Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jan 2010
Source: Martlet (CN BC Edu)
Copyright: 2010 Martlet Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.martlet.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3140
Author: Chris Bordeleau

IGNATIEFF PROBED BY UVIC STUDENT BODY

There was standing room only in the Michelle Pujol Room on Jan. 15, 
as Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, fielded 
a series of increasingly difficult student questions about some of 
the hottest topics in Canadian politics today.

However, some students didn't quite receive the answer they were 
looking for - namely, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist and an activist for 
the legalization of marijuana, who were both told their ideas would 
not receive Liberal Party support.

When asked if he would convene a Canadian inquiry into the 9/11 
terrorist attacks, Ignatieff went into detail about his vision for a 
world in which "no 23-year-old thinks it's acceptable to blow up a 
plane and kill innocent civilians," referring to the Boxing Day 
bombing attempt aboard a Delta Airlines flight into Detroit.

When pressed to answer the question still, he responded: "No, I would 
not initiate an inquiry of that kind."

Another student welcomed Ignatieff to "the land of B.C. bud," and 
asked him if he would support legalizing marijuana. While he used 
this question as an opportunity to outline his support for 
Conservative policies of harm reduction, and other Liberal party 
policy goals for addressing addiction, he refused to publicly support 
the legalization of marijuana, whereupon he was booed by the 
questioner and a few other audience members.

He was also asked about his support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 
And while he went into greater detail about his reasoning for 
supporting the invasion he simply said: "I got it wrong, and I've said so."

In the last 10 minutes of the presentation, Ignatieff was asked about 
his decision to force the Liberal caucus to vote "yes" on the HST, 
despite public dissatisfaction with the bill.

"If I come out against the HST, then I have to go into the next 
election promising I'm going to abolish it for you; and then I'm 
doing false, populist politics that I detest," he said.

Despite the current Conservative government's best efforts to 
convince the public that Ignatieff is a poor, uncharismatic speaker, 
the speech drew both laughter and applause from the audience.

His Friday visit was part of the "Canada at 150" program, a series of 
conferences and discussions aimed at providing policy goals to 
improve Canada before its 150th anniversary in 2017. This particular 
tour, which took Ignatieff to nine campuses across Canada in five 
days before coming to UVic, is a lead-up to a conference in March.

Perhaps more importantly, it was a chance for students to see the 
Liberal leader face-to-face and get a sense of his stance on the 
various issues of importance to Canadians. It also provided a chance 
to hear Ignatieff's response to the numerous Conservative ads that 
have attacked his character.

"I am much reproached for having spent a certain amount of time 
outside the country; I've got nothing to apologize for," said 
Ignatieff, while outlining his vision for increasing Canada's 
participation in the international arena. "The killer for Canada is 
provincialism . and we've got to stand now and say we want to be the 
most international society in the world."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart