Ignatieff - Fire and Ashes: Success and Failure in Politics

FIRE AND ASHES

FIRE AND ASHES

SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN POLITICS

MICHAEL IGNATIEFF

Harvard University Press

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON, ENGLAND
2013

Copyright Michael Ignatieff, 2013

All rights reserved

Jacket illustration: Thinkstock
Jacket design by Lisa Roberts

Published in Canada by Random House Canada

Text design by Andrew Roberts

First Harvard University Press edition, 2013

The Library of Congress has catalogued the print edition of this book as follows:

Ignatieff, Michael.

Fire and ashes : success and failure in politics / Michael Ignatieff.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-674-72599-7 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Ignatieff, Michael. 2. PoliticiansCanadaBiography. 3. Liberal Party of CanadaBiography. 4. Political cultureCanada. 5. CanadaPolitics and government1993- I. Title.

F1034.3.I48A3 2013

328.71'092dc23 2013021522

For Zsuzsanna, and in memory of Brad Davis, Michael Griesdorf and Mario Lagu

CONTENTS

You cant go anywhere in politics without a team who give their all for you. I got as far as I did thanks to a team who started as strangers and ended up as friends. If Ive forgotten any of you, please forgive me.

Alfred Apps, Dan Brock and Ian Davey brought me into politics. Senator David Smith and his irrepressible assistant, Jen Hartley, helped mobilize caucus support for my leadership campaign. Former prime ministers Paul Martin and Jean Chrtien gave me advice, some of which I should have heeded. Bill Graham led the party well throughout 2006. Marc Lalonde and Donald S. Macdonald, ministers in Pierre Trudeaus governments, offered me the benefit of their experience, as did Robert and Elinor Caplan and David and Penny Collenette. Adrian McDonald, Carolina Gallo and Nancy Coldham seemed to be at every venue, as were David Wright and Larry Herman. Sachin Aggarwal, Alexis Levine, Mark Sakamoto and Leslie Church formed the core of the team of lawyers and students who ran my leadership campaign; Milton Chan was one of the data monkeys and Tom Allison was an eminence grise. Beth Hirshfeld ran my canvassing team. Paula Viola tramped the streets with me before going off to law school. Marc Chalifoux was my personal assistant in 2006. Besides raising money, Elvio and Marlene DelZotto took me under their wing. Abe Schwartz marshalled the video team for the 2006 convention and became a good friend. Mary Kancer was my indefatigable constituency assistant in EtobicokeLakeshore; Armand Conant was my official agent; and Jamie Maloney was the president of my riding association. I can still hear his mother, Marion Maloney, fiercely urging me to get more women into my campaign. Kathy Kotris, Annetta Jewell, Natasha Bronfman, Jill Fairbrother, Marti Rowse and Connie Micaleff were the backbone of the EtobicokeLakeshore team. I shared the riding with Laurel Broten, member of Provincial Parliament. Jeff Kehoe flew me around southern Ontario through thunderstorms and late-night landings in tiny airstrips. Paul Zeds exuberant driving terrified me on the roads of New Brunswick. Steve Megannety was the sign guy who said to me: Give me my party back; Kevin Chan gave up a promising career in the Privy Council Office to write policy for me; Adam Goldenberg wrote speeches that I foolishly tried to improve. Peter Donolo served as my chief of staff and with Pat Sorbara, Heather Chiasson and Jean Marc Fournier led the team that ran my office from 2009 onward; Patrick Parisot brought his political and diplomatic experience to bear in the leaders office; Sarah Welch kept us running smoothly; Jeremy Broadhurst brought phlegmatic charm to the management of Commons business; Brian Bohunicky and Michael McNair helped me draft the platform for the 2011 election; Casey Antolak, Dan Langer, Dave Ritchie and Jim Pimblett kept me on the road; Gavin Menzies kept telling me, Youre living the dream. Marc Gendron, Gosia Radaczynska and Jordan Owens led our social media team. Richard Maksymetz, our western organizer, never did give up smoking; Matt Stickney never forgot to have a good time; and Mike OShaugnessy mastered duck-walking backward through a crowd.

Trevor Harrison, Christian Provenzano and Rheal Lewis staffed me as deputy leader and together we lived the crisis over the Chalk River nuclear facility in December 2007.

Josh Drache, Expie Casteura and Gerry Petit welcomed us home to Stornoway and made it a refuge for two and a half years. Jane Kennedy looked after Zsuzsanna and me with a tender heart. Scott McCord always knew how to find a way to get us where we had to go.

Ian McKay, executive director of the party, kept the show on the road through a difficult period.

Kevin Vickers, Sergeant at Arms, reminded me, whenever I forgot, that the House of Commons is a place of dignity; Speaker Peter Milliken defended the privileges of Parliament with courage. The director of the partys legislative operations in the House of Commons, Richard Wackid, loved the House too and lost a brave battle to Lou Gehrigs disease.

The members of Parliament and senators who served with me on the Liberal benches between 2006 and 2011 gave me a lesson in politics every Wednesday at caucus and every time we worked together in their constituencies across the country. I also want to thank all of the candidates who stood under my leadership in the 2011 election.

Olivier Duchesneau, Brigitte Legault, Robert Asselin, Paul Ryan, Marc-Andr Blanchard, Raymond Garneau, Jean-Marc Fournier and Lucienne Robillard did their best to make me understand the politics of Quebec, as Dwight Duncan, Don Guy and Aileen Carroll did in Ontario. No visit to London, Ontario, was possible without Mary Mclaughlin. Dalton McGuinty, premier of the province of Ontario, told me: There are only two questions worth asking in politics: are you ready to win, and are you prepared to lose? Premier Jean Charest of Quebec told me the essential word in politics is la prseverance, Monsieur Ignatieff, la prseverance. In Newfoundland, Paul Antle organized the team and let me rest on his downstairs couch; in Nova Scotia, Jim and Sharon Davis gave us an inspiring example of courage: Jims son Paul died in service in Afghanistan. In Saskatchewan, the Richardson and Merchant families were unfailing in their support. In Alberta, Grant Mitchell, Joan Bourassa and Daryl Fridhandler kept the flame alive; in British Columbia, Keith and Mary Jane Mitchell were always available to commiserate and Gordon and Kilby Gibson and their daughters were there to advise and inspire. David and Brenda McLean were both generous and welcoming. Jatinder and Rosie Rai were great guides to all the communities of BCs lower Mainland.

Michael Chong of the Conservatives, Peter Stoffer of the NDP and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Qubcois proved that civility across the aisle was possible in the House of Commons.

Andr Pratte of La Presse, Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star, John Ibbitson and Michael Valpy of the Globe and Mail and Craig Oliver of CTV showed that journalists can keep confidences and not betray you. Michael Levine tried to warn me of the dangers I was running, but I didnt listen.

Chris Bredt and Jamie Cameron showed up on the night of defeat, when everyone else had left, and kept us company. Kirsten Walgren and Rob Riemen gave us a break in Amsterdam when we needed it most, and Bernard Haitink and Simon Rattle provided sublime inspiration.

Bob Rae, my friend and rival through five years of political life, served loyally under my leadership and served the party well as interim leader.

Rob Prichard, John Fraser, David Naylor and Janice Gross Stein helped me find gainful employment afterward. David Ellwood, Iris Bohnet, Arthur Applbaum and many other colleagues welcomed me back to the Kennedy School.