Michael Ignatieff: A republican in liberal clothing.

For those Canadians who happen to read this, we know that the majority of the country is fed up with Harper. I am too. Harper is ruining Canada, something of which we are all aware. The knee-jerk reaction is to hope for an election soon, which may oust him once and for all. 

Look at the alternative though. The Liberals have done nothing to oppose Harper's tar sands agenda, are in favour of extending the Afghanistan mission past 2011 where it has been clear for years we are doing no good, killed the coalition government plan which would have created Canada's first majority government in years and finally removed Harper from power, the opposition to Canada's role as a peacekeeper, and their attitude toward civil liberties.

Michael Ignatieff, the Canadian-born leader of the Liberal Party who has spent most of his life outside of Canada, has a track record even more frightening than Harper. He has been quoted as saying "The [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule,"* and he believes American imperialism is "the last hope for democracy and stability alike." He has outlined his belief that torture is not only worth condoning, but necessary:  "Defeating terror requires violence… indefinite detention of subjects, coercive interrogations, targeted assassinations, even pre-emptive war."

Michael Ignatieff is a republican masquerading as a liberal. While Harper has been an awful leader thus far, we at least know his style. Better the devil you know. Michael Ignatieff is not to be trusted any more than Stephen Harper, and until the Liberal Party wakes up and sends him back to America where he and his political kind belong, the Liberal Party is not a viable political alternative. He is helping to push Canada more toward an American style political system, where the two major parties stand for essentially the same thing, with few significant differences. Ignatieff claims to oppose Harper, but the two are more alike than we think. 

*source: http://www.newint.org/columns/worldbeaters/2005/12/01/michael-ignatieff/