Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Michael Grant Ignatieff
Honorific-suffix	PC, Ph.D.11 Honorary Doctorates
Office	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Primeminister	Stephen Harper
Term start	December 10, 2008
Term end	May 2, 2011
Predecessor	Stéphane Dion
Successor	Jack Layton
Office2	Leader of the Liberal Party
Term start2	Acting: December 10, 2008 – May 2, 2009May 2, 2009
Term end2	May 25, 2011
Predecessor2	Stéphane Dion
Successor2	Bob Rae (Acting)
Constituency mp3	Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Parliament3	Canadian
Term start3	February 6, 2006
Term end3	May 26, 2011
Predecessor3	Jean Augustine
Successor3	Bernard Trottier
Birth date	May 12, 1947
Birth place	Toronto, Ontario
Party	Liberal Party
Spouse	Susan Barrowclough (1977–1997)Zsuzsanna Zsohar (1999–present)
Residence	Toronto (private)
Alma mater	University of TorontoUniversity of OxfordHarvard UniversityKing's College, Cambridge
Profession	AuthorScreenwriterJournalistProfessorAcademic
Signature	Michael Ignatieff Signature.svg }}

Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has held senior academic posts at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Toronto.

While living in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 2000, Ignatieff became well-known as a television and radio broadcaster and as an editorial columnist for ''The Observer''. His documentary series ''Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism'' aired on BBC in 1993, and won a Canadian Gemini Award. His book of the same name, based on the series, won the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues and the University of Toronto's Lionel Gelber Prize. His memoir, ''The Russian Album'', won Canada's Governor General's Literary Award and the British Royal Society of Literature’s Heinemann Prize in 1988. His novel, ''Scar Tissue'', was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1994. In 2000, he delivered the Massey Lectures, entitled ''The Rights Revolution,'' which was released in print later that year.

In the 2006 federal election, Ignatieff was elected to the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke—Lakeshore. That same year, he ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party, ultimately losing to Stéphane Dion. He served as the party's deputy leader under Dion. After Dion's resignation in the wake of the 2008 election, Ignatieff served as interim leader from November 2008 until he was elected leader at the party's May 2009 convention. In the 2011 federal election, Ignatieff lost his own seat in the Liberal Party's worst showing in its history. Winning only 34 seats, the party placed a distant third behind the Conservatives and NDP, and thus lost its position as the Official Opposition. On May 3, 2011, Ignatieff announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party, pending the selection of an interim leader, which became effective May 25, 2011.

Following his electoral defeat, Ignatieff accepted a position as senior resident with the University of Toronto's Massey College, where he will teach courses in law and political science for the Munk School of Global Affairs and the School of Public Policy and Governance. The one year posting commences July 1, 2011.

Early life and education

Ignatieff was born on May 12, 1947 in Toronto, the elder son of Russian-born Canadian diplomat George Ignatieff and his Canadian-born wife, Jessie Alison (née Grant). Ignatieff's family moved abroad regularly in his early childhood as his father rose in the diplomatic ranks. George Ignatieff was a diplomat and chief of staff to the prime minister under Lester Bowles Pearson. He also worked for Pearson's leadership campaigns.

At the age of 11, Ignatieff was sent back to Toronto to attend Upper Canada College as a boarder in 1959. At UCC, Ignatieff was elected a school prefect as Head of Wedd's House, was the captain of the varsity soccer team, and served as editor-in-chief of the school's yearbook. As well, Ignatieff volunteered for the Liberal Party during the 1965 federal election by canvassing the York South riding. He resumed his work for the Liberal Party in 1968, as a national youth organizer and party delegate for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau party leadership campaign.

After high school, Ignatieff studied history at the University of Toronto's Trinity College (B.A., 1969). There, he met fellow student Bob Rae, from University College, who was a debating opponent and fourth-year roommate. After completing his undergraduate degree, Ignatieff took up his studies at the University of Oxford, where he studied under, and was influenced by, the famous liberal philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin, about whom he would later write. While an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, he was a part-time reporter for ''The Globe and Mail'' in 1964–65. In 1976, Ignatieff completed his Ph.D in History at Harvard University. He was granted a Cambridge M.A. by incorporation in 1978 on taking up a fellowship at King's College there.

Family

Ignatieff numbers many prominent Canadian and Russian historical figures from both sides of his family among his ancestors. His paternal grandfather was Count Pavel Ignatieff, the Russian Minister of Education during the First World War and son of Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev, an important Russian statesman and diplomat. His mother's grandfathers were George Monro Grant and Sir George Robert Parkin, and her younger brother was the Canadian Conservative political philosopher George Grant (1918–1988), author of ''Lament for a Nation''.

His great-aunt Alice Parkin Massey was the wife of Canada's first home-grown Governor General, Vincent Massey. He is also a descendant of William Lawson, the first President of the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Ignatieff is married to Hungarian-born Zsuzsanna M. Zsohar, and has two children, Theo and Sophie, from his first marriage to Londoner Susan Barrowclough. He also has a younger brother, Andrew, a community worker who assisted with Ignatieff's campaign.

Although he says he is not a "church guy", Ignatieff was raised Russian Orthodox and occasionally attends services with family. He describes himself as neither an atheist nor a 'believer'.

University professor, writer, broadcaster

Early career

Ignatieff was an assistant professor of history at the University of British Columbia from 1976 to 1978. In 1978 he moved to the United Kingdom, where he held a senior research fellowship at King's College, Cambridge until 1984. He then left Cambridge for London, where he began to focus on his career as a writer and journalist. His book ''The Russian Album'' documented a history of his family's experiences in nineteenth-century Russia (and subsequent exile), and won the 1987 Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction and the British Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Prize in Canada.

During this time, he traveled extensively. He also continued to lecture at universities in Europe and North America, and held teaching posts at Oxford, the University of London, the London School of Economics, the University of California and in France. While living in the United Kingdom, Ignatieff became well-known as a broadcaster on radio and television. His best-known television work has been ''Voices'' on Channel 4, the BBC 2 discussion programme ''Thinking Aloud'' and BBC 2's arts programme, ''The Late Show''. He was also an editorial columnist for ''The Observer'' from 1990 to 1993.

His documentary series ''Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism'' aired on BBC in 1993, winning a Canadian Gemini Award. He later adapted this series into a book, ''Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism'', detailing the dangers of ethnic nationalism in the post-Cold War period. This book won the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues and the University of Toronto's Lionel Gelber Prize. Ignatieff also wrote the novel, ''Scar Tissue'', which was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1994.

In 1998 he was on the first panel of the long-running BBC Radio discussion series ''In Our Time''. Around this time, his 1998 biography of Isaiah Berlin was shortlisted for both the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Non-Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Human rights policy

In 2000, Ignatieff accepted a position as the director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Ignatieff's influence on policy continued to grow, helping to prepare the report ''The Responsibility to Protect'' for the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. This report examined the role of international involvement in Kosovo and Rwanda, and advocated a framework for 'humanitarian' intervention in future humanitarian crises. He delivered the Massey Lectures in 2000, entitled ''The Rights Revolution,'' which was released in print later that year. He would eventually become a participant and panel leader at the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

2001 marked the September 11 attacks in the United States, renewing academic interest in issues of foreign policy and nation building. Ignatieff's text on Western interventionist policies and nation building, ''Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond,'' won the Orwell Prize for political non-fiction in 2001. As a journalist, Ignatieff observed that the United States had established "an empire lite, a global hegemony whose grace notes are free markets, human rights and democracy, enforced by the most awesome military power the world has ever known." This became the subject of his 2003 book ''Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan'', which argued that America had a responsibility to create a "humanitarian empire" through nation-building and, if necessary, military force. This would become a frequent topic in his lectures. At the Amnesty 2005 Lecture in Dublin, he offered evidence to show that "we wouldn't have international human rights without the leadership of the United States".

Ignatieff's interventionist approach led him to support the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. According to Ignatieff, the United States had a duty to expend itself unseating Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the interests of international security and human rights. Ignatieff initially accepted the argument of George W. Bush administration that containment through sanctions and threats would not prevent Hussein from selling weapons of mass destruction to international terrorists. Ignatieff wrongly believed that those weapons were still being developed in Iraq.

In 2004, he published ''The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror,'' a philosophical work analyzing human rights in the post-9/11 world. Ignatieff argued that there may be circumstances where indefinite detention or coercive interrogations may need to be used on terror suspects to combat terrorism. Democratic institutions would need to evolve to protect human rights, finding a way to keep these necessary evils from offending democracy as much as the evils they are meant to prevent. The book attracted considerable attention. It was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize, but also earned him some criticism. In 2005, he was criticized by his peers on the editorial board for the ''Index on Censorship'', where human rights advocate Conor Gearty said Ignatieff fell into a category of "hand-wringing, apologetic apologists for human-rights abuses". Ignatieff responded by resigning from the editorial board for the ''Index'', and has maintained that he supports a complete ban on torture.

By 2005, Ignatieff's writings on human rights and foreign affairs earned him the 37th rank on a list of most influential public intellectuals prepared by ''Prospect'' and ''Foreign Policy'' magazines.

Return to Canadian academia

Around 2005, Ignatieff became more frequently mentioned as a possible Liberal candidate for the next federal election, and rumors swirled about the beginnings of a political career. At this time, he left Harvard to become the Chancellor Jackman Professor in Human Rights Policy at the University of Toronto and a senior fellow of the university's Munk Centre for International Studies.

He continued to write about the subject of Iraq, reiterating his support, if not the method in which it was conducted. According to Ignatieff, "what Saddam Hussein had done to the Kurds and the Shia" in Iraq was sufficient justification for the invasion. His support for the war began to wane as time passed. "I supported an administration whose intentions I didn't trust," he averred, "believing that the consequences would repay the gamble. Now I realize that intentions do shape consequences." He eventually recanted his support for the war entirely. In a 2007 ''New York Times Magazine'' article, he wrote: "The unfolding catastrophe in Iraq has condemned the political judgment of a president, but it has also condemned the judgment of many others, myself included, who as commentators supported the invasion." Ignatieff partly interpreted what he now saw as his particular errors of judgment, by presenting them as typical of academics and intellectuals in general, whom he characterised as "generalizing and interpreting particular facts as instances of some big idea". In politics, by contrast, "Specifics matter more than generalities".

Writings

Michael Ignatieff is a historian, a fiction writer and public intellectual who has written several books on international relations and nation building. He has written seventeen books, and has been described by the British Arts Council as "an extraordinarily versatile writer," in both the style and the subjects he writes about. He has contributed articles to newspapers such as ''The Globe and Mail'' and ''The New York Times Magazine''. ''Maclean's'' named him among the "Top 10 Canadian Who's Who" in 1997 and one of the "50 Most Influential Canadians Shaping Society" in 2002. In 2003, Maclean's named him Canada's "Sexiest Cerebral Man."

Fictional works

His fictional works, ''Asya'', ''Scar Tissue'', and ''Charlie Johnson in the Flames'' cover, respectively, the life and travels of a Russian girl, the disintegration of one's mother due to neurological disease, and the haunting memories of a journalist in Kosovo. In all three works, however, one sees elements of the author's own life coming through. For instance, Ignatieff travelled to the Balkans and Kurdistan while working as a journalist, witnessing first hand the consequences of modern ethnic warfare.

Historian and biographer

A historian by training, he wrote ''A Just Measure of Pain,'' a history of prisons during the Industrial Revolution. His biography of Isaiah Berlin reveals the strong impression the celebrated philosopher made on Ignatieff. Philosophical writings by Ignatieff include ''The Needs of Strangers'' and ''The Rights Revolution.'' The latter work explores social welfare and community, and shows Berlin's influence on Ignatieff. These tie closely to Ignatieff's political writings on national self-determination and the imperatives of democratic self-government. Ignatieff has also written extensively on international affairs. His historical memoir, ''The Russian Album,'' traces his family's life in Russia and their troubles and subsequent emigration as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Canadian studies

In ''The Rights Revolution'', Ignatieff identifies three aspects of Canada's approach to human rights that give the country its distinctive culture: 1) On moral issues, Canadian law is secular and liberal, approximating European standards more closely than American ones; 2) Canadian political culture is social democratic, and Canadians take it for granted that citizens have the right to free health care and public assistance; 3) Canadians place a particular emphasis on group rights, expressed in Quebec's language laws and in treaty agreements that recognize collective aboriginal rights. "Apart from New Zealand, no other country has given such recognition to the idea of group rights," he writes.

Ignatieff states that despite its admirable commitment to equality and group rights, Canadian society still places an unjust burden on women and gays and lesbians, and he says it is still difficult for newcomers of non-British or French descent to form an enduring sense of citizenship. Ignatieff attributes this to the "patch-work quilt of distinctive societies," emphasizing that civic bonds will only be easier when the understanding of Canada as a multinational community is more widely shared.

International studies

Ignatieff has written extensively on international development, peacekeeping and the international responsibilities of Western nations. ''Blood and Belonging'', a 1993 work, explores the duality of nationalism, from Yugoslavia to Northern Ireland. It is the first of a trilogy of books that explore modern conflicts. ''The Warrior's Honour'', published in 1998, deals with ethnically motivated conflicts, including the conflicts in Afghanistan and Rwanda. The final book, ''Virtual War'', describes the problems of modern peacekeeping, with special reference to the NATO presence in Kosovo.

His 2003 book ''Empire Lite'' attracted considerable attention for suggesting that America, the world's last remaining superpower, should create a "humanitarian empire". This book continued his criticism of the limited-risk approach practiced by NATO in conflicts like the Kosovo War and the Rwandan Genocide. Ignatieff became an advocate for more active involvement and larger scale deployment of land forces by Western nations in future conflicts in the developing world. Ignatieff was originally a prominent supporter of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. However, Ignatieff attempts to distinguish the empire lite approach from neo-conservativism because the motives of the foreign engagement he advocates are essentially altruistic rather than self-serving.

Ignatieff's 2004 book ''The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror'', argued that Western democracies may have to resort to "lesser evils" like indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, assassinations, and pre-emptive wars in order to combat the greater evil of terrorism. The 'Lesser Evil' approach has been criticized by some prominent human rights advocates, like Conor Gearty, for incorporating a problematic form of moral language that can be used to legitimize forms of torture. But other human rights advocates, like Human Rights Watch's Kenneth Roth, have defended Ignatieff, saying his work "cannot fairly be equated with support for torture or 'torture lite'." In the context of this "lesser evil" analysis, Ignatieff has discussed whether or not liberal democracies should employ coercive interrogation and torture. Ignatieff has adamantly maintained that he supports a complete ban on torture. His definition of torture, according to his 2004 Op-ed in ''The New York Times'', does not include "forms of sleep deprivation that do not result in lasting harm to mental or physical health, together with disinformation and disorientation (like keeping prisoners in hoods)."

Political career

In 2004, three Liberal organizers, former Liberal candidate Alfred Apps, Ian Davey (son of Senator Keith Davey) and lawyer Daniel Brock, travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to convince Ignatieff to move back to Canada and run for the Canadian House of Commons, and to consider a possible bid for the Liberal leadership should Paul Martin retire. Rocco Rossi, who was at that time a key Liberal Party organizer, had previously mentioned to Davey that Davey's father had said that Ignatieff had "the makings of a prime minister". In January 2005, as a result of the efforts of Apps, Brock and Davey, press speculation that Ignatieff could be a star candidate for the Liberals in the next election, and possibly a candidate to eventually succeed Prime Minister Paul Martin, the leader of the governing Liberal Party of Canada.

After months of rumours and several denials, Ignatieff confirmed in November 2005 that he would run for a seat in the House of Commons in the winter 2006 election. It was announced that Ignatieff would seek the Liberal nomination in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore.

Some Ukrainian-Canadian members of the riding association objected to the nomination, citing a perceived anti-Ukrainian sentiment in ''Blood and Belonging'', where Ignatieff said: "I have reasons to take the Ukraine seriously indeed. But, to be honest, I'm having trouble. Ukrainian independence conjures up images of peasants in embroidered shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phony Cossacks in cloaks and boots..." Critics also questioned his commitment to Canada, pointing out that Ignatieff had lived outside of Canada for more than 30 years and had referred to himself as an American many times. When asked about it by Peter Newman in a ''Maclean's'' interview published on April 6, 2006, Ignatieff said: "Sometimes you want to increase your influence over your audience by appropriating their voice, but it was a mistake. Every single one of the students from 85 countries who took my courses at Harvard knew one thing about me: I was that funny Canadian." Two other candidates filed for the nomination but were disqualified (one, because he was not a member of the party and the second because he had failed to resign from his position on the riding association executive). Ignatieff went on to defeat the Conservative candidate by a margin of roughly 5,000 votes to win the seat.

Leadership bid

After the Liberal government was defeated in the January 2006 federal election, Paul Martin resigned the party leadership in March that same year. On April 7, 2006, Ignatieff announced his candidacy in the upcoming Liberal leadership race, joining several others who had already declared their candidacy.

Ignatieff received several high profile endorsements of his candidacy. His campaign was headed by Senator David Smith, who had been a Chrétien organizer, along with Ian Davey, Daniel Brock, Alfred Apps and Paul Lalonde, a Toronto lawyer and son of Marc Lalonde.

An impressive team of policy advisors was assembled, led by Toronto lawyer Brad Davis, and including Brock, fellow lawyers Mark Sakamoto, Sachin Aggarwal, Jason Rosychuck, Jon Penney, Nigel Marshman, Alex Mazer, Will Amos, and Alix Dostal, former Ignatieff student Jeff Anders, banker Clint Davis, economists Blair Stransky, Leslie Church and Ellis Westwood, and Liberal operatives Alexis Levine, Marc Gendron, Mike Pal, Julie Dzerowicz, Patrice Ryan, Taylor Owen and Jamie Macdonald.

Following the selection of delegates in the party's "Super Weekend" exercise on the last weekend of September, Ignatieff gained more support from delegates than other candidates with 30% voting for him.

In August 2006, Ignatieff said he was "not losing any sleep" over dozens of civilian deaths caused by Israel's attack on Qana during its military actions in Lebanon. Ignatieff recanted those words the following week. Then, on October 11, 2006, Ignatieff described the Qana attack as a war crime (committed by Israel). Susan Kadis, who had previously been Ignatieff's campaign co-chair, withdrew her support following the comment. Other Liberal leadership candidates have also criticized Ignatieff's comments. Ariela Cotler, a Jewish community leader and the wife of prominent Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, left the party following Ignatieff's comments. Ignatieff later qualified his statement, saying "Whether war crimes were committed in the attack on Qana is for international bodies to determine. That doesn't change the fact that Qana was a terrible tragedy."

On October 14, Ignatieff announced that he would visit Israel, to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and "learn first-hand their view of the situation". He noted that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel's own B'Tselem have stated that war crimes were committed in Qana, describing the suggestion as "a serious matter precisely because Israel has a record of compliance, concern and respect for the laws of war and human rights". Ignatieff added that he would not meet with Palestinian leaders who did not recognize Israel. However, the Jewish organization sponsoring the trip subsequently cancelled it, because of too much media attention.

Montreal Convention

At the leadership convention in Montreal, taking place at Palais des Congrès, Ignatieff entered as the apparent front-runner, having elected more delegates to the convention than any other contender. However, polls consistently showed he had weak second-ballot support, and those delegates not already tied to him would be unlikely to support him later.

On December 1, 2006, Michael Ignatieff led the leadership candidates on the first ballot, garnering 29% support. The subsequent ballots were cast the following day, and Ignatieff managed a small increase, to 31% on the second ballot, good enough to maintain his lead over Bob Rae, who had attracted 24% support, and Stéphane Dion, who garnered 20%. However, due to massive movement towards Stéphane Dion by delegates who supported Gerard Kennedy, Ignatieff dropped to second on the third ballot. Shortly before voting for the third ballot was completed, with the realization that there was a Dion-Kennedy pact, Ignatieff campaign co-chair Denis Coderre made an appeal to Bob Rae to join forces and prevent Dion from winning the Liberal Party leadership (on the basis that Stephane Dion's ardent federalism would alienate Quebecers), but Rae turned down the offer and opted to release his delegates. With the help of the Kennedy delegates, Dion jumped up to 37% support on the third ballot, in contrast to Ignatieff's 34% and Rae's 29%. Bob Rae was eliminated and the bulk of his delegates opted to vote for Dion rather than Ignatieff. In the fourth and final round of voting, Ignatieff took 2084 votes and lost the contest to Stéphane Dion, who won with 2,521 votes.

Ignatieff confirmed that he would run as the Liberal MP for Etobicoke—Lakeshore in the next federal election.

Deputy leadership

On December 18, 2006, new Liberal leader Stéphane Dion named Ignatieff his deputy leader, in line with Dion's plan to give high-ranking positions to each of his former leadership rivals.

During three by-elections held on September 18, 2007, the ''Halifax Chronicle-Herald'' reported that unidentified Dion supporters were accusing Ignatieff's supporters of undermining by-election efforts, with the goal of showing that Dion could not hold on to the party's Quebec base. Susan Delacourt of the ''Toronto Star'' described this as a recurring issue in the party with the leadership runner-up. ''The National Post'' referred to the affair as, "Discreet signs of a mutiny." Although Ignatieff called Dion to deny the allegations, the Globe and Mail cited the NDP's widening lead after the article's release, suggested that the report had a negative impact on the Liberals' morale. The Liberals were defeated in their former stronghold of Outremont. Since then, Ignatieff has urged the Liberals to put aside their differences, saying "united we win, divided we lose".

Interim leadership of the Liberal Party

Dion announced that he would schedule his departure as Liberal leader for the next party convention, after the Liberals lost seats and support in the 2008 federal election. Ignatieff held a news conference on November 13, 2008, to once again announce his candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

When the Liberals reached an accord with the other opposition parties to form a coalition and defeat the government, Ignatieff reluctantly endorsed it. He was reportedly uncomfortable with a coalition with the NDP and support from the Bloc Québécois, and has been described as one of the last Liberals to sign on. After the announcement to prorogue Parliament, delaying the non-confidence motion until January 2009, Dion announced his intention to stay on as leader until the party selected a new one.

Leadership contender Dominic LeBlanc dropped out and threw his support behind Ignatieff. On December 9, the other remaining opponent for the Liberal Party leadership, Bob Rae, withdrew from the race, leaving Ignatieff as the presumptive winner. On December 10, he was formally declared the interim leader in a caucus meeting, and his position was ratified at the May 2009 convention.

On February 19, 2009, during U.S. President Barack Obama's election visit to Ottawa to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which was the President's first foreign trip since taking office, Obama also met with Ignatieff as per parliamentary protocol where the leader of the opposition meets foreign dignitaries. Their discussion included climate change, Afghanistan and human rights. As director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard, Ignatieff became world-renowned as a human rights scholar and advisor to several world leaders.

Leadership

On May 2, 2009, Ignatieff was officially endorsed as the leader of the Liberal Party by 97% of delegates at the party convention in Vancouver. The vote was mostly a formality as the other candidates had stepped down.

On August 31, 2009, Ignatieff announced that the Liberal Party would withdraw support for the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. However, the NDP under Jack Layton abstained and the Conservatives survived the confidence motion. Ignatieff's attempt to force a September 2009 election was reported as a miscalculation, as polls showed that most Canadians did not want another election. Ignatieff's popularity as well as that of the Liberals dropped off considerably immediately afterwards.

On March 25, 2011, Ignatieff introduced a motion of non-confidence against the Harper government to attempt to force a May 2011 federal election after the government was found to be in Contempt of Parliament, the first such occurrence in Commonwealth history. The House of Commons passed the motion by 156-145.

The Liberals had considerable momentum when the writ was dropped, and Ignatieff successfully squeezed NDP leader Jack Layton out of media attention, by issuing challenges to Harper for one-on-one debates. In the first couple weeks of the campaign, Ignatieff kept his party in second place in the polls, and his personal ratings exceeded that of Layton for the first time. However opponents frequently criticized Ignatieff's perceived political opportunism, particularly during the leaders' debates when Layton criticized Ignatieff for having a poor attendance record for Commons votes saying “You know, most Canadians, if they don’t show up for work, they don’t get a promotion”. Ignatieff failed to defend himself against these charges, and the debates were said to be a turning point for his party's campaign. Near the end of the campaign, a late surge in support for Layton and the NDP relegated Ignatieff and the Liberals to third in the polls. }} On May 2, 2011, Ignatieff's Liberals lost 43 seats only winning 34 and thus slipped to third party status behind the NDP and the Conservatives, who gained a majority in Parliament. It was the worst result in the history of the Liberal Party, the worst result in Canadian history for an incumbent Official Opposition party, and the first time since Confederation the Liberals failed to finish first or second. Ignatieff himself was defeated by Conservative challenger Bernard Trottier, being the first incumbent Leader of the Official Opposition to lose his own seat since Sir John A. Macdonald's defeat in Kingston in 1878, as well as the first sitting Liberal leader since Mackenzie King lost his riding in the 1945 election. Reports suggested that Ignatieff had initially promised to move into a home inside his riding, but instead he resided in the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Yorkville, which rankled Etobicoke-Lakeshore residents and reinforced perceptions of Ignatieff’s political opportunism.

On May 3, 2011 Ignatieff announced his resignation as leader of the party pending the appointment of an interim leader. He is only the third non-interim Liberal leader not to serve as Prime Minister.

Notable political stances

International affairs

In October 2006, Ignatieff indicated that he personally would not support ballistic missile defence nor the weaponization of space. He referred to the likelihood of America developing a Missile Defense System in his book ''Virtual War'', but did not voice support for Canadian participation in such a scheme.

On June 3, 2008, and on March 30, 2009, Michael Ignatieff voted in support of ''non-binding'' motions in the House of Commons calling on the government to "allow conscientious objectors...to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations.....[(including Iraq war resisters)]...to...remain in Canada..." However on September 29, 2010, when those motions were proposed as a ''binding'' private member's bill from Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy, CTV News reported that Ignatieff "walked out during the vote." The bill then failed to pass this second reading vote by seven votes.

Extension of Canada's Afghanistan mission

Since his election to Parliament, Ignatieff has been one of the few opposition members supporting the minority Conservative government's commitment to Canadian military activity in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a vote in the House of Commons for May 17, 2006, on extending the Canadian Forces current deployment in Afghanistan until February 2009. During the debate, Ignatieff expressed his "unequivocal support for the troops in Afghanistan, for the mission, and also for the renewal of the mission." He argued that the Afghanistan mission tests the success of Canada's shift from "the peacekeeping paradigm to the peace-enforcement paradigm," the latter combining "military, reconstruction and humanitarian efforts together." The opposition Liberal caucus of 102 MPs was divided, with 24 MPs supporting the extension, 66 voting against, and 12 abstentions. Among Liberal leadership candidates, Ignatieff and Scott Brison voted for the extension. Ignatieff led the largest Liberal contingent of votes in favour, with at least five of his caucus supporters voting along with him to extend the mission. The vote was 149–145 for extending the military deployment. Following the vote, Harper shook Ignatieff's hand. In a subsequent campaign appearance, Ignatieff reiterated his view of the mission in Afghanistan. He stated: "the thing that Canadians have to understand about Afghanistan is that we are well past the era of Pearsonian peacekeeping."

Climate change policy

During the Liberal leadership race in 2006, Ignatieff advocated strong measures, including measures to address climate change. Following the 2008 election, he shifted his approach. In a speech to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce in February 2009, he said: "You've got to work with the grain of Canadians and not against them. I think we learned a lesson in the last election."

Forming of a potential coalition government

During the Spring 2011 federal election, Ignatieff clearly ruled out the formation of a coalition government with the NDP and Bloc parties. Contrary to the suggestion from the Conservative party that he was planning to form a government with the other opposition parties, Ignatieff issued a statement on March 26, 2011, stating that "[t]he party that wins the most seats on election day will form the government".

Honorary degrees

Ignatieff has received 11 Honorary Doctorates as of June 2009 including:

Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec in 1995 University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland (D.Univ) on June 28, 1996 Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario (LL.D) on October 25, 2001 University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario ( D.Litt) on October 26, 2001 University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick (D.Litt) in 2001 McGill University in Montreal, Quebec (D.Litt) on June 17, 2002 University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan (LL.D) on May 28, 2003 Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington (LL.D) in 2004 Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, USA (DHL) May 21, 2006

Bibliography

Screenplays

''Onegin'', 1999 (with Peter Ettedgui)

''1919'', 1985 (with Hugh Brody)

Drama

''Dialogue in the Dark'', for the BBC

Fiction

''Asya'', 1991

''Scar Tissue'', 1993

''Charlie Johnson in the Flames'', 2005

Non-fiction

''A Just Measure of Pain: Penitentiaries in the Industrial Revolution, 1780–1850'', 1978

(ed. with István Hont) ''Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment'', Cambridge University Press , 1983. ISBN 0-521-23397-6

''The Needs of Strangers'', 1984

''The Russian Album'', 1987

''Blood and Belonging: Journeys Into the New Nationalism'', 1994

''Warrior's Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience'', 1997

''Isaiah Berlin: A Life'', 1998

''Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond'', 2000

''The Rights Revolution'', Viking, 2000

''Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry'', Anansi Press Ltd, 2001

''Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan'', Minerva, 2003

''The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror'', Princeton University Press, 2004 (2003 Gifford Lectures; sample chapters)

''American Exceptionalism and Human Rights (ed.)'', Princeton University Press, 2005.

''True Patriot Love'', Penguin Group Canada, 2009.

Selected articles (2002–2007)

''Getting Iraq Wrong'', The New York Times Magazine, August 5, 2007.

''What I Would Do If I Were The Prime Minister.'' Maclean's, September 4, 2006.

''The Broken Contract'', The New York Times Magazine, September 25, 2005.

''Iranian Lessons'', The New York Times Magazine, July 17, 2005.

''Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread?'', The New York Times Magazine, June 26, 2005.

''The Uncommitted'', The New York Times Magazine, January 30, 2005.

''The Terrorist as Auteur'', The New York Times Magazine, November 14, 2004.

''Mirage in the Desert'', The New York Times Magazine, June 27, 2004.

''Could We Lose the War on Terror?: Lesser Evils'', (cover story), The New York Times Magazine, May 2, 2004.

''The Year of Living Dangerously'', The New York Times Magazine, March 14, 2004.

''Arms and the Inspector'', Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2004.

''Peace, Order and Good Government: A Foreign Policy Agenda for Canada'', OD Skelton Lecture, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, March 12, 2004.

''Why America Must Know Its Limits'', Financial Times, December 24, 2003.

''A Mess of Intervention. Peacekeeping. Pre-emption. Liberation. Revenge. When should we send in the Troops?'', The New York Times Magazine [cover story], September 7, 2003.

''I am Iraq'', The New York Times Magazine, March 31, 2003 [Reprinted in The Guardian and The National Post].

''American Empire: The Burden'', (cover story), The New York Times Magazine, January 5, 2003.

Acceptance Speech from the 2003 ''Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking''

''Mission Impossible?'', A Review of ''A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis'', by David Rieff (Simon and Schuster, 2002), Printed in The New York Review of Books, December 19, 2002.

''When a Bridge Is Not a Bridge'', New York Times Magazine, October 27, 2002.

''The Divided West'', The Financial Times, August 31, 2002.

''Nation Building Lite'', (cover story) The New York Times Magazine, July 28, 2002.

''The Rights Stuff'', New York Times of Books, June 13, 2002.

''No Exceptions?'', Legal Affairs, May/June 2002.

''Why Bush Must Send in His Troops'', The Guardian, April 19, 2002.

''Barbarians at the Gates?'', The New York Times Book Review, February 18, 2002.

''Is the Human Rights Era Ending?'', New York Times, February 5, 2002.

''Intervention and State Failure'', Dissent, Winter 2002.

''Kaboul-Sarajevo: Les nouvelles frontières de l'empire'', Seuil, 2002.

See also

List of Canadian Leaders of the Opposition

List of Canadian Leaders of the Opposition in the Senate

Official Opposition (Canada)

References

External links

Michael Ignatieff Biography from contemporarywriters.com

"Michael Grant Ignatieff" from The Canadian Encyclopedia

;Articles by Ignatieff (1997–2005)

The Meaning of Diana, ''Prospect Magazine'', October 23, 1997. A review of Diana Spencer.

Why Bush must send in his troops, ''The Guardian'', April 19, 2002. On why Ignatieff believes a two-state solution is the last chance for Middle East peace.

The Burden, ''The New York Times Magazine'', January 5, 2003. Written just prior to the Iraq war, this article explains his support for the invasion.

The Year of Living Dangerously, ''The New York Times Magazine'', March 14, 2004. A follow-up to ''The Burden'', discussing the war.

Lesser Evils, ''The New York Times Magazine'', May 2, 2004, An article on finding the balance between civil liberties and security.

A Generous Helping of Liberal Brains, ''The Globe and Mail'', March 4, 2005 (subscription). An excerpt from his address to the biennial policy conference of the Liberal Party.

Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread? , ''The New York Times Magazine'', June 26, 2005. Ignatieff On Spreading Democracy

Category:Academics of the London School of Economics Category:Academics of the University of London Category:Academics of the University of Oxford Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Canada Category:Canadian historians Category:Canadian novelists Category:Canadian philosophers Category:Canadian people of Russian descent Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian republicans Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Category:Governor General's Award winning non-fiction writers Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Harvard University faculty Category:Leaders of the Opposition (Canada) Category:Leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Massey Lecturers Category:Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Ontario Category:Russian nobility Category:Russian Orthodox Christians Category:Scholars of nationalism Category:Trinity College (Canada) alumni Category:University of British Columbia faculty Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Upper Canada College alumni Category:University of Toronto faculty Category:Gifford Lecturers Category:1947 births Category:Living people

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Coordinates	29°25′″N98°30′″N
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Peter Dunne
honorific-suffix	MP
Birth date	March 17, 1954
Birth place	Christchurch, New Zealand
Order	Minister of Revenue
Term start	17 October 2005
Primeminister	Helen ClarkJohn Key
Party	United Future New Zealand
order2	Leader of United Future
term start2	2002
deputy2	Judy Turner
predecessor2	''Position Established''
Constituency mp3	Ohariu(Previously Ohariu - Belmont)
Term start3	17 July 1984
Parliament3	New Zealand
Predecessor3	Hugh Templeton
Footnotes	}}

Peter Dunne (born 17 March 1954), a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament, leads the United Future political party. He has served as a Cabinet minister in governments dominated by the centre-left Labour Party as well as by the centre-right National Party. From 2005-2008 he held the posts of Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Health as a minister outside of Cabinet with the Labour-led government. After Labour suffered an election defeat in 2008 to the National Party, United Future was reduced to having Peter Dunne as its sole MP. However, in a deal between United Future and National, Dunne retained his two portfolios outside cabinet.

Early life and family

Peter Dunne was born in Christchurch. He gained an MA in political science from Canterbury University before studying business administration at Massey University. He worked for the Department of Trade and Industry from 1977 to 1978 and then for the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council until 1984. He served as Deputy Chief Executive of the Council from 1980 onwards. He and his wife have two sons.

Member of Parliament

Labour MP

In the 1984 elections, Dunne successfully stood for Parliament, winning the seat of Ohariu as a candidate of the Labour Party, defeating National MP Hugh Templeton. Bob Jones, leader of the New Zealand Party (not to be confused with New Zealand First) also stood in the seat, splitting the National vote, and ensuring a Labour victory in the seat. He held that seat in the 1987 elections, after which he became a Parliamentary Undersecretary. Later, in 1990, he became Minister of Regional Development, Associate Minister for the Environment, and Associate Minister of Justice. He retained his seat again in the 1990 elections, but the Labour government suffered defeat, and Dunne lost his ministerial posts.

In the 1993 elections, Dunne won the seat of Onslow, which covered much the same area as his former Ohariu seat. He found himself, however, increasingly at odds with the majority of the Labour Party Dunne tended to support Labour's right-leaning faction rather than the party's more unionist wing. With the departure of leading right-wingers like Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble and David Caygill he found himself isolated. In October 1994 Dunne resigned from the Labour Party, becoming an independent. A short time later, he established the Future New Zealand party (not to be confused with a later party of the same name).

United New Zealand Party

In 1995, however, a group of MPs from both Labour and National decided to band together and form a new centrist party. Dunne, who had already quit his party in a similar way, decided to join the larger group. Together, the defectors and Dunne established the United New Zealand party, with a total of seven MPs, led by Clive Matthewson. United eventually established a coalition with the National Party, with the deal seeing Dunne return to Cabinet as Minister of Internal Affairs and Inland Revenue. See

The 1996 elections, however, saw United almost completely wiped out Dunne, by virtue of his personal support, won the newly-formed seat of Ohariu-Belmont, but all other United MPs suffered defeat. As the sole surviving United member in the House, Dunne became the party's leader. Towards the end of the parliamentary term, Dunne became part of a varied assortment of minor parties and independents who kept the National Party government in office after its coalition with New Zealand First collapsed in August 1998. Dunne re-won his seat in the 1999 elections. In this contest, the National Party put up no candidate in his electorate.

United Future New Zealand Party

Shortly before the 2002 elections, Dunne's United merged with the Future New Zealand party (not to be confused with Dunne's own earlier party of the same name). Dunne remained leader of the new group, called United Future New Zealand. In the 2002 elections, Dunne retained his seat despite challenges from both major parties. Mostly as a result of a strong performance by Dunne in a televised political debate, United Future surged unexpectedly in support, winning 6.69% of the nationwide party vote. In Parliament, United Future came to an agreement to support the governing Labour Party, although the two parties did not enter into a formal coalition arrangement. Dunne remained United Future's leader.

United Future New Zealand working with Outdoor Recreation

United Future, like other minor political parties working in coalition, suffered in the polls. The United Future entered an agreement to work formally with the Outdoor Recreation Party, a registered political party formed to represent the views of hunters, fishers, trampers and recreational users of the marine and natural environment.

Dunne retained his seat in the 2005 general election but his party's proportion of the nationwide vote diminished considerably, with a corresponding loss of seats in Parliament.

Fifth Labour Government

On 17 October 2005 Dunne gave his support to a new Labour-led Government, with the support of Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party and Jim Anderton’s Progressive Party.

Dunne’s decision to support a Labour-led Government disappointed some. During the election campaign Dunne and National Leader Don Brash publicly sat outside an Epsom café over a cup of tea as a demonstration to the electorate that Dunne could co-operate with the National Party. This demonstration saw the majority of National supporters in Ohariu-Belmont combine with United Future and other Dunne-supporters to return Peter Dunne with a comfortable majority. National won the party vote in his seat by 3.57 percentage points over Labour. Dunne's party received 5.55% ,while the Green Party, which Dunne had criticised heavily in the campaign, received 5.84%.

Dunne's decision to work with Winston Peters also couterpointed Dunne's previous comments about Peters' reliability. In one well-publicised press release Dunne reworded one of Peters’ well-publicised campaign phrases by saying "Can we trust him? No, we can’t!"

Don Brash expressed a lack of amusement with Dunne's decision to support a Labour-led coalition government. Brash expressed astonishment at Dunne accepting the important ministerial portfolio of Revenue while remaining outside Cabinet. Asked if he considered Mr Dunne guilty of dirty dealing, Dr Brash said he would not use those words. Representatives of business, however, welcomed the appointment.

After the New Zealand general election, 2005, United Future retained only two list Members of Parliament, Judy Turner and Gordon Copeland. Copeland left the party in May 2007 to re-form the Future New Zealand Party, after opposing Dunne over Sue Bradford's private members bill against parental corporal punishment of children. After Copeland's departure, Judy Turner remained the only United Future List MP in Parliament.

Fifth National Government

United Future's share of the party vote declined further in the 2008 election, to less than one percent. However Dunne retained his electorate. The National Party won most seats overall and formed a minority government with support from Dunne, the Maori Party and Act New Zealand. Dunne retained his position of Minister of Revenue and also became an Associate Minister of Health. However, like Ministers from the other support parties, he remained outside Cabinet.

Peter Dunne attracted attention during this term due to his decision to "plank" on a live TV programme following the deaths of a number of young people doing it in contrast to his normally sensible image.

Political philosophy

Dunne sees himself as a centrist and generally describes his policies as based on moderate liberalism and common sense. His supporters promote him as sensible and reasonable. Opponents incline rather to criticise him as a right-wing conservative, pointing to his opposition to drug-law reform, his opposition to the Civil Union Act (although he did support the legislation giving legal recognition to the institution of civil unions), his support for the tobacco industry, and his party's emphasis on family values. His record in Parliament has also come under scrutiny; supporters regard his willingness to work with either side of the House as a sign of reasonableness, while critics accuse him of opportunism, and of doing deals with anyone who can offer him something.

Social views

Against this, however, Dunne consistently supported Sue Bradford's Child Discipline Act, despite aversion to other elements of the Greens' social reform agenda, like decriminalisation of marijuana. He also strongly supported the decriminalisation of homosexuality when it became an issue in the mid 1980s, and has consistently favoured more liberal drinking laws. In a 2008 interview, he suggested it may be time to review New Zealand's abortion laws and leave the decision to a woman and her doctor, based on informed consent.

Since 2007, Dunne has rebranded United Future as a modern centre party, based on promoting strong families and vibrant communities. He wants United Future to become New Zealand's version of Britain's Liberal Democrats. Dunne has summarised his political views in two books, ''Home is Where My Heart Is'' (2002) and ''In the Centre of Things'' (2005).

In 2010, Dunne, as Minister of Revenue he introduced the Taxation (Income-sharing Tax Credit) Bill to Parliament in September 2010, to give effect to UnitedFuture's policy of allowing couples raising dependent children up to the age of 18 years to share their incomes for tax purposes. The Bill was referred to a select committee and was reported back to Parliament in March 2011, and is currently awaiting its second reading. In April 2011, the government announced the establishment of a statutory Game Animal Council, another UnitedFuture initiative agreed to as part of the 2008 confidence and supply agreement.

Republicanism

Dunne strongly supports New Zealand becoming a republic, and holding an early referendum on the future of New Zealand's head of state is now part of United Future's policy programme. In 2004, he chaired the Constitutional Arrangements Committee. Dunne also supports the creation of a New Zealand Day and has sponsored a members' Bill on the issue.

Political works

References

External links

Profile at United Future party

|- |- |- |- |- |- |-

Category:1954 births Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:Massey University alumni Category:New Zealand Labour Party MPs Category:New Zealand political party leaders Category:New Zealand republicans Category:United Future MPs Category:United New Zealand MPs Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:Conservatism in New Zealand

Jonathan Greenblatt is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Ethos Water. Jonathan joined his friend Peter Thum to start Ethos Water. Ethos water's mission is to help children get clean water. Ethos was based on a simple premise: water for water. It would function as a super-premium brand of bottled water that would link consumption to cause by allowing consumers to engage in a collective effort to help communities in need get clean water.

Ethos Water was purchased by Starbucks in 2005. Starbucks has pledged to donate at least $.05 per bottle sold and at least $10 million overall to help children around the world get clean water. This commitment will be met because Ethos already is distributed in more than 5,000 Starbucks retail stores and other premium locations across the US but will increase its market presence dramatically in 2008 when Pepsico will initiate distribution of the product through broader retails channels. This brand already has invested in integrated and sustainable water programs in developing countries around the world, including Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Indonesia and Kenya.

After graduating from Tufts University, Greenblatt worked on the Clinton for President and Clinton-Gore campaigns before he was appointed to a position in the US Department of Commerce. He later served on a National Economic Council task force in the White House. Greenblatt left public service to join REALTOR.com in 1999. During his tenure at the company, Greenblatt rose through the ranks to serve as vice president and general manager of the Imaging division, leading the overhaul of its virtual tour business.

He formerly served as an advisor to the United Nations Foundation and has supported the creation and launch of the Global Water Challenge. He also serves as a senior advisor to the X-Prize Foundation. Greenblatt is also a regular contributor to Worldchanging.com. Greenblatt was a founding board member of the African Leadership Foundation, KaBOOM! and RESTORE Products. He is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and serves on the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University.

In April, 2008, Greenblatt announced that he has taken the position of CEO of GOOD Magazine.

References

External links

Ethos Water

Profile in Business Week, 3/22/06

Profile in Seattle Post Intelligencer, 3/8/06

Profile in New York Times, by Rob Walker, 2/26/06

Profile in Chicago Tribune, by John Schmeltzer, 11/19/06 (subscription required)

Category:American businesspeople Category:American political consultants Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)