What do you think of Ad about Ignatieff's family?

[gordiecanuk]

My view, a classy response to all the ads attacking the Liberal leader's "Canadianism"...Lot of Conservative bloggers ranting about it now, basically saying "Iggy's dad isn't that hot".

Go to youtube for the video here: Michael Ignatieff: My Family

[betsy]

My view, a classy response to all the ads attacking the Liberal leader's "Canadianism"...Lot of Conservative bloggers ranting about it now, basically saying "Iggy's dad isn't that hot".

Go to youtube for the video here: Michael Ignatieff: My Family

My view, a desperate response to what's obviously effective Conservative ads.

[Guest American Woman]

My view, a desperate response to what's obviously effective Conservative ads.

Ditto.

[Mr.Canada]

Typical touchy feely, flag burning, foreigner loving(at the expense of real Canadians) liberal crap.

[M.Dancer]

He wisely avoided showing his two wives

[Shakeyhands]

He wisely avoided showing his two wives

Please... what is so shocking about multiple marriages in this day and age? It happens, and it's no big deal.

[Shakeyhands]

My view, a desperate response to what's obviously effective Conservative ads.

Sorry, a desperate response to what now?

[Scotty]

Don't care. Don't care about the Tory ads either. Ads don't do much for me either way. To get my vote a party has to demonstrate it has a higher likelihood of providing reasonably competent, reasonably honest government than its competitors. Attractive, innovative, visionary, or at least clever policies I can support would be advantageous but are not necessary - or usually present.

By this standard, which I think many Canadians share, the Tories are presently out front.

[Guest American Woman]

I'm curious. Is his nickname really Iggy, or is that a derogative name he's sometimes referred to as?

[Shakeyhands]

Don't care. Don't care about the Tory ads either. Ads don't do much for me either way. To get my vote a party has to demonstrate it has a higher likelihood of providing reasonably competent, reasonably honest government than its competitors. Attractive, innovative, visionary, or at least clever policies I can support would be advantageous but are not necessary - or usually present.

By this standard, which I think many Canadians share, the Tories are presently out front.

So what you are saying is that you don't really follow politics or the news. ood to know.

[Shakeyhands]

I'm curious. Is his nickname really Iggy, or is that a derogative name he's sometimes referred to as?

Only by his detractors.

[kimmy]

I'm curious. Is his nickname really Iggy, or is that a derogative name he's sometimes referred to as?

"Iggy" is a commonly used nickname for the Liberal leader. Unless you're a critic of the Liberals, in which case "Iggy" is a derogatory attack which will get you reported and earn you a brief vacation from Charles.

It's a little complicated... but the short version is, spell the whole thing because a card-carrying Liberal on the forum has an itchy trigger finger for the report button.

-k

[nicky10013]

"Iggy" is a commonly used nickname for the Liberal leader. Unless you're a critic of the Liberals, in which case "Iggy" is a derogatory attack which will get you reported and earn you a brief vacation from Charles.

It's a little complicated... but the short version is, spell the whole thing because a card-carrying Liberal on the forum has an itchy trigger finger for the report button.

-k

Puh-lease, for all the times I've been tagged, it's clearly not just Liberals here who have a problem.

[nicky10013]

My view, a desperate response to what's obviously effective Conservative ads.

Really? To me, this is desperate.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GUJW1gUZWS4/TYSYv7jvFII/AAAAAAAACOQ/1lfvlU-yMJc/s1600/ChildOfImmigrants1.jpg

then there's this smear machine

http://www.ignatieffselection.com/

[kimmy]

Really? To me, this is desperate.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GUJW1gUZWS4/TYSYv7jvFII/AAAAAAAACOQ/1lfvlU-yMJc/s1600/ChildOfImmigrants1.jpg

Well, that looks pretty shocking, and I had to find out what the story behind that image was.

Having now read the article, I understand why you present the graphic out of context, Nicky.

Looking at the graphic on its own, one might get the impression that Ignatieff is being attacked for his Russian ancestry. In fact, he's being mocked for trying to present himself as a guy whose family lived a hardscrabble immigrant life, when they were actually an elite family who left Russia with loads of money and lived a privileged existence in the UK before coming to Canada.

-k

Edited March 19, 2011 by kimmy

[YEGmann]

What I do not like in liberals - they treat listneres or viewers as idiots.

"My dad came off the boat ... without anything." An ordinary immigrant. Step by step.

I am weeping.

His dad George arrived to Canada being a child. Being a son of a very wealthy man. Mr. Ignatieff's grandfather Paul was a millioner in Russia. Surprisingly, because he was a minister of education fired off his job by czar, bolsheviks did him no harm and he moved to the Western Europe in 1919. Since 1920 he lived in England with no financial problems. The family moved to Canada in early 1930-s definitely not escaping from tyranny. An ordinary immigrant, my god!

Edited March 21, 2011 by YEGmann

[nicky10013]

Well, that looks pretty shocking, and I had to find out what the story behind that image was.

Having now read the article, I understand why you present the graphic out of context, Nicky.

Looking at the graphic on its own, one might get the impression that Ignatieff is being attacked for his Russian ancestry. In fact, he's being mocked for trying to present himself as a guy whose family lived a hardscrabble immigrant life, when they were actually an elite family who left Russia with loads of money and lived a privileged existence in the UK before coming to Canada.

-k

Wow, the fact that you took the ad and believed it line for line from the Conservative smear machine says all that needs to be said about you.

If you read the actual history of his family from the Government of Canada, excuse me - Harper Government website, you'd realize they left Russia due to the revolution. When you leave a place because of a revolution it's not usually under good auspices.

From the government's own website.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/legacy/chap-4.asp#chap4-3

George Ignatieff: Peacemonger

George Ignatieff (1913–1989), one of Canada’s most celebrated diplomats and a man devoted to the cause of peace, was among the comparatively small number of Russian newcomers who landed on Canadian shores in the 1920s.

Ignatieff, whose father was a famous Russian aristocrat, was born in St. Petersburg on 16 December 1913. Within a few brief years, the Russian Revolution and civil war had put an end to his sheltered childhood and the wealth and privileges enjoyed by his family. His public–spirited and highly respected father, once an education minister under the Czar, was arrested and jailed in 1918 by the Bolsheviks, but then was miraculously released in time for the family to escape to England.

In England, the neophyte émigrés operated a dairy farm. Young George attended St. Paul’s, a boarding school, until the sale of the farm forced the family to move once again. While his father tried to raise funds in Europe for Russian refugees, Mrs. Ignatieff set out in 1928 with George and his brother, Leonid, for Canada, where two other brothers of George’s, Nick and Jim, had already settled.

Although there was barely enough money for basic necessities, George’s resourceful mother managed to squeeze enough out of the household budget to send her young son to Montreal’s exclusive Lower Canada College. The stock market crash of 1929, however, put an abrupt end to George’s private–school education. With the advent of the Great Depression, Ignatieff and the rest of his family united under one roof in Thornhill on the northern outskirts of Toronto.

After graduating from Toronto’s Jarvis Collegiate Institute, George Ignatieff enrolled at the University of Toronto as a student of political economy. This turned out to be a particularly fortunate move because at the university he was exposed to the innovative ideas and influence of Donald Creighton and Harold Innis, then the rising stars of Canadian political and economic history. From these two inspiring teachers Ignatieff gained, in his words, “an insight into both the unity and the diversity of the country, the need to balance its cohesive forces against its economic regionalism and the cultural duality of the founding races.”

Graduation from the University of Toronto was followed by a stint at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. George Ignatieff’s time at Oxford coincided with the Spanish Civil War and the growing militarization of the Axis powers. To make sure that he was not misinterpreting what he believed were the portents of another world war, Ignatieff travelled as often as he could in Italy and Germany. Some chilling discoveries awaited him, especially at Nürnberg. There he was appalled by the sight of a sea of storm troopers parading in front of the Führer.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, George Ignatieff enlisted in the British army. He was still in the army when, at the urging of Lester B. Pearson, then serving at the Canadian High Commission in London, he wrote the examination for the position of third secretary in Canada’s foreign service. His top standing in the exam landed him a post in Canada’s Department of External Affairs in 1940.

As a civil servant, George Ignatieff developed an expertise in East–West relations, particularly at the United Nations, where he served as Canadian Ambassador from 1966 to 1969 and as President of the Security Council from 1968 to 1969. He also served as Ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1956 to 1958 and as Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 1963 to 1966. During the 1950s and 1960s Ignatieff participated in highly charged negotiations involving most of the world’s hot spots—the Middle East, Suez, Korea, Czechoslovakia, Cyprus—and discussed disarmament with anybody who would listen to him.

After retiring from the Department of External Affairs, George Ignatieff served as Provost of Trinity College, University of Toronto, from 1972 to 1979 and as Chancellor of that university from 1980 to 1986. In addition to his work in higher education, he continued to champion the cause of disarmament, speaking frequently and eloquently on the subject.

So what you're saying is none of this is true? You're saying that fleeing a communist revolution is a bad thing?

Edited March 19, 2011 by nicky10013

[capricorn]

It seems to me family ties are not Ignatieff's strong suit. In his campus days he said this to his brother Andrew:

I want to make one thing absolutely clear to you. When we're at Aunt Helen's house or Aunt Charity's house [Charity Grant, their mother's sister], you can say whatever you want to me. But if you ever see me on the school grounds, you're not to talk to me. You're not to recognize that I'm your brother. You don't exist as far as I'm concerned. Do I make myself clear?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/being-michael-ignatieff/article841745/page4/

"You don't exist". A rather insensitive thing to say to your own brother.

[Shakeyhands]

It seems to me family ties are not Ignatieff's strong suit. In his campus days he said this to his brother Andrew:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/being-michael-ignatieff/article841745/page4/

"You don't exist". A rather insensitive thing to say to your own brother.

Wow... the Conservatives really are worried.

[nicky10013]

It seems to me family ties are not Ignatieff's strong suit. In his campus days he said this to his brother Andrew:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/being-michael-ignatieff/article841745/page4/

"You don't exist". A rather insensitive thing to say to your own brother.

Yeah, and as of 10 years ago, Mr. Harper was an Alberta seperatist who wanted a firewall around the province. Kind of insensitive to the other provinces he leads.

And at least that's on policy grounds. You're attacking him personally. Do conservatives know how to do anything else?

[kimmy]

So what you're saying is none of this is true? You're saying that fleeing a communist revolution is a bad thing?

Of course not. There's just a question of how much money they took with them when they fled. The claim that they were able to access substantial assets after they left Russia is cited to Ignatieff's own book, although I don't have a copy of that handy to verify it.

Regardless, presenting the graphic on its own makes the impression that Ignatieff's heritage was under attack, which I think you know is misleading.

-k

[Saipan]

they left Russia due to the revolution. When you leave a place because of a revolution it's not usually under good auspices.

Big deal, hundreds of thousands did. By themself. Ignatieff did NOTHING. His parents took care of it.

What is he trying to say??

[punked]

His Dad and Grandfather members of the Russian royal family did not come to Canada with nothing and pretending like they did makes the Liberal Leader look silly. They have a story and he should tell it but don't embellish about it. They had money his father went to Lower Canada Collage as a boy which is a private school which costs a lot of money to get into.

Micheal you aren't the everyman with the everyman story stop trying to be because the Conservatives are going to tear you apart if you define yourself this way.

Edited March 19, 2011 by punked

[capricorn]

Wow... the Conservatives really are worried.

Not worried in the least Shakey.

It's hypocritical of Ignatieff to put his pedigree on public display in an attempt to sell himself to Canadians. For the most part, family has been a hindrance to him.

He's tried everything from kissing babies, shaking hands and asking elderly women about the health of their bowels. None of that has worked.

“Little by little, people will get to know the Ignatieff I am, that I have always been.”

What a delightfully patrician way to put it: “the Ignatieff I am.” The Ignatieff I am prefers Bordeaux to Burgundy! The Ignatieff I am speaks in the third person! The Ignatieff I am admires the stylistic nuance of your ascot! You sometimes get the sense that Ignatieff isn’t just visiting Canada, as the Conservatives allege. He’s visiting Earth.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/08/09/its-trudeaumania-without-the-trudeau/

[Scotty]

So what you are saying is that you don't really follow politics or the news. ood to know.

No, what I'm saying is I follow important elements of politics, not the crap the dedicated followers spend so much time and energy over.