Ignatieff wants to stay on as leader
AJAX, Ont. — Michael Ignatieff says he wants to remain Liberal leader no matter what happens on May 2, but it will be up to the party whether he stays.
Mr. Ignatieff said he wants to stay and fight another federal election.
“The Liberal party is a democratic institution, it’s a fact. I want to stay. I want to continue. I want to win this election on the second of May but my faith is not just in my hands. Hey folks, it’s in the hands of millions of Canadian voters out there,” he told reporters and supporters outside Liberal candidate Mark Holland’s office in a strip mall in Ajax, Ont.
“After the election, we see where we are,” Mr. Ignatieff said.
When asked directly whether he would commit to remain Liberal leader and fight the next federal election as leader no matter what the result of Monday’s vote, Mr. Ignatieff replied: “Yes!”
Mr. Ignatieff was on his final push Sunday, making whistle-stops in ridings the party feels are under threat of falling to Conservative hands and in other ridings they hope to win back from the Tories.
In Ajax Pickering riding, Holland is facing a tough challenge by the Conservatives’ star candidate, Chris Alexander, Canada’s former ambassador to Afghanistan.
Earlier, Mr. Ignatieff planted trees at the Bob Hunter Memorial Park in Markham, Ont., Sunday morning with his candidate in Oak Ridges-Markham, Lui Temelkovski. Temelkovski lost his seat in 2008 by 545 votes to the Tories’ Paul Calandra. It’s a rematch on Monday.
Wearing a white T-shirt with the logo of 10,000 Trees, the organization devoted to planting enough trees to join two forests into one in the park, Mr. Ignatieff dug and planted white cedars and white pines with a few young children. While stomping down the earth around one tree, Mr. Ignatieff cautioned the children not to stomp on Mr. Temelkovski.
“Stomp on Calandra,” he said.
Later Sunday afternoon, Mr. Ignatieff will be in Liberal incumbent Rob Oliphant’s riding of Don Valley West and Thornhill, a riding the Liberals lost in 2008 to broadcaster Peter Kent. Then he is off to the riding of Vaughan, which the Liberals lost in a recent byelection to Conservative Julian Fantino, a former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner.
Ignatieff wants to stay on as leader | Election 2011 | National Post
AJAX, Ont. — Michael Ignatieff says he wants to remain Liberal leader no matter what happens on May 2, but it will be up to the party whether he stays.
Mr. Ignatieff said he wants to stay and fight another federal election.
“The Liberal party is a democratic institution, it’s a fact. I want to stay. I want to continue. I want to win this election on the second of May but my faith is not just in my hands. Hey folks, it’s in the hands of millions of Canadian voters out there,” he told reporters and supporters outside Liberal candidate Mark Holland’s office in a strip mall in Ajax, Ont.
“After the election, we see where we are,” Mr. Ignatieff said.
When asked directly whether he would commit to remain Liberal leader and fight the next federal election as leader no matter what the result of Monday’s vote, Mr. Ignatieff replied: “Yes!”
Mr. Ignatieff was on his final push Sunday, making whistle-stops in ridings the party feels are under threat of falling to Conservative hands and in other ridings they hope to win back from the Tories.
In Ajax Pickering riding, Holland is facing a tough challenge by the Conservatives’ star candidate, Chris Alexander, Canada’s former ambassador to Afghanistan.
Earlier, Mr. Ignatieff planted trees at the Bob Hunter Memorial Park in Markham, Ont., Sunday morning with his candidate in Oak Ridges-Markham, Lui Temelkovski. Temelkovski lost his seat in 2008 by 545 votes to the Tories’ Paul Calandra. It’s a rematch on Monday.
Wearing a white T-shirt with the logo of 10,000 Trees, the organization devoted to planting enough trees to join two forests into one in the park, Mr. Ignatieff dug and planted white cedars and white pines with a few young children. While stomping down the earth around one tree, Mr. Ignatieff cautioned the children not to stomp on Mr. Temelkovski.
“Stomp on Calandra,” he said.
Later Sunday afternoon, Mr. Ignatieff will be in Liberal incumbent Rob Oliphant’s riding of Don Valley West and Thornhill, a riding the Liberals lost in 2008 to broadcaster Peter Kent. Then he is off to the riding of Vaughan, which the Liberals lost in a recent byelection to Conservative Julian Fantino, a former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner.
Ignatieff wants to stay on as leader | Election 2011 | National Post
