Now he's gone and you rejoice in your victory. You have politically destroyed a man who's only failings seemed to be that he was a decent and intelligent person. And that scared you. A man whose credentials were undisputed and recognized globally you deemed inadequate,unsuitable.
"Not a real Canadian," you said, because his career blossomed outside the parochial boundaries that you have decided must limit our leaders' life experiences.
"He's just visiting," you said, of a man who gave up a successful career at a world-renowned university to come home to make a contribution to the country that, ironically, welcomed his family so many years ago.
"I don't trust him", you said, while trusting the others for whom breach of trust with the Canadian people has become a defining characteristic.
"He comes from Russian noble stock," you said, "and is therefore elitist, a snob." Meanwhile you are glued to the television, revelling in every elitist, snobbish moment of the William and Kate royal wedding.
"I wouldn't want to have a beer with him," you said, as if what this country lacks is more Johnny Walker wisdom.
He wasn't a streetfighter, and in these days of UFC you needed to see blood flowing. The pen is no longer mightier than the sword and it was a death by a thousand cuts. You sent him packing and the Liberal Party shamefully obliged by applying the coup de grâce.
Disgraceful
2 comments:
Having had the opportunity to meet Mr. Ignatieff at a town hall meeting in my home community I just wanted to say that I would have sat and had a beer with him, and I trusted him. Unfortunately he was unable to shake the publicity that Conservatives put forward, and far too many believed. I truly fear what the next four years hold for our country. Thank you for you post.
Funny enough, all the things about Iggy you list about people not liking about him I either didn't care about or liked.
"Not a real Canadian" I'm a monarchist and we have a non-resident monarch. In my view being a Canadian goes beyond having citizenship and living here. Its about a love for the country and willingness to do what you can to make it better. But I see the whole stupid issue has come up again with Mulcair's dual-citizenship so I see Canadians haven't changed much.
"He's just visiting," Ditto above. The Queen only comes home to Canada every few years but I have no doubt that Canada is never far from her mind.
"I wouldn't want to have a beer with him," Well, I don't drink but still he would probably be an interesting guy to talk to.
"He comes from Russian noble stock," and "and is therefore elitist, a snob." I found the fact he seemed embarrassed by his family history to be a more damning quality. Which brings us to...
"I don't trust him" Well, now we get to an actual problem I had with him. Iggy has repeatedly advocated for a republic and has hired advisers with similar views (Peter Donolo). After years of republicanism by stealth we finally had a government putting the monarchy in its rightful place. I had to interest in returning to the previous state of affairs. I ended up voting for the local Liberal candidate (haven't been able to vote Conservative in years) but was happy to see Iggy lose.
Fast forward to 2015 and leader, party, and local candidate have a much more positive view of the monarchy. That the rest of their platform is not overly objectionable to me is nice too. I'll happily vote Liberal in this election.
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