The Star turns to soothsaying in pondering Michael Ignatieff’s future
Times are tough for the University of Toronto. The hallowed faculty of arts and sciences is looking at a $60-million deficit. When asked about cuts, the administration told the Globe that “there are no sacred cows.” No sacred cows, maybe, but no reason not to give a hand to a friend—at least according to the Star‘s Jim Travers, who reported this morning that if the next national election closes the door on Michael Ignatieff’s political ambitions, the University of Toronto might open a window in the form of the Munk Centre.
[Janice] Stein, arguably Canada’s most highly respected, best known foreign affairs analyst, is preparing to step down. Finding a suitable replacement could take a year or more, and she is content to wait as long as it takes.
“Convenient” doesn’t quite capture the significance of that timing. Federal minority governments normally last a couple of years and Stephen Harper’s will pass its best-before date this fall. It’s reasonable to expect the coming election will be over a year from now and possible Liberals will be looking for yet another messiah.
Notably absent from Travers’s article is any Liberal source, even an anonymous one, that does anything but deny the idea. That’s right: not one anonymous Liberal source would rag on his or her leader—which is the reporting equivalent of finding snow in Ottawa in January.
People have been dumping all over the story today, and not all of them are Liberals. Ambivalent one-time Harper fan Paul Wells of Maclean’s has, for our money, the best slag: “I heard some random made-up shit from my dog Sam and I want to book a day when I can use it to derail Ig’s bus tour. Is next Tuesday open?”
• Travers: U of T offers Ignatieff an exit plan [Toronto Star]
• Michael Ignatieff denies ‘baffling’ report that U of T offered him an exit plan [National Post]
• Ignatieff denies UofT rumour [Toronto Sun]
• No ‘sacred cows’ as U of T slashes arts budget [Globe and Mail]
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Times are tough for the University of Toronto. The hallowed faculty of arts and sciences is looking at a $60-million deficit. When asked about cuts, the administration told the Globe that “there are no sacred cows.” No sacred cows, maybe, but no reason not to give a hand to a friend—at least according to the Star's Jim Travers, who reported this morning that if the next national election closes the door on Michael Ignatieff's political ambitions, the University of Toronto might open a window in the form of the Munk Centre.
[Janice] Stein, arguably Canada’s most highly respected, best known foreign affairs analyst, is preparing to step down. Finding a suitable replacement could take a year or more, and she is content to wait as long as it takes.
“Convenient” doesn’t quite capture the significance of that timing. Federal minority governments normally last a couple of years and Stephen Harper’s will pass its best-before date this fall. It’s reasonable to expect the coming election will be over a year from now and possible Liberals will be looking for yet another messiah.
Notably absent from Travers's article is any Liberal source, even an anonymous one, that does anything but deny the idea. That’s right: not one anonymous Liberal source would rag on his or her leader—which is the reporting equivalent of finding snow in Ottawa in January.
People have been dumping all over the story today, and not all of them are Liberals. Ambivalent one-time Harper fan Paul Wells of Maclean’s has, for our money, the best slag: “I heard some random made-up shit from my dog Sam and I want to book a day when I can use it to derail Ig's bus tour. Is next Tuesday open?”
• Travers: U of T offers Ignatieff an exit plan [Toronto Star]
• Michael Ignatieff denies ‘baffling’ report that U of T offered him an exit plan [National Post]
• Ignatieff denies UofT rumour [Toronto Sun]
• No ‘sacred cows’ as U of T slashes arts budget [Globe and Mail]){kind=link}
Mr. Ignatiff has been away from Canada for more years than he has lived here. He barely knows the country and I, for one, will not vote Liberal if he is not replaced before the next election. His long stay in the U.S. has imbued him with American values and ideas…certainly not Canadian. Why he was chosen to lead the Liberals is beyond me. The “shakers and makers” of the Party better start working on replacing him NOW….not after the Liberals lose the next election and the Conservatives will be at the helm for 4 or more years. The polls show that the Liberals are “dying on the vine” and no move is being made. Harper must be joyous….doesn’t have to work too hard to win the upcoming election (within 6 months for sure.) Liberal Party must work on REPLACING HIM BEFORE THE SUMMER IS ENDED.
Roslyn, your bias is showing. I would never vote Ignatieff into any elected office. He simply doesn’t have the skills or talents necessary even for a place on a school council. That said, what American values and ideas bother you? The Bill of Rights? Separation of Powers? Rule of Law? The right to equalizing self-defence so that their crime rate is actually dropping thirty percent faster than ours is–so that a 50 kg woman actually has the tool to save herself in an attack?
Or, do you and I actually agree? Does the current government’s work to turn The United States into a government-run nanny state even worse than Canada bother you? If that’s the case, then let me buy you a beer, Canadian or American, your choice.
Michael Igantieff only spent six years in the United States while heading up the Human Rights department at Harvard. He lived in the U.K. but was a journalist for more than twenty years, covering events around the world. In between he supplemented his income teaching at Oxford, Cambridge and the University of Paris, amoung others.
In 2000 he was selected to give the Massey Lectures, a prestigous honour given to the top Canadian intellects, and the resulting book, the Rights Revoltuion was a best seller. He is also a Gemini Award winning documentary film maker.
I think he’s more than qualified.