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Monday Nov. 24,
2008 BACK NEXT
"WE'RE NOT INSPIRING OUR VOTING
BASE"
An
interview with Michael Ignatieff
by Angelo Persichilli
THE
HILL TIMES
OTTAWA—Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff knows the leadership race
is not going to be a cakewalk. The major obstacles won't even be
those he's going to face in the short but intense campaign. He is
going to face stiff competition from a very good opponent and, most
of all, a long-time friend, Bob Rae, and an emerging and much
younger candidate, Dominic LeBlanc. Nonetheless Ignatieff is
determined to reach the top of a prestigious organization, the
Liberal Party, that at the present time can offer him just the brand
name: the next leader has to rebuild the product in terms of
policies, organization and funding.
The magic word is
"front-runner" and people say you're in the lead. Does this make you
feel better?
"I've been the front-runner once and [it] didn't
work out so well, so I'm trying to avoid being the front-runner this
time."
So, I guess. Dominic LeBlanc is the
front-runner.
"Yes, LeBlanc is the front-runner."
The Liberal Party has many problems to
face and solve. Which ones do you think are the most
important?
"The core problem is that there is
as many as 900,000 Liberals who voted for us in 2006 and didn't vote
for us in 2008. We are not inspiring our own voting base. The party,
historically, has the largest voting base than any political
formation in the country, but it has eroded steadily and,
interestingly, they haven't gone to any other parties; they are just
staying at home. So, the bad news is that they are staying at home,
the good news is that we can get them back. That's the challenge we
have to meet."
Lack of inspiration because they didn't
have the proper leader, or there is something more?
"I don't
think that anybody campaigning for the leadership should claim that,
'Presto, you elect me and the problem is magically solved.' We have
organizational weaknesses that are very serious, we are not as
credible in rural Canada and small town Canada as we should be. We
have lost seats in Northern Ontario and we must have them, we cannot
be a national party unless we regain seats in Alberta, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba, and we must not lose the crucial ethnic communities
that have been a bedrock. The very first door I have knocked on in
Toronto when I was 17 years old was a street of Italian voters, and
the first words I ever spoke on behalf of the Liberal Party was,
'Vota liberale.' We lose these communities and we are out of
business. We have taken them for granted. These are core problems
for our brand."
Why are you losing them ?
"Because other political formations are competing
effectively, which is good."
Why should ethnic groups vote as
groups?
They should vote like all Canadians, they
are citizens and we have to compete more effectively."
Let's go back to other problems.
"We have
financial and organizational challenges. We have neglected them
because we were in power. Angelo, we had it too easy and now it's
tough."
And you have
the new rules for raising money.
"Yes, we have new rules which are good for our country, they
push the money out of the political system and this is good but we
wrote the rules we were the slowest...."
Why were the
Conservatives and NDP quicker than the Liberals to adjust to them?
What happened?
"Yes, this is ironic. I believe that we were
just used to the other way of doing things; we were very slow and I
take my hat off to the Conservatives, particularly. The
Conservatives, being in the opposition for 15 years, knew that they
had to be the $50 party. Now we have to be the $50 party, it's that
simple, and we will be the $50 party. We are on the road to becoming
the $50 party, but we are not there yet."
What are the
problems you're facing in this leadership race? For example, the
fact that a very good friend of yours is in the race, does it make
it all the more difficult for you?
"This race is
not a personality battle between two young men who never worked out
their rivalries when they should have done [that] in university.
It's not about that, it's about two visions that the party should go
forward. It's about two records: his record and my record. It's
about my vision of the party. I hope that the fact we like each
other will make it easier to make this race civil. No guarantees,
but that's what I like."
I know that every leader has his or her
own personalities, but they have references to other leaders of the
past. Which is the Liberal leader who inspired you the most?
"The one I think had the biggest impact on me is Lester
Pearson. I knew him personally because my father worked for him."
Why did he impress you?
"He was the leader
during two minorities and managed to create a tremendous legislative
achievement like bilingualism, medicare, the Canada Pension Plan,
the opening [up] to Quebec, magnificent funding for the arts, and,
very important, a great succession plan. The only Liberal leader,
well...Mackenzie King didn't do a bad job either, but Pearson did
the best job of getting new talent into the window and saying, 'Go,'
and it's because of Pearson that [Pierre] Trudeau and Chrétien, this
great generation of Canadians, and [Paul] Martin come into the
party. So, I have great admiration for him. Pearson had a great
understanding that leadership is succession planning. Great leaders
arrange their own succession. They don't choose their successors,
that's not what leaders can do, but the leaders can present to the
country and to the party a range of leaders who will take the baton
forward."
Considering
the infighting in the Liberal Party, are you saying that after
Pearson the Liberals haven't had any other great leader?
"No, we've had tremendous leaders.
You are misunderstanding. It's because of Pearson we had Trudeau and
Trudeau was a great leader, I worked for him."
But Trudeau didn't do a good job in
helping to choose his successor.
"Well, I hesitate to criticize Pierre Trudeau who also
brought some great new people into the party. But it is a matter of
historical fact that after 1984 we had a serious defeat and a
successful leader would avoid this and, let me make this clear, this
is not a criticism of Mr. Turner. What I'm saying is that a
succession plan is crucial to leadership and Pearson taught me
that."
We're the multicultural country and the United
States is the melting pot. But they elect Barack Obama to the White
House, not to mention Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powel, Mario Cuomo,
Michael Dukakis and much more. Isn't this ironic?
"Yes, I'm
aware of that. I am Ignatieff, my father is an immigrant."
But you are an exception. Even the
Conservatives had John Diefenbaker.
"I know, it's not the same. I mean that I
identify very strongly with a Canada which is open to all. My father
had to break down doors, Mr. Diefenbaker had to do the same. Some
great Italian leaders in our party had to break down some doors, and
it would be, we were talking about succession planning, a very good
thing if I could promote people in the position of leadership in my
party that would become the Prime Minister of our country and it
would be a Prime Minister with the Sikh turban, or from the Chinese
community or our aboriginal community. This would be an enormous
achievement for our country and I think we should take inspiration,
as you say, from the United States, but everybody has to earn it.
Nobody's origin should either hold you back or give you the magic
key to success. It all has to be on the basis of ability. And the
job of the leader is to make sure that we open the doors so all kind
of abilities have a chance to compete for
success."
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