I Still Support Michael Ignatieff

I Still Support Michael Ignatieff.

I must admit both Dion and Rae scored some major points against Ignatieff in the Montreal leadership debate yesterday. After reading the entire NY Times article that Bob Rae quoted, I really questioned my support for Ignatieff.

But a day later, after thinking about supporting Dion, I realised my original position about Ignatieff still holds.

Michael Ignatieff has written some pretty outrageous things. Not the type of things you would write if your were a politician. But he wasn't. And now he is.

Michael Ignatieff clearly is right of centre. That is usually OK because he wants to but out of provincial jurisdictions leaving provinces all the flexibility to be as socialist as they want.

But I didn't like his position on aboriginals yesterday. Aboriginals are under federal jurisdiction. "You can't throw money at the problem" he said and referred to some non-profit in Etobicoke. That I didn't like. If there is one thing aboriginals in Canada need, it is resources. They want land and rightly so. Most reservations are unsustainable and guarantee poverty. The transition from a rural to urban lifestyle for part of the population will be difficult and the federal government has a major role to play. And that takes money.

All in all though, Michael Ignatieff is still the best choice. Although some of his books and articles are thought provoking, yesterday he said loud and clear that he is againts torture. I still wouldn't put him in charge of CSIS, but I'm OK with him as PM.