Monday, September 21, 2009 12:08 PM
Coderre vs. Cauchon
Adam Radwanski
You can learn quite a bit about politicians by the company they keep, which is why it's always bothered me a little that Michael Ignatieff has cast his lot in Quebec with Denis Coderre.
It's one thing to have a guy like Coderre around to do your heavy organizational lifting, I guess, so long as you don't allow his style of politics - which is, in a word, boorish - to define you. But that's exactly what Ignatieff will be doing if he lets Coderre strong-arm Martin Cauchon out of the Liberals' nomination in Outremont.
On one side, you've got a former justice minister who was at the forefront of his party's socially liberal agenda earlier this decade, and who's taken time off from his law career to contribute thoughtful essays on the future of federalism. On the other, you've got a former immigration minister best remembered for the Shane Doan idiocy, who's managed to veer off-course even as an opposition critic.
If Ignatieff were to choose the latter to the exclusion of the former, it would say a great deal about what he looks for in people, and what he wants his party to look like.
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Update: At least he didn't keep us in suspense too long.
