Cornwall ON – Michael Ignatieff is on tour. He’s dropping into a town near you as he whistle stops across Canada via Bus; shaking hands, kissin’ babies, smiling, waving, back slapping, eating fried food, Purel’ing, and pandering for votes from Canadians.
He’s trying to connect with Canadians or should I say try and get Canadians to connect with him.
As I watched him here in Cornwall Ontario it struck me how different the experience was than what I was reading in some media reports.
Now as a long time Liberal; up until 2009 as a matter of fact; I’ve grown accustomed to some powerfully personable politicians. I met Pierre Trudeau once, and Jean Chretien; while flawed in some ways was definately quite the Canadian Politician.
Personally I identify with strong politicians; not bullies so much as Strong people who provide natural leadership. And to me strong leadership is trusting in someone even if you don’t agree with them at times. Leadership isn’t depending on script writers and teams of people pitching you to other people while hoping you can pull it off.
I think about things like; would I enjoy having a alcoholic beverage with this person; or spending time with them in a civilian atmosphere? Would I want this person in charge of my welfare and safety? Would I trust them with the PIN to my bank account? And other strange thoughts, but I digress….
I watch our own Mayor in Cornwall Ontario; Bob Kilger; whom I’ve learned immensely from. Watching Mayor Kilger work a room; enter a room, and the little things he does is something you can’t learn in any school. Watching Jean Chretien grab a protester and put him down was spontaneous magic, but it was Canadian magic. Frank McKenna is another Canadian politician I’ve admired, and I will admit I once voted for Brian Mulroney too. Danny Williams fascinates me politically.
We may not be the biggest country in the world, but don’t mess with us. We’re still one of the few countries to ever beat America in war, and ask Germans of a certain age what they think about our Military.
As much as I detest Stephen Harper’s vision of Canada I think I can honestly say I respect the fact that he’s been able to Iron grip his party to near total discipline, and Jean Chretien (and some of his people who probably skipped reading MacBeth in school) can tell you how hard that is.
So today’s exercise as the pools start as to when Mr. Ignatieff’s final day as Liberal Leader is, is whom would you think would have a better chance of beating Stephen Harper? Feel free to take our poll and you may select up to 3 choices.
Loading ...What do you think Canada? You can post your comments below.
They need to have a party with ideas before they have a leader!
Its not the person its the party and its platform or lack thereof in the case of the Liberals….at least that’s how it should work. As for those who have celebrity envy and watch only the person on the front page you may have well included Don Cherry or Alex Trebek (now there’s an idea) but they’d need a party first.
Iggy is still my choice.
The War of 1812 doesn’t really qualify as beating the U.S., I don’t think. I don’t think they claim to have beaten the French in the French and Indian War….. we have no claim to the War of 1812. Just sayin’.
Also I prefer basically anyone to Harper.
Actually the aggressive American plans to expand their territories to include all of British North American were soundly defeated. The Canadian army (British and Colonists) defeated the Americans on land but the Americans won the battle of the lakes with their shallower draft boats. Why do you think the White House is called the White House? Because the British army marched into Washington and set the building on fire. The Americans used white wash to cover up the burn marks and it has been white ever since.
Now if we could only keep the Conservative government from selling our country to the Americans……
Jamie
I think had you put Ralph Klein as an option he would get most votes. If any of the people you have there could do as well sober as Ralph did drunk Canada as a whole would be an ever more amazing country.
Canada was a British colony in 1812, Madison never declared war on Canada but on Britain. Most people residing here at that time were British citizens. So, Technically Canada has never gone to was with the United States.
Bob is not the person you should look to for mentoring. You may want to look to another celebrity for that Jamie. Just look in the other paper and find your good buddy itinerant and ask their story about experiences with Bob.
In my experience I would think of him like the clip in the movie Shogun. In the midst of an assassination attempt, Pilot-Major John Blackthorne (Richard Chamberlain), dances and acts the fool. In that era to kill the people of such a sickness was considered bad karma if you will
Bob is the same way, so long as everything is going ok Bob is smooth but as soon as things get tough he plays the fool if you will an excuse rather then shouldering the challenge.