part is the Libs are now leading in the polls, Iggy is leading in "best leader" category, and the Conservative support in Quebec is nearing zero......Canadians will NEVER learn.

at least he's honest about it.

During the Chretien years the liberals spent most of their time bashing the Americans. Ironically they have now anointed a quasi-american carpetbagger as their saviour. What hypocrisy