the Walnut Diary

The crowning of Michael Ignatieff gives the Liberal Party a unique opportunity to attract young Canadians, especially those at universities and those planning to attend.  Face it, the guy’s a world-renowned and respected academic.  Who wouldn’t want to be on his team?

Following Stephen Harper’s self-mutilation over the last two weeks, the CPC’s main competitive advantage is its bank account.  It’s time to refill the Liberal coffers to neutralize that edge.  Bob Rae had a good point about the need for grass roots support for a resurgent Federal Liberal Party in Canada.  The Achilles’ heel of the one member-one vote leadership campaign he proposed was the creation of instant Liberals to distort the vote.  I once joined the Conservative party just so that I could vote against Jim Flaherty in a leadership contest. Those new memberships might work very well as a fund raising strategy, though.

When Rick Mercer’s online petition to ask Stockwell Day to change his name  scored hundreds of thousands of signatures in a short time, it signalled that the Internet was here to stay as a force in Canadian politics.  Internet use has replaced pubbing as the time-waster of choice of this generation.  You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and websites attract active minds during their times of idleness.  These minds look for interesting, arresting ideas which they can’t find in the mainstream.

Ignatieff and company should be able to capitalize on this opportunity.  The Green Shift was a good idea sold badly.  Liberalism is a compelling idea which has captivated young minds since the days of Bertrand Russell.   My opinion of Ignatieff stems from his address to the Liberal National Convention back in 2005(?).  It was a terrific speech on what it is to be a liberal.

Who says Canadian federal politics has to be grimy and dull?  The mud wrestling of the last month has certainly drawn attention, but it shouldn’t be that hard to raise the level of discourse — if Ignatieff and team act quickly.

Another thing.  In Eastern Ontario where I live the ridings are traditionally safe Tory seats.  But this may have occurred because strong Liberal candidates haven’t made the commitment while out of power.  Kingston MP and Speaker Peter Miliken for twenty years has taken his duties to his constituency seriously.  His approach seems to be, “If there are five events to attend and you can’t get to all of them, go to four.”

If a Liberal candidate showed that kind of commitment in Leeds and Grenville, and even in Lanark, the outcome might be very different in a few years.

In the meantime, we geezers should get out our chequebooks…  Uh… I don’t use cheques any more.  Iggie:  how about an email address to which we can send online contributions?