Ignatieff Wins Parliament Seat

Michael Ignatieff, a former professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), triumphed in a controversial election held last Monday and successfully secured a seat in the Canadian Parliament.

Ignatieff resigned from his post as director of the Carr Center for Human Rights in December. Last Wednesday, the Carr Center appointed Sarah Sewall, a KSG lecturer on public policy, to take his place.

Ignatieff—whose departure from Harvard in September to take up a visiting professorship in his native Canada was seen by some scholars as a political move—became a star candidate for the Liberal Party when he left academia to seek elective office last December.

His victory in the election last week added to existing speculation that Ignatieff, now representing the western Toronto region of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, will someday fill the role of Liberal Party leader and eventually even prime minister.

“They will have a leadership contest in the Liberal Party, and he is one of the names of people put forward as a possible person contending,” said Gregory Albo, professor of political science at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Randall Morck, visiting professor of Canadian studies at Harvard, said Ignatieff will be “a breath of fresh air” to the Liberal Party, which has a solid shot of obtaining a majority in the next election.

Morck, citing Ignatieff’s 27 years outside the country, wrote in an e-mail, “This is a better opportunity...than Canadian politics has offered in recent memory.”

But according to the Canada Globe and Mail, Ignatieff responded to a reporter’s question of whether he wanted to be prime minister by saying, “That’s a presumptuous question.”

This position in Parliament will be his first public office and will allow Ignatieff to hone his political sparring skills in an arena much fiercer than academia, Albo said.

“It’s very different from being a well-known personality and even commentator on public affairs, and the debating in the houses is a lot rougher than it is in a university hall,” he noted. “There are a lot of people who fail to make the leap from being a prominent personality to being an effective politician.”

Albo, however, expressed confidence in Ignatieff’s potential in Canadian politics.

“No, I think actually he has a lot of skills, and given the political stances he’s taken, he’s probably debated with the best of them,” Albo said.

Ignatieff’s entrance into politics has been marked by controversy. He has faced harsh accusations of using disparaging ethnic slurs against Ukrainians in his published work and of being an opportunist.

He also came under fire in the Canadian national press for his remarks to The Crimson last month concerning his intentions to return to Harvard if he lost the election.

Throughout the campaign and after his victory, Ignatieff has highlighted the issues central to the community he will be representing in the House of Commons.

“I said that my top priority would be to focus on cleaning up the Lakeshore, so that we can revitalize a national treasure, and realize an economic boon at the foot of our riding,” Ignatieff said in a letter to his contingency posted on his campaign web site.

Though it will be a while before Ignatieff is expected to declare his intention to contend for Liberal Party leadership, many are excited about the possibility. “There are a lot of people in and around Toronto supporting his leadership,” Albo said.

“If he can win leadership of the Liberal Party in their upcoming convention, he could be Prime Minister in a few years,” Morck said.