Compared to Americans enthralled by an exciting, too-close-to-call election, Canadians were yawning when they went to the polls on October 14. It seemed like yet another unwanted election—the third since 2004—brought on by obscure reasons that only Stephen Harper, the prime minister, knew for sure.
The results were predictable. Harper won a strengthened Conservative minority government, winning 143 seats, a gain of 16. The Liberal Party, which ruled Canada for most of the previous two decades, had its worst showing in more than 100 years with a mere 26.2 percent of the popular vote. The New Democrats, Canada’s left-of-center party, increased their standing in the 308-member House of Commons.
Canadians went back to sleep. They awoke seven weeks later to a series of surreal events that would bring Harper’s government to the brink of defeat and see the creation of an unlikely and precedent-breaking multi-party coalition that included Canada’s separatist party from Quebec, The Bloc Quebecoise. These dramatic developments accelerated the departure of the embattled Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion, and the appointment of a new Liberal leader the very next day.
Enter Michael Ignatieff: a world scholar, intellectual heavyweight, ex-journalist, acclaimed author of 16 books, and the former director of Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights.
Out of time and out of ammunition after cracks appeared in the coalition’s armor, the party needed a credible face to boost its fortunes and keep Stephen Harper on his toes.
The face-off between Ignatieff and Harper could come as soon as January 27 when the Conservatives are set to present their budget.
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