Michael Ignatieff is Harvard-educated, an expert in human rights and democracy and an accomplished writer, but on May 2 he was the man who had to take responsibility for the Liberals historic defeat at the polls. Not to mention his own.
“Leaders have to be big enough also to accept their historic responsibility for historic defeat and I do so,” he said. “I accept my responsibility for what has occurred.”
Ignatieff did not step down as leader, but instead pledged to work to restore and renew the center of Canadian politics in any role the party asks of him.
“Democracy teaches hard lessons and we have to learn them all. We have to be big enough, open-hearted enough, courageous enough to read the lessons the Canadian people have told our party tonight,” said Ignatieff.
The electorate also send a strong message to Ignatieff on Monday night. He lost his own seat in Etobicoke-Lakeshore to Conservative Bernard Trottier and his party was sent to third spot in the House of Commons. Seventy-eight per cent of Canadians said they think that Ignatieff should step down, according to Ipsos Reid exit polling.
But even if Ignatieff does not step down – he’s holding a news conference Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET — he will face a leadership review at the next Liberal convention, according to the party’s constitution.
“He will certainly resign,” according to Queen’s University professor Royce Koop, who studies the Liberal Party. “It is not the Liberal way to hold onto to leaders that lose elections.”
That certainly has been the fate of the last two Liberal leaders who lost elections, Paul Martin and Stephane Dion.
Koop said he predicts that Ignatieff will return to private life sooner rather than later.
“Ignatieff is really a kind of impressive person. He is a smart person, well-regarded outside of Canada,” he said. “There better things for him to do that be the leader of the opposition.”
“I think it would be very sad if the Liberal Party were to lose him,” said Penny Collenette, a former Liberal candidate and former National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada. Collenette support Ignatieff’s second leadership bid. “He is a very warm person, very understanding of other people’s lives and the challenges they face.”
Ignatieff was a rising star in the Liberal Party since he won a seat in parliament in 2006 federal election as the representative from the Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore. An academic specializing in human rights, democracy and international affairs, Ignatieff is a man of big ideas.
The problem was that Ignatieff got caught up in the politics of the campaign instead of playing up his vision of Canada, said Koop.
“Leaders should play to their strengths and he didn’t,” he said. “In this campaign Ignatieff never really articulated a clear vision for the country.”
Instead of presenting a big idea for Canada, Ignatieff took on the role of the anti-Harper choice, a role that seemed inauthentic for a thinker, according to Koop.
“He got caught up in his opposition to Harper. The Liberal Party has to present something for Canadians to support and I didn’t see it in this campaign. I saw a lot of criticism and focusing on Tory issues, but what was his vision of the country,”
There were moments in the campaign where Ignatieff shined, like during the few days where he really hammered home his health care message, Koop said.
Ignatieff also ran a very open and accessible leaders tour, making time for as many questions as possible from Canadians. These qualities are a key part of Ignatieff’s character, according to Collenette.
“That’s the kind of person he is. He consults. He listens. He respects other people’s opinions and he takes the whole matter very seriously,” she said. “I haven’t doubted the support.”
“I think everybody will take time to pause and reset and I think the next couple weeks are going to be possibly very interesting in Canadian history,” said Collenette on both the future of her party and its leader.
POSSIBLE SUCCESSORS: According to Global New’s Ipsos Reid exit polling, these are Canadians preferences of a successor:
“¢ Justin Trudeau
“¢ Gerard Kennedy
“¢ Bob Rae
“¢ Dominic Leblanc
“¢ Martha Hall Finley
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