If you are a Daily Show watcher--or that rare species of political junkie in the U.S. who follows Canadian politics--then you know that a parliamentary election has been scheduled here up north for January 23. (It's been dubbed the dog-sled election.) Well, the Liberal Party leaders just parachuted Michael Ignatieff, supporter of the Iraq War and redefiner of torture, into my district in Toronto as their "star" candidate. It was done in a brutal manner reminiscent of a one-party state, nominations were called on less than 24 hour notice and all other candidates were mysteriously disqualified in favour of someone who hasn't lived in Canada for 30 years, still hasn't moved here, and plans to return to Harvard if he loses the election. Why should D-Kos care? More after the fold....
Ignatieff is no ordinary candidate. He is being touted as an eventual candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Canadians are overwhelmingly opposed to the Iraq War, intensely dislike George Bush, and want no part of the North American defence shield (which Ignatieff favours). The danger here is that Ignatieff is running under the cover of a political party that has opposed Canadian involvement in Iraq and the defence shield and the Conservatives (who sympathise with Republicans) won't challenge on these issues--so Ignatieff's political positions on these issues are going to be blurred during the elections. The New Democratic Party (social-democratic) has yet to name a candidate and is not likely to do well in the riding (district). Strangely, it would benefit the NDP if the Conservative candidate were to win because it would weaken the Liberals and work in favour of a NDP-Liberal coalition government. (Having three major parties is fun, don't you miss Ross Perot just a tiny bit?)
I need your help. First of all, any useful material on Ignatieff would be appreciated (Index on Censorship, etc.) Secondly, please recommend this diary so that it can stay up for a day or two, enough time to collect this material. Canadian voters deserve to know who Ignatieff is.