I am starting to secretly wonder if Michael Ignatieff wasn't sent to sabatoge the Liberal leadership race. He's put himself in some very difficult positions. In the process he has made his opponents take sometimes difficult positions.... Or is he just up to no good?

As an example, Israeli "war crimes" probably would not have been a campaign issue were it not for Iggy's gaffe. Martha Hall Findlay points this out as well, saying "I think the very fact that leadership candidates are talking about this shows they’re thinking about the long-term interests of the party, rather than short-term partisan leadership advantage". (I'm not going to talk about how the Liberals are assuming they're going to form government - before they've even chosen a leader... or the fact that the only woman running for the leadership has been relegated to Official Party Nanny).

Now the Ignatieff wrecking-ball has come through Quebec. Iggy's latest faux paux was supporting re-opening the Constitution to recognize Quebec as a distinct Nation in the country of Canada.

All the other leadership contenders, not wanting to open that can of worms quite yet, have a plan:

Martha Hall Findlay, the lone woman in the race, is floating the idea that all eight candidates should issue a joint statement making it clear that they agree Quebec constitutes a nation within Canada, but that "now is not the time" to reopen the Constitution.

It's a nasty quagmire for the Liberal party as a whole... except for Iggy. He's the only one who's in the clear on this - and every other controvertial issue he's raised.

This is where my theory comes in. Sometimes, Iggys history really bothers me. His fly-in nomination to the House of Parliament, and his rookie-jump into the leadership fight strike me the most. But it also conjurs a paranoia in me, which makes me wonder if he's not an agent of the USA, sent to infiltrate Canada's longstanding Liberal Party government.

Or else, just possibly, Ignatieff is trying to corner every extreme of the Liberal party. The jew-haters know who their man is; Iggy's supported every war on the planet, except where Isreal has defended itself. Seperatists also know where Iggy stands, with or without a joint statement.

Labels: Israel, Michael Ignatieff