It won't be Ignazieff or Harper.
Harper still has to face the contempt he was found guilty of.
If you've been found guilty of contempt of parliament you simply can't hold the office. It says so right in the Election Act but lets not stray away from the reason we are voting.
Oh wait. Being found guilty of contempt IS the reason for the election.
This blogger seems to disagree:
Yes, Stephen Harper can run for office. Sheesh.
- Stephen Harper wasn’t “found guilty” of anything. The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs found (PDF) that the government was in contempt of Parliament, in a report where neither Harper’s name nor the phrase “Prime Minister” appears even once. The House of Commons then voted on a non-confidence motion and the government was defeated.
- Contempt of Parliament isn’t an election-related crime. (It isn’t a crime at all.) You won’t find it anywhere in the Canada Elections Act or the Criminal Code. (You can, however, find a reference in House of Commons Procedure and Practice, which makes it clear that any misconduct can be deemed to be contempt and that it’s up to the House of Commons to decide how to punish it.)
- The Canada Elections Act is actually very specific about which offenses bar someone from office. They range from publishing a false statement of withdrawal of candidate to trying to vote more than once… but they don’t include contempt of Parliament.