By the end of the year, Michael Ignatieff could very well be the prime minister of Canada. Alternatively, voters may feel we need an election like a hole in the head - as he once famously put it - and they may punish him for putting partisan interests ahead of economic recovery, as Stephen Harper is suggesting.
If we are now to have the election he thought unnecessary in June - which today appears likely though still not certain - one would hope that Mr. Ignatieff will not repeat one part of his speech to the Liberal caucus yesterday. "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian," he said, and slowly enunciated the names of individuals whom, in his view, the Harper government had failed to defend abroad: "Suaad Mohamud. Omar Khadr. Makhtal. Bahari. Mohamed. Abdelrazik" - leaving it to viewers to infer that the Conservatives were bigots in dealing with immigrants, visible minorities and Muslims, in particular.
Notably, Mr. Ignatieff left one name off his list that would belie that thesis - Ronald Smith, a Canadian who's on death row in Montana for murdering two aboriginal men. Aside from Mr. Smith being white and Alberta-born, the case stands in stark contrast to that of Mohamed Kohail, a young Montreal Muslim who's been convicted of murder in Saudi Arabia. For, whereas the Harper government for the longest time insisted that Mr. Smith should be dealt with by the U.S. justice system, which includes the possibility of capital punishment, it has been making every effort to spare Mr. Khohail from being beheaded.
It's one thing for a Toronto Star columnist to see a "pattern of discrimination" and for another to allege that the Muhammud case "smacks not just of prejudice but of apartheid." But Mr. Ignatieff has left the world of journalism, and now wants to be our prime minister. In campaigning for that job, he should eschew the kind of rhetoric that is not conducive to "peace, order and good government."
In the current issue of the New Yorker, Mr Ignatieff explains that his work as a journalist lay behind his decision to return to Canada:
"An absolutely seminal part of my rediscovery of my own country was the Balkan wars. Seeing countries tear themselves apart gave me a very heightened appreciation of the absolute necessity of our own experiment succeeding."
Notwithstanding that he is now in politics, Mr. Ignatieff should remember those words as he campaigns to lead our country.