Give It Back

I spent last weekend on the final leg of the Liberal Express bus as it rolled through northern Ontario, mulling over the opinion of some that Michael Ignatieff is a changed man.  Whether true or not, I can’t say.  I could see, however, that he seemed different.They say that politics is meant to refine people; to round off the rougher edges.  This past summer for the Liberal leader actually accomplished the reverse.  Incredibly intelligent and cosmopolitan, he struggled with the “Ottawa bubble” and its penchant for temporary hype.  Thinking he would be facing his foes on an intellectual and policy battleground, he was met instead by bulldozers of the hyper-partisan kind.  He had frequented many political capitals in the industrialized world as an experienced Canadian intellectual and human rights advocate, but nothing he went through prepared him for what the Canadian capital had become.  He had been a significant part of the face of Canada to the world but was saddened to have that very reality thrown back against him.  I watched it transpire everyday in the House of Commons and was embarrassed at how our nation had taken to belittlement.The Michael Ignatieff I saw in northern Ontario last weekend was more rugged, relaxed, fit and clearly capable of stump speeches.  He took every question, shook every hand, and exhibited a slightly endearing quality of self-deprecation.  The young staff traveling with him had learned to just let him go; he could take care of himself at county fairs, community halls, and even at demolition derbies.  It was politics as it used to be, and I witnessed those who might have disagreed with him nevertheless thank him for dropping into their respective communities, rather than merely flying over them at 35,000 feet.In essence, Ignatieff was dwarfed by the sheer grandeur of a remarkable land that is, as he voiced repeatedly over the summer, “95% rural.”  He referred repeatedly to mountains and lakes, streams and grasslands, prairies and seashores, fish and elk, birds and beavers.But what really got to him was the sheer capability of the people of Canada.  In Ottawa, you think everything is about politics.  What the Liberal leader witnessed unequivocally was that farmers are more interested in their crops and how to survive; Inuit wonder what will happen to their way of life and how oil would be cleaned up if a spill occurred under the Arctic ice; women seek better access to health services in rural areas; students are incapable of paying of massive student loans; small business owners seek government help to access global markets; curious children want to see inside his bus; and senior Canadians worry about their drug coverage.  While the Ottawa spin machine ruminated on ice arenas in Quebec or Afghan detainees, Canadians desired to speak about their lives and challenges.  These formed a collective voice that was reinvigorating.I don’t think Michael Ignatieff has changed as other people observe.  Rather, it was his view of the country that was transformed, and that 55,000-kilometre journey provided him an intricate new canvass to paint his view of a nation he has always respected.  He learned what Kenneth Boulding did years ago: "Canada has no cultural unity, no linguistic unity, no religious unity, no economic unity, no geographic unity.  All it has is unity."  Of that reality Ignatieff is now completely convinced, and practically so.  The people of Canada, from every region, have taught him emotionally what he had always known intellectually:  this nation is just too great to divide into parts and then turn them against one another, as Stephen Harper has done.Regret is an insight that comes a day too late and Michael Ignatieff has decided he’s not going to give it that chance.  He has seen too much and been humbled by the ingenuity of this nation’s people to just sit back.  He has reached the point where he is ready to challenge Stephen Harper with the words: “Love Canada or give it back.”  He can’t seize power and refuses to divide to conquer.  His only way to gain leadership is to trust the very people of all persuasions he encountered on his journey.  He is now ready for that struggle because the Canada he’s fighting for is greater in his intelligence and spirit than he originally envisioned only three months ago.