Canada’s right-leaning National Post is positively giddy over elitist reaction to the collapse of the Liberal Party in last week’s general election — and in particular the rejection of now-former leader Michael Ignatieff, who parlayed his long career into academia into a spectacularly failed bid to become prime minister:
In a front page article, The Boston Globe said the main reason for the Liberal collapse was that Mr. Ignatieff — the former director Harvard’s Carr Center of Human Rights Policy and an expert on international military interventions — had views on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan that had pushed “war-weary voters toward the more left-leaning New Democratic Party.”
The paper’s editorialists noted with some disbelief that Canadian politics had become “surprisingly caustic” and described the “sadness and indignation” his former Harvard colleagues felt at seeing that Conservative attack ads painting Mr. Ignatieff as a foreign Ivy League elitist had played so well with Canadian voters.
“For a country that is stereotyped here in the U.S. as a country that is accepting of everyone and everything, this federal election depicts a Canada that is moving in a steadily more exclusive and narrow direction,” wrote Shalini K. Rao, a Canadian student, in the Harvard Crimson newspaper.
It was a tough lesson in humility for one of the world’s most prestigious universities that while a former student could be elected president — and the first black one at that — its star professor couldn’t win his seat in a Canadian riding.
“I think they’re unhappy that his time spent in the U.S. at Harvard ended up hurting him not really helping him in the election,” said Paul Cellucci, former U.S. ambassador to Canada and a former governor of Massachusetts. “They’re not happy about that and I don’t blame them. You would think that spending time in Harvard would have a positive impact on your future career path.”
The reaction to Mr. Ignatieff’s defeat has focused largely on trying to explain how his reputation as one of Harvard’s most respected professors, a charismatic intellectual who could pack classrooms and once graced the cover of GQ magazine, could have worked against him with voters.
What kind of world do we live in when voters would rather be represented by a former college bartender than a former college professor?
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“For a country that is stereotyped here in the U.S. as a country that is accepting of everyone and everything, this federal election depicts a Canada that is moving in a steadily more exclusive and narrow direction,” wrote Shalini K. Rao, a Canadian student, in the Harvard Crimson newspaper.”
Simply not true. Canada was born out of anti-Americanism. It still is anti-American in spirit.
Canadians didn’t want to vote someone who resonated more with Americans than with Canadians.
Quebec is even more anti-American than the rest of Canada. Quebec is a socialist shit hole and is getting more and more like North Korea as time goes by. The only difference between Quebec and North Korea are the work camps, there are none of those yet in Quebec.
As someone who has recently moved to QC your comment is beyond hilarious. It is certainly socialistic; but in terms of personal freedoms I am much more free here than in Ontario (and unless you`re Albertan more socially free than your province of resindence). I can buy beer and wine nearly anywhere, ammunition purchases are just a quick check of my permit (compared to 5 minutes of form filling in Ont.). It is socially acceptable to drive your ATV or snowmobile many places that would get you fined in Ont. (ie. across your neighbour`s lawn). Even in small mining towns being opently gay is socially acceptable (you can see homosexual personal ads in the local paper). The police actually behave like they are part of the community unlike the OPP/RCMP stormtrooper wannabees everywhere else. Is it a somewhat closed society at times? Hell yes! But at the end of the day it`s all a question of how much fiat currency you`re willing to sacrifice for personal freedoms. I`m sorry your job hunt is so frustrating (mine certainly was) but you`re beyond reaching with the above and below comments. And American tourists are very welcome here (and have been for the past 80+ years) even if many Quebecers don`t agree with most American policy choices.
It would seem that Jack Layton’s mustache is what seduced the Quebecers because you could see them parade in the streets with fake mustaches and having loads of fun. They didn’t vote with their heads, not that they had any in the first place, but they voted to be like everybody, to be in, to be part of the gang, to be part of the party, to act like sheep etc.
What’s funny is that career politicians are frustrated that they had to work hard and shake a lot of hands to become elected while the NDP candidates went to Las Vegas and waited to be elected without even campaigning, LOL
Jean Chretin, a former Prime Minister of Canada, is complaining that in his time he did not go to Las Vegas and wait to be elected, it did not happen that way, he says, LOL
Those teeny boppers with no experience and no skills will be paid $160,000 a year for four years and will be trained all expense paid by the party.
And I’m looking for a job and I have to be professional and have experience and lick asses etc. This is getting frustrating that everybody is getting a free pass like this. It discourages you from playing by the rules because obviously the rules are rigged and not in your favor.
I never paid much attention to Ignatieff but I gather that some of the dislike that Canadians held for him was because of his stating circa 2003 that Canadians should participate in the war against Iraq. It branded him as a neocon shill in people’s minds and tainted him with George Bushism. My own pet theory is that Iggy got tied to US intelligence organizations somewhere during his long career outside of Canada. Whatever the cause, apparently he was so far out of touch with the Canadian brand of feel-good, leftie-nationalist-socialism that he gave off some kind of un-Canadian smell.
If I had actually voted (or gave a damn) then in my mind it would have counted severely against Michael Ignatieff that he is a descendant of the Count Ignatiev who is portrayed as one of the most cruel and devious villains of the 19th century in the Flashman novels. Call me irrational, but I dislike anyone associated even remotely with one of the leading statesman (so called) of a murderous empire.
Mind you, someday Canadians may wish that they had taken more of a shine to the neocon Johnny-Come-Lately from Harvard. It is possible that his successor as leader of the Liberal party and the next PM of Canada will be the charismatic and oily (and thoroughly communist) son of former PM Pierre Trudeau. That guy smells exactly right to most Canadians. My own female family members were positively raving about him after hearing him speak in person. But to anyone who is immune to communist bullsh_t, the guy is potentially going to be the next Hugo Chavez. And young Trudeau has a brother with even more blatant communist leanings. These brothers were literally raised on Fidel Castro’s knee. Even a foreign neocon shill would probably be better than a couple of communist demagogues.
Just goes to show what voting gets you.
A look into the mind of the lamentable brother of the up-and-coming politician Justin Trudeau:
Link.
(note the typo in the above quote … instead of, “all ready to die for the ideal of universal health, education and justice for all”, it should read, “all ready to kill for the ideal of universal health, education and justice for all”)
When I see a bartender preferred over a Harvard Prof, the optimist within me hopes that it is a small token of a change for the better — a popular belief that actually providing a service, that doing real work, is better than playing games. It could, of course, mean any number of things, including perhaps a brooding anti-intellectualism of the shallow and simplistic kind, but perhaps there is something good happening here. I certainly feel pretty good about Canada’s general direction at the moment, but I’m far from thoroughly informed about my northerly brethren.
“What kind of world do we live in when voters would rather be represented by a former college bartender than a former college professor?”
Well, we don’t know that that’s the case since they were running in different ridings. More generally, however, it reminds me a bit of Bill Buckley’s famous comment about preferring to be governed by the first 100 (or whatever the number was) names in the Boston phone directory than Harvard professors.
I think he was brought up to Canada specifically to throw the election. Without a “clear mandate” from a majority government, the NAU might have been delayed longer.
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