Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Ignatieff on Ignatieff

by Aaron Wherry on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 2:46am - 42 Comments

The Liberal leader explains himself.

The Liberal Leader is still a novice, and his fumbles over trying to bring down the government, building the party in Quebec, and how he runs his office and manages his caucus have corroded his relationship with the Canadian public, leaving him about as unpopular as his predecessor, Stéphane Dion. Mr. Ignatieff’s response is to keep on trying to bring down a government whose leader is double-digits ahead of him in popularity, and to take up the cause of Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whose own budget is about to be gutted.

Politically, this is madness. Mr. Ignatieff doesn’t care.

“All I can hold on to is: What is my job?” he said Tuesday in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “And my job is to stand up on behalf of Canadians and say: ‘What the heck are the facts, here? What are you doing with the public finances?’ That’s why the Parliamentary Budget Officer matters.”

Tags: Budget, deficit, Kevin Page, Michael Ignatieff, parliamentary budget officer

More by Aaron Wherry

kcm

Au contraire! Since this is politics, and the public likes the idea of the PBO Ignatieff should run with it for all he's worth.
wilson

Page's projections also changed, and in an interview, he said the experience was humbling…..
http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok SeanStok

Your point?
knick

It seems to me that trying to reach conclusions based on hypotheticals will prove nothing. The only way we'll ever find out what kind of PM Ignatieff would be is if his party ever wins an election. period.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Dennis_F Dennis_F

As I wrote on my blog, what jumped out at me from Ibbitson's article were the last two lines:

And where will the Liberal Leader be a year from now?

“That's up to the Canadian people.”

In other words, Iggy himself says he's just visiting?

Katherine

It's not up to the Canadian people. It's not even up to Canadian Liberals. The selection of the Liberal leader is up to a small minority of members of the Liberal Party.

So, what do people think the odds are of Iggy heading back to the States within 5-10 years if he gets kicked out of being leader?

Dakota

5 -10 years!!! I'd say more likely as soon as the next semester starts. But then again, he’ll be 65 soon and will qualify for his C.P.P. since he’s been contributing to that for a least a couple years that he’s actually worked in Canada.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Yer talkin' about Finance Minister of the Year there, bud.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Dennis_F Dennis_F

What's up with this forum eating posts up anyhow? I get responses in my inbox, then they disappear when looking for them on these boards. That's no good.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Nich Nich

Welcome to Canada.
http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Martin was always off as well, which is where the idea started. At the end of the day this was about trying to Bell The Finance department Cat.

It is a difficult problem, and I am not sure the current structure or the proposed structure of the PBO is correct. Once again, you need to seperate out Kevin Page from the process itself. He has ticked off many many people with his crusade, rightly or wrongly, for a job he wasnt hired for.

A PBO…..in the US it is seen and accepted as a non partisan coster of programs. But there programs get propsed by the executive and by congress.

I think gettign ideas costed outside the bureacracy, when they dont have the time, is fine and worthy. But this is a large organizational change, and before you give this office, and in Page's case, tilter at windmills, a bigger budget I think all parties need to figure out what the appropriate role of the PBO is WITHIN the structure of the public service. There IS tons of overlap and challenge. And right now, all it is leading to is confusion. Sadly, it is politicized now as the oppsosition would like it to be their research department.
Katherine

Hey, I actually respect him a little for that. You shouldn't ditch your staff as a response to your own mistakes. The Liberals aren't having a good time of it, but it's hard to see why Ignatieff's office staff should be blamed for that.