On a November night in 2004, Liberal organizers Ian Davey, Daniel Brock and Alfred Apps travelled to Harvard to convince prominent Canadian academic and author Michael Ignatieff to run for the leadership of the Liberal party.
A year later, Ignatieff landed in Toronto and went directly to a nearby hotel for a nomination meeting. Months of speculation in the press culminated in his announcement in November, 2005 that he would run in the next election. Ignatieff was a star candidate, and won his seat convincingly in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding.
With the momentum of the election behind him, the following April he announced that he would run for the leadership of the party. Although Ignatieff had high-profile Liberal supporters and entered the convention as the favourite, he was unable to secure the leadership. Stephane Dion took the helm, and named Ignatieff deputy leader of the Official Opposition.
Entering politics meant leaving his long academic career. He received a history degree from the University of Toronto, his hometown. While in his fourth year there, he was a roommate and debating opponent of future Ontario premier Bob Rae.
Ignatieff went to Oxford and then Harvard to complete his PhD in history. He accepted a teaching position at the University of British Columbia, but would not remain in Canada for long.
He went to teach at Cambridge in 1978, and would stay in the United Kingdom for the next 22 years, working as a journalist and author. He returned to Harvard to teach in 2000, finally ending back where he started, in Toronto, in 2005.
By that time, he was already planning to enter politics, bringing expertise in human rights, security, and foreign affairs. He has been one of the few Liberal MPs to support the Canadian military deployment in Afghanistan, and backed the renewal of the mission.
Should the Liberals be elected in October, Ignatieff would be sure to have a place in Stephane Dion’s cabinet. But a win for Ignatieff in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding is anything but certain — recent polls suggest Mulroney-era MP Patrick Boyer could steal the seat.