Georgia Strait: Telling true lies about Michael Ignatieff

[tuvor]

The left-wing intellectual icon is reconciled to the fact that there will always be those who consider him controversial

Michael Ignatieff, the dashing, 57-year-old former director of Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, is the fastest-rising star in Canadian politics. He’s the front-runner for the leadership of the Liberal party of Canada, but he confesses to an understanding of politics as tragedy, as a matter of always having to choose the lesser evil.

During a wide-ranging interview with the Georgia Straight, Ignatieff described one of those lesser evils this way: Canadians should abandon their innocence about the world. What that will mean, partly, is abandoning anti-Americanism, which is a “patriotism of fools”. He said these things, and then he said it was also true that Canada should reduce its reliance on American markets.

Ignatieff situates himself solidly on the centre-left and calls himself a “progressive liberal”, but he is also a champion of free trade. If you go looking for the greatest single human-rights advance in recent history, Ignatieff will find it for you in the elevation of 500 million people from absolute poverty in China and India, all due to the expansion of global capitalism.

If he were prime minister, Ignatieff said, he would press for broadened Canadian trade with China, and he would still like to put this question to the Chinese government: “Do you really want to build your prosperity on slavery?”

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=20113

[Spazito]

1. Ignatieff strikes me as a Martin re-do, same back and forth waffle

and, consequently, if he is chosen as Lib leader, will evoke the same "yawn" from Canadians that Martin did, imo.

[daleo]

2. Worse than Martin, I think

He reminds me of Blair - I think he will be right there when the U.S. calls for allies in future wars, just like Blair. Martin (Chretien really deserves the credit) generally knew better.

[Spazito]

3. I remember Martin refused to give his position on the issue of

Canadian troops going to Iraq during the height of the debate. I think, if the political winds had been even slightly different, Martin would not have been adverse to sending our troops there. I do agree Ignatieff is more center right, imo, than center left, Canadian style.

[daleo]

4. You might be right about Martin, in regards to the Iraq war

I do think Chretien (and Trudeau earlier) showed some real spine, though. It is always easier to go along with elite consensus opinion, which was clambering for war.