The University of Ottawa was the final stop on Ignatieff's 11-campus tour of Canada, which ended today. Readers of this blog will perhaps recall that I was there at the beginning of the tour, in Halifax, which was only a week ago, but feels like a lifetime because of the Haiti earthquake that happened the next day.
The questions at today's event were far more student-centred than they were in Halifax, interestingly. (Any theories out there about why that would be the case?) There were far more questions about tuition, education and the environment in Ottawa; more questions in Halifax about news of the day, including the Afghan-detainee issue and prorogation of Parliament. Also, this reporter, who was around in the 1990s, found it a bit nostalgic to see Allan Rock, now the president of the University of Ottawa, introducing Ignatieff, while Peter Donolo sat discreetly in the back reaches of the room, taking it all in. (Donolo was literally lurking behind a large plant when I first saw him.)
Ignatieff, who has clearly enjoyed this tour and received lots of positive media coverage for it, was asked at today's scrum what he had learned on the campus tour. He had a quite expansive answer and I thought I'd just print it all out here, for the curious. The question was about what he'd learned about students and their priorities.
Getting a job when they get out. Having affordable post-secondary education. Not being burdened with student debt. And they're very concerned about climate change. They are stunned in the wake of Copenhagen that we've got a government that's done nothing about climate change. That was a universal, red theme throughout. What was very heartening is that they want to get involved. But they want to see that we've got something credible. They want to see a politician who's prepared to look them square in the eye and answer their questions directly. They want engagement. I think the challenge is for politicians like myself to respond. So I've done 11 of these and I hope I do 11 more whenever we can arrange it because it seems to me a good thing. But what was very heartening, very optimistic, very uplifting, were the crowds, the size, the enthusiasm, and if I can use a funny word, the sobriety, the seriousness of the questions that were asked. This is a generation that cares about its country and that was fantastically uplifting for me, as an experience.
As a coda, Ignatieff the politician felt he had to add:
Mr. Harper doesn't do anything like this. He doesn't sit in a room with unscripted questions, ever. One of the advantages of my position and my view of politics is that I'm willing to go anywhere and I've been rewarded by civility, seriousness and engagement by this generation. It's been fantastic.
Recent Comments