Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff is known for his charm, good looks and big ideas, Michael Valpy wrote in Saturday's Globe.
But he also admits to ruthlessness. He has hurt those who loved him most.
And after decades abroad, he now wants to become the leader of this country.
Mr. Valply spent months talking to Mr. Ignatieff's friends and family, fans and foes, as well as the candidate himself in order to write Being Michael Ignatieff, the first in The Globe's series of profiles of the Liberal leadership candidates.
Michael Valpy
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Mr. Valpy was our guest earlier today to take your questions about Mr. Ignatieff and the race to success Paul Martin.
The questions and answers can be found at the bottom of this page.
Mr. Valpy is a senior writer for The Globe and Mail.
He began his journalistic career on The Vancouver Sun and became that newspaper's associate editor and national political columnist. For The Globe and Mail, he has been a member of the editorial board, Ottawa political columnist, Africa correspondent, deputy managing editor and columnist on social and political issues.
He has produced public affairs documentaries for CBC Radio, written for Maclean's, Elm Street, Policy Options and Time (Canada) magazines, won three national newspaper awards, co-authored two books on Canada's Constitution -- The National Deal (1982) and To Match A Dream (1998) -- and one on Canada's emerging generation of adults (New Canada (2003). Trent University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1997.
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Jim Sheppard, Executive Editor, globeandmail.com: Michael, thanks very much for joining us today to take questions from the readers of globeandmail.com about your profile in Saturday's Globe of Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff. You've known Mr. Ignatieff for a long time and followed his career. So I guess I'd like to know first if — during the months you spent researching and writing this exhaustive profile — you learned anything that surprised you or that you did not expect. If so, what was it?
Michael Valpy: The most surprising thing didn't have to do with Michael Ignatieff directly. It is the extent to which the class system still exists in Britain. It came up over and over again in conversations with his friends in London, especially on the subject of his former wife — who was identified immediately by her British acquaintances, but never by her Canadian acquaintances, as working class — and on the subject of the 1984 coal miners' strike in Britain. I had thought class differences in Britain were melting away. It goes to show that, even in the global village, you've got to be actually on the ground some place to understand the culture.
Peter Morley, Vancouver: Hi Mr. Valpy. My question has to do with Ignatieff and Iraq. Nobody questions Ignatieff's intelligence or his knowledge of history and foreign policy theory. I believe he even did "on the ground" journalism during the Yugoslavian civil war — a somewhat analogous example of an ethnically polarized state held together by a strong-arm dictator. I understand also that an intellectually honest human rights advocate could become a bit disillusioned with the political correctness that only seems to justify intervention in retrospect. You mention in your article that Ignatieff supported the Iraq war but opposed Bush's prosecution of the war. What would he have done differently? Did he/does he firmly believe that his choice of methods would have led to a different result for Iraqis and for West/Middle East relations? Why? Would he divide Iraq into ethnic states as happened with Yugoslavia or try to keep it together? Why or why not? Most importantly, if he were prime minister in 2002, would he have sent Canadian troops to Iraq? Why or why not? Thanks very much!
Michael Valpy: Mr. Morley, there's no doubt in my mind that, as prime minister, Mr. Ignatieff would have supported the Iraqi invasion. He has been absolutely consistent over the past 20 years in developing a doctrine of military intervention in "failed states" for the protection of humans whose governments will not or cannot protect them.
His criticism of the Bush prosecution has been on the grounds cited for the invasion — the false information on weapons of mass destruction — and the Bush administration's failure to adequately anticipate the post-invasion problems.
