"Forget the World"

"In times of national crisis, you can forget the world and those that suffer in it," a seasoned politician told me back in the recession of the early-90s. I drove home from Ottawa angry then and troubled that I hear some similar language surfacing now in the halls of Parliament. It is only natural to pull the wagons in a circle during times of national concern. The are only three troubles with that point of view right now: 1) this recession is worldwide in scope; 2) Canada has firm commitments to assisting the developing world that it can't ignore just because it's distracted at the moment, and; 3) Canadian citizens and organizations in considerable numbers are actively engaged around the world and frequent Ottawa regularly to express their will (the great "will" that should really matter in a democracy) that this country get on with its responsibility to lead the world in peace and development.The words of then Prime Minister Paul Martin of only three years ago in an international forum almost seem from another age:"Clearly, we need expanded guidelines for our responsibility to act decisively to prevent humanity's attack on humanity. We should be seeking to protect the innocent against appalling assaults on their life and dignity. It does not bless unilateral action. To the contrary, it stands for clear, multilaterally-agreed criteria on what the international community - and Canada - should do when civilians are at risk."To his credit, national columnist Lawrence Martin helped to align our vision in that direction when he alluded to Michael Ignatieff's influence being helped "by a new politics, a trend toward internationalism." He went on to say:

Whoever said 'all politics is local' had it all wrong. Today, all politics is closer to the opposite."

I encourage everyone to read Martin's insightful article in the March 12th version of the Globe and Mail.In recent polling, some 40 percent of respondents stated that they didn't know Mr. Ignatieff well enough to make a judgment of him or his abilities. This seeming revelation caused many in the Liberal Party to urge their leader to "get out there" and get known. To be sure, there's good political advice in this. But Ignatieff's "international dimension" will always make him a kind of evocative individual. After all, after so many years as Prime Minister, how many could say they really knew Pierre Trudeau? Yet his worldliness still holds sway over this country's collective memory.My family and I spent last Friday evening at Stornoway with Michael Ignatieff and his engaging wife. The children ran free and the spirit was laid back. But when Mr. Ignatieff opened up, the broad narrative was about two things: the great vision of Canada as a place of unity and the remarkable example that holds out to the rest of the world. I watched him then and I recall his words now. Whatever else might be said of him, he will never be truly known. His DNA is linked to the world and he can't make any real move in the Canadian context by only thinking of Canada alone. If we truly wish to understand him the best we can, then we had better get to work at understanding that world because it's about to become an indelible part of this country, as it has been in decades past.