The Conservative party bids a warm welcome to immigrants

This blog doesn't usually reprint Conservative talking points (because you only need to tune in to Parliament or a myriad of other places to find them), but I would like to draw your attention to the time, energy and scope of  the governing party's response to an ad today about Michael Ignatieff and his family. Somewhere in here, they may well be claiming that he was born in Kenya.  

Feel free to stop, have a coffee, go out and have life halfway through this screed, which seems to be dedicated to the idea that there are fake immigrants in Canada, and then ones that Conservatives like ("typical" immigrants). I leave you to figure out where the distinction lies. 

Michael Ignatieff: Child of immigrants?

Or, “How the other half aristocrats immigrate”

“My dad was a Russian immigrant. Came off a boat in 1928 without anything.” 

           --Michael Ignatieff, Liberal Party video, post on March 18, 2011

 

“There's an issue of principle here to make sure that refugee is individual and you're looking at a guy whose dad was a political refugee.”

--Michael Ignatieff, Interview, CTV News Channel, June 9, 2010

"The part of my family story that means most to me now is that they never complained, they never sat back and waxed nostalgic about the vanished glories, they rolled their sleeves up," Ignatieff said.

"They just adored this country from the minute they set foot on it. And their parents, who had lost everything, just pushed them forward. And I feel that kind of gentle hand pushing me forward, too."

--Shereen Dindar, “How Michael Ignatieff became Canadian,” National Post, January 2, 2009.[1]

 

FACT:  Michael Ignatieff’s father came to Canada at the age of 15.  His family had been living on a country estate in the UK for 11 years.  Ignatieff was sent to the prestigious Lower Canada College and later attended the University of Toronto before going to Oxford.

In public meetings, in television interviews, and in print, Michael Ignatieff tries to portray himself as a child of immigrants whose family experienced the same hardships  as other immigrant families when they immigrated to Canada.  But was “the immigrant experience” of the Ignatieff family anything like that of most immigrants to Canada?

 The Ignatieffs lived at the very pinnacle of Russian Tsarist society. Michael Ignatieff’s grandfather, Paul, had served as a Minister in the government of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his grandmother was born a hereditary Russian princess.  Ignatieff was given the court rank of “Count of the Russian Empire” a couple of generations earlier and every male descendant was granted the right in perpetuity to the same title, including Michael Ignatieff himself. The Ignatieffs were not at the rank of the Romanovs, the dynasty of the Tsars, but they were not lesser nobility, either. And, they had exercised real, political power in Tsarist Russia since helping turn Napoleon back, early in the 19^th century.

The Ignatieffs were not typical immigrants at the outset.

As the Bolshevik Revolution unfolded and the Ignatieffs fled Russia, they did not exactly leave penniless. As well as jewels and other valuables, the Ignatieffs departed Russia with assets already moved “off shore” from Russia to Britain and France. In 1919, Ignatieff’s grandfather, Paul Ignatieff, recovered some £25,000 sterling from the Midland Bank that had been on deposit to pay for an order of Egyptian cotton that had not been shipped.[2] The exchange rate was such (1 Canadian dollar = 4 shillings and 1.1 pence) that £25,000 sterling in 1919 was valued at more than $120,000. Exiles? Yes. But if they were refugees, they were refugees with considerable wealth.

To put that amount in perspective, the average annual income for a Canadian production worker in 1919 was $920 and for a Canadian office worker was $1497 (Source: Statistics Canada).[3] The cash the Ignatieffs had at their disposal was equal to the annual income of more than 130 Canadian production workers or more than 80 Canadian office workers. Also among the possessions the family took from Russia was a diamond setting necklace given them by a Sultan of Turkey who had made a practice of collecting the very best diamonds yielded by the diamond fields of South Africa.

According to The Russian Album (TRA), the assets of Michael Ignatieff’s grandparents were sufficient to purchase a Sussex country estate that included 80 acres of farmland, 170 acres of woodland, a dairy herd, a farm house and a large Victorian brick house known as “Beauchamps” (TRA, 150). Their sons were sent to St. Paul’s School (TRA, 151), one of the original nine English public schools for England’s elite, as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, originally located in the City of London. At the same time, while living in a Paris hotel, Ignatieff’s grandfather worked with the Russian Red Cross, attempting to support the efforts of the White Russians and dissident Russian communists who were attempting the overthrow of the Bolsheviks. Clearly, these were no ordinary refugees or immigrants.

In 1928, with the farm losing money, Ignatieff’s Uncle Dima sold it and—with the proceeds--moved the family  to Canada on the ship Montrose bound for Montreal. They did not arrive in Canada with “nothing.” (TRA, 159-160)

The family eventually settled on a rented farm north of Toronto. The school-age sons were sent to the private prep school, Lower Canada College. Ignatieff’s uncles were given first-rate university educations and pursued work in their respective professions.  An uncle was Deputy Minister of the federal Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. Another uncle headed the University of Toronto’s Hart House. Ignatieff’s father was a senior diplomat who later headed the University of Toronto’s Trinity College. Ignatieff’s mother’s family, the Grants, are an illustrious family of educators that includes principals of Queen’s University, and the philosopher, George Grant.

While the Ignatieffs have made the most of their coming to Canada in their respective fields, they have never ceased to enjoy great privilege, as a function of the financial and educational resources and social status they brought with them, and which are theirs to this day.  The Ignatieff immigrant experience is one of significant wealth, first-rate educations and privilege. Very few Canadian families can claim this “immigrant experience.”

 

 

 

Comments

[Chris]

I'm absolutely disgusted.

[Jen]

It's pretty low stuff.

That said, I'm pretty sure, from what I read, that Michael's father did go to LCC, which is in Montreal, and Michael went to UCC in Toronto.

[Terry]

Thanks for reprinting this. I've always had some questions about Ignatieff's past and this column answers a lot of them. I think when Michael tries to portray himself as an everyday Canadian, he comes across very badly. He would do better to just be himself rather than to try to be something he isn't.

[Mike G.]

There is a virtually infinite stock of Conservative "information" pieces that are misleading garbage and/or flat-out lies, but I don't think this is one of them.

It specifically quotes Ignatieff saying a few things that suggest one state of affairs, and argues against them, with citations. If every political press release took the form of this one I would be beside myself with pride in our political discourse.

Being the son of an early 20th c immigrant myself - and my family really did show up with nothing and work on a farm, from a part of the world not too far from Ignatieff's - I find his pretensions to my own family's history to be insulting and disrespectful.

Even if I had a different history, I hope I would be just as intolerant of being misled with regards to Ignatieff's past as I am of being misled about anything else a politican says. Not only does it assume an apathetic ignorance on the part of the public, but it suggests that misrepresentation isn't really that big of a deal.

I'd still rather have Ignatieff in the PMO than Harper, but it's a sad, sad choice to have to make. A dictator or a sycophant for the leader of your country. Vote early and vote often...

[Margaret]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/legacy/chap-4.asp#chap4-3

Ignatieff has a lot more class than Harper does. Incredibly a lot more class. Harper is desperate for a job and respectability - and has no clue about serving a country. Ignatieff learned it at his father's knee.

[Bob Bullard]

Not only will they be claiming he is Kenyan but also that he is black and a Muslim! Hey, maybe they even have a picture of him. Wow, that looks a lot like Obama? Go figure. Obama and Iggy really do have a family resemblance! Who would have guessed, eh! I mean, would the Conservatives really take a picture of Iggy at face value without digging into his heritage? Of course not. Why they even suspect Harper isn't really from earth but is an alien that loves wearing blue sweaters. A sophisticated alien that can lip sing and pass its appendages over a keyboard and sounds are heard. Harper is really like Edgar in Men in Black, except in a new Harper suit!

Man those Conservative voodoo doctors, witch doctors, spin doctors are working overtime and smoking some really good stuff to come up with this garbage!

[Nola]

The Ignatieff-Donolo youtube video is an open admission of the failure of Ignatieff's leadership of the Liberal party and as a Canadian political leader.

There can be no doubt in anybody's mind that Ignatieff-Donolo are in full panic mode now. Liberal candidates and party workers will not want to follow Ignatieff into a suicidal election, regardless of the issues.

Ignatieff is just not worthy to be PM of Canada yet or ever.

[Kate]

it was only a matter of time before for the busy little Harper jihadis would find their way to Palin Ignatieff.

The more contemptible they are found out the more ridiculous and desperate they become. Exactly like the Republicans in the US of A.

[PoliticalPundit]

More class and racist garbage coming out of Harper's New Right War Room!

Kenny, of Irish background, obviously knows nothing about Irish immigration to Canada and the violence that ensued.

[syncrodox]

Seriously?

[Dan Cummings]

It's not about what type of immigrants, it's about whether Ignatieff's family origins were played down. They lived on an estate or farm in England which they sold before coming to Canada, which was enjoying the Roaring 20s which had bypassed England due to post-war depression (we had a smaller, shorter post-war depression here which led to creation of CN Railway, among many other things). They didn't come here directly from Russia where their world had been turned upside down. George Ignatieff, who died too young, did lots of good for Canada and the world most particularly in 1950s and 1960s. No question. But no poor immigrant or refugee goes to the elite Lower Canada College then or now. He later went to Oxford via Rhodes Scholarship, so there's no question how that was paid for or achieved -- it takes head and shoulders academic smart to be a Rhodes Scholar. But do the Liberal ad's spin on the facts fit the facts? The article to which you refer, but for which you do not provide a source, says to me that the Ignatieff situation was not that of a desperate modern-day refugee, that threadbare arrivees today don't send their offspring to elite private schools. Iggy appears to protest too much, and you, even more... You haven't noted where they got facts wrong, so the point seems to be what?

[HaltonJenny]

Their own Citizenship and Immigration website tells a slightly different version. Or at least it does at the moment - who knows how long it will remain?

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/legacy/chap-4.asp#chap4-3

"In England, the neophyte émigrés operated a dairy farm. Young George attended St. Paul’s, a boarding school, until the sale of the farm forced the family to move once again. While his father tried to raise funds in Europe for Russian refugees, Mrs. Ignatieff set out in 1928 with George and his brother, Leonid, for Canada, where two other brothers of George’s, Nick and Jim, had already settled.

"Although there was barely enough money for basic necessities, George’s resourceful mother managed to squeeze enough out of the household budget to send her young son to Montreal’s exclusive Lower Canada College. The stock market crash of 1929, however, put an abrupt end to George’s private–school education. With the advent of the Great Depression, Ignatieff and the rest of his family united under one roof in Thornhill on the northern outskirts of Toronto."

[Cathy Payne]

It does give the impression that Jason Kenny must have signed those original immigration documents. It is hard to believe they have such intimate knowledge about things that happened before their own births. Glen Beck claims to have been at the Obama "moment of conception" too.

It would be a good use of tax payer's time if Conservatives used these laser people skills to get us on the Security Council. I bet they could create a bad story for every single member on that council. Then we could have blackmailed our way in. Or they could have used this skill to avoid all the bad staffing choices they have made. Staff background research done this thoroughly would surely mean the RCMP had less PMO visits.

[Parnel1123]

Harper continues to run the most disgusting government I have yet to see in my 67 years.

Lies, cheating, scandals, ignoring parliament, etc.

I am becoming ashamed of being a Canadian.

[Skinny Dipper]

Actually, quite a few of the new immigrants coming into Canada are wealthy enough to buy a nice home in the suburbs. They are similar to what was described about Mr. Ignatieff's family--the same people that the Conservatives are trying to attract with their new Canadian outreach campaign.

[jd]

Liberal, Tory, NDP.....When the Natural Governing Party (aka-Liberals) were in power for a prolonged period, they grew arrogant, fat, lazy & corrupt (see Sponsorship scandal). We (the Canadian voter) booted them out. Give them time to contemplate life in the real world as Her Majesty's loyal opposition. When the Conservatives grow arrogant, fat, lazy & corrupt we'll do the same to them. This is called democracy. It's messy, it's tedious, at times it's agonizingly frustrating, but it works. No one party has any moral high ground.

[Hello Toronto]

Iggy and his "story" is a fraud....... The only reason he came back to Canada is to add another line to his CV...If it wasn't for you folks in Toronto giving him a false hope of actually winning an election he'd have already resigned and headed back to Harvard.

[Maureen]

If what kind of immigrant class his family was is an issue for people, then we're in worse shape than I thought.

I guess that would mean all our ancestries are open for determination of the worthiness of us as children of immigrants.

Can we please have our politicians talk about real issues that are important to us? Like the economy? Retirement income security? Jobs? Health care?

[Mary]

So, there are fake immigrants and then the ones Conservatives like? I guess it's probably true that you don't normally print Conservative talking points, but it sounds like you just printed a Liberal talking point. I've read this twice now ... so Michael Ignatieff says his Dad was a refugee? Is that actually true? Seems to me the issue is whether or not Ignatieff told the truth. If he did not, then he should be exposed as a phony. If he did, then the Conservatives who sent out this material should just be laughed at and ignored. Outrage on either side is a bit much.

[david a. cooke]

They cheated on the election that brought them into power. Their cabinet ministers lie to parliament. Their top advisors cavort with escorts...and now they attack a man's deceased father. This is the party of family values? This is the Harper Government?

[hollinm]

Of course we obedient Canadians must recognize what a gift Michael Ignatieff is to Canada because of his heritage and upbringing. Thou shall not say a bad word about him because he is a Liberal.
The fact is it does not matter who Ignatieff's family is or was. He is running to be PM of the country and there is no indication he has managed anything in his life. The United States is experiencing it first hand. They elected somebody who was a lawyer but most of all a community organizer. He had no real leadership experience and simply could read teleprompter well. Ignatieff is of a similar vein. He can talk but has not demonstrated real leadership since taking over the party. Canadians have consistently said in polls that they don't have much confidence in Ignatieff. That will result in an electoral defeat and the Conservatives will again win a minority government at minimum in the coming election.

[Sara-Anne Peterson]

Is any of this the truth. I know the conservatives lie all the time. Maybe they have completely severed their link to reality like the tea baggers in the US. Well if all or even some of it is true, Roosevelt was an upper class guy and he did OK.

[bocanut]

Delacourt might want to re-channel Don Burroughs to ask him why the Grants won't have anything to do with the Count.

[Debbie]

hat is the source of the "Fact" story that you have posted Susan? You are alluding to it being from the Conservatives yet there is no link to the origin of this story. Perhaps I am missing something in your ramblings about the Ignatieff video and those that stated that Obama was born in Kenya, which BTW the Conservatives had nothing to do with even if you want to point your readers in that direction.

[Debbie]

Sorry that should have said What..

[J. Wilson]

The screed is not the factual critique of Ignatieff's contempible fibs and distortions. The screed actually precedes the critique. They are Delacourt's venomous own words and she in fact proves the exact opposite of what she claims. Just because a reporter works for the Toronto Star doesn't mean that you have to be a shill for the Liberal Party.

[Observant]

Dear Susan Delacourt:
As a professional journalist, could you please investigate these Conservative "facts" to determine if in fact they are false or correct?
You might start by asking Mr. Ignatieff if these "facts" are in any way valid, and whether he might want to revise his youtube video on the subject.
Can you please do that for us. Thank you.

[RJ65]

Ignatieff's vision is from the 1960's and has no place in a modern society. The Liberal Party has no vision and does not stand for anything. Until that changes, they will thankfuly never ever form a government for this greatest of nations!

[Phil]

So in Iggy's world the having only the the clothes on your back is equal to having more than the amount that 80 normal people earn in a year. Assuming the average wage is only 30 thousand, which is low, that would work out to about 2.5 million, all earned on the backs of peasants, perhaps slaves would be a better word, in Russia.

I guess if Iggy gets in power we will see poor humble immigrants from the Gadhafi and Mubarak families coming to Canada, with just the clothes on their backs and their millions in the bank.

[Alex]

Good job exposing Ignatieff and his misleading statements about his families experiences as an aristocratic privileged class. Now we know where Iggy gets his pretentiousness and willingness to say anything to win the support he hasn't been able to get even with his constant flip flops.

Too bad the Toronto Star doesn't do extensive research like these quoted talking points contain all the time. They even sound objective.

Susan you have gone up in my estimation now as a journalist that truly wants the truth exposed. Now we all know just what Iggy is.

[Winnie Frank]

The point of all this is that Ignatieff is playing down his family's wealth, they did have money and could afford to educate Iggy.... he's not up front about it in order to curry favour with today's immigrants.

Re: the comment "Is any of this the truth. I know the conservatives lie all the time." Well, I know the Liberals lie all the time so let's just write it correctly - "Is any of this the truth. I know the Liberals lie all the time. Maybe they have completely severed their link to reality like the Democrats in the US. "

[Canadian Voter]

If Count Ignatieff is not being honest about his past BEFORE being elected as Prime Minister of our country, how honest do you think he will be AFTER he's rock solid in Office?

Typical two-faced lying Lie-beral... now it's obvious why "they" picked him to be their "Uber-Lord". I wonder what corrupt scams he has already planned out with his minions, if ever elected?

Harper's not perfect, but at least Harper, although sometimes a bit too sure of himself, is not lying through his teeth every time he opens his mouth... and he handled the economic crisis pretty damn well, much better than Iggy the happy "Tax & Spend Liberal" would've.

End of story.

[Geoff]

Me thinks the public would be better served if Ms Delacourt would actually do some investigating instead of simply copying. No analysis by Ms Delacourt, except to case some doubt. How about doing some verifying and linking some facts together... do some, what's that called? Research...

[Errant Arron]

+1 Terry and +1 Skinny Dipper;

So what were you trying to say by bringing this up Su? That the Libs are all Liberal Arts students who need to take the time to actually read the document before releasing it?
Or that the conservatives arent' liberal arts students and seem to know how to research facts that can be found with any internet connection?

If so, Kudos Su, you have helped Steve and the gang.
If not, please go back to school and learn how to write an article. The standard format is;

intro - where you describe what you are going to say
body - where you prove, disprove, compare, contrast, or generally hold to fault whatever it was you brought up in your intro
conclusion - where you reiterate what you brought up in the intro, and what you expanded and expounded upon in the body.

I really hope that you didn't receive money for this. Pravda must have had a really slow news day to pay for this.

[Rita Moore]

I often wondered where the Liberals found this guy and why he would be trying to take over the helm of our country. Now it makes perfect sense. He's one of the Bilderbergers.

R.M.

[Joe in Woodstock]

The early Ignatieff family HISTORY clearly indicates an aversion to communism.

Until now of course, as Michael supports and promotes the Liberal Party "Ken Dryden Communist Day Care" plan.

[m-alta]

I give the Star credit. I did not think I would ever see you write this article.

[Jon]

I should have stood up when I read that, it seems to have gone over my head. Did you have a point to make? If so, what was it?

[Hellobirdy.blogspot.com]

Okay, that excellent, now what can you tell us about Obama's past?

Why is there so much mystery around the leftist leaders these days. Can they not find a candidate who is clean enough to win honestly as who they actually are?

[Lee Morrison]

The problem isn't that Iggy's family were aristocratic stuffed shirts or that he still is. You are what you are born. The problem is that, by trying to pass himself off as a descendant of poor Russian immigrants, Iggy exposes himself as a hypocrite and a liar. I wouldn't want to have a beer with him, and I sure as hell wouldn't want him for my prime minister.

[richfisher]

Run out of Russia on a rail when the citizens revolted.
He comes from a background of oppressive royalty elite who were born to rule you say.

Gee I never would have imagined.
Good thing only Liberals "appointed " him their leader.

[Rod]

You're right, Susan. We probably won't see many Conservative talking points on this blog, but we will see plenty of Liberal ones. Classy journalism to the end.

[Carter Hall]

Nope, the Red Star doesn't reprint Conservative talking points. It's all Liberal all the time. By the way if you're the "Toronto" Star why is your printing plant in Vaughan? Nothing to do with taxes right!

[Doug Kursk]

Say, Susan..

Did you try to hide your correction re: factual information and there actually being a Lower Canada College? Your original post has changed without even as much as a mea culpa.

Fortunately, Google Cache will forever store the original.

You were wrong, and so was your snark.

[ward]

Gee Susan looks like you got busted in your blind anti conservative hatred.

http://www.mc79hockey.com/

[chet]

A father's delicate relationship with his growing young son who would be naturally embarrased about public displays of affection: fair game (indeed subject to brutal savaging probably by the esteemed Ms. Delacourt herself)

Remember the father son hand shake savaging levied against Harper?????

Responding to a public political ad where Iggy distorted his background to create the misleading impression he was a child of a "huddled masses" immigrant family?

Shocking, shocking.

Today's corrupt leftist media: a magnifying glass on Harper, a blind eye (and wagon circling) for Iggy.

I wonder how much the TO Star's collective propaganda for Iggy would be worth if it had to be paid for in advertising - the clean honest way the CPC has to do it?

[Rick B]

Simple truth: Iggy is spining a story that isn't entirely true. He's been called on it. It's politics. These slurs against Mr. Harper for simply clarifying the actual facts of the matter (or most of them at least) for Canadians are kind of rich.

With the factual research that can be conducted in short order on the internet these days any politician who tries to pull off this sort of thing is the author of his own undoing. Mr. Ignatief'f needs to put things straight and rectify his error in judgement.

[Ann]

Once again, another Bul- Sh-- story from Ignatieff. No wonder the Americans had him labelled as a "social climber"
As far as Class goes. Mr. Harper outshines this piece of sh-- a hundred times over.
Iggy wants the job of Prime Minister in this country so he can show his American friends "how really important he has become". Go back to your "talk show host job Iggy" We have had enough of you and your garbage. PLEASE....call an election we we can kick your a-- out of our Country. "You do not fit in"

[Canuck 66]

Either Ignatieff's family came to Canada with nothing, as he says, or they were privileged royalists who fled the Bolsheviks, bringing much of their wealth with them. It's one or the other. Ignatieff seems to prefer the romanticized version of penniless immigrants coming to Canada under great hardship, etc. etc. If that is not the case, he should be ashamed of himself. But then again, he's a Liberal...

[Gary]

Harper continues to run the most disgusting government I have yet to see in my 67 years.
Lies, cheating, scandals, ignoring parliament, etc.
I am becoming ashamed of being a Canadian.

Bye Cathy...Dont let the door knob hit you in the ass on the way out.