The Martlet

Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff visited UVic on Jan. 15 to encourage “young citizens” to check off a name — any name — on the next election ballot. But did he succeed?

He did make some brief inroads in communicating with our demographic.

He admitted he was wrong to support the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The acknowledgement that he garnered some wisdom from his failure suggests Ignatieff took a peek at Obama’s “How to speak to 20-somethings” notes — a university crowd does appreciate a tragic hero, after all.

But the ink must have been smudged at the part about instilling in our generation a passion for change, because Ignatieff’s words sounded hollow.

Ignatieff mentioned climate change, education, a changing economy, the markets of the future, an aging population and, of course, voter apathy.

“I’m not going to give you a big lecture about this, but it’s your country and it really will go to hell if you don’t show up,” he said.

But he only gave the above topics short introductions that left the full house of eager listeners wondering when the serious substance was coming. A prosperous economy sounds great, but how can it be done — education from the cradle to the grave? Wonderful! But who will pay for it?

Perhaps he thought no tie and an open collar would suffice instead of concrete policy objectives. Just get out and vote, apparently, is all we needed to be told.

Fortunately, question period brought some relief and pinned Ignatieff down. A couple of times he was forced to drop the political double-speak, and answer bluntly (which, to his credit, he did).

We learned that Ignatieff is not interested in tuition freezes or tuition cuts, but he would like to see a national commitment to education. Those getting educated are gaining the benefits of that education, and its only fair they take on the cost. One can only assume the accumulated debt will help us build character.

We also learned he will not legalize cannabis. He does support harm reduction, but marijuana leads people astray. Maybe not a make-or-break issue, but an open mind can be invigorating. Ignatieff’s mind is made up on this topic.

Ignatieff’s also into the HST. He was shot at in Bosnia. And he will not be initiating an investigation into the role the U.S. government had in planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That about rounded out the question period, which, despite Ignatieff showing up 30 minutes late, ended with long line-ups at each mic. Oh well, better late than never.

But if you paid attention, you got the sense that, like most politicians these days, it’s difficult to know what his policies will look like until he enters a policy-making role.

This is the trend in Canadian politics. All the talk about climate change by our current government has amounted to nothing more than an unsuccessful trip to Copenhagen. And, here in B.C., Gordon Campbell’s election platform contained little to no discussion about implementing the HST. But, a few months after his victory, we receive the word our future is harmony. If the popular attitude towards politics among students is apathetic, perhaps it stems from this ambiguity.

“I’ve got to give you something worth believing in,” Ignatieff said. “I’ve got to give you a program that actually addresses your concerns that you have as young citizens.”

And he’s right. Unfortunately, this is a song and dance we’ve all heard before. Whether or not he’s capable of creating enthusiasm and participation in our democratic institutions, only the next election will tell.

But more telling will be whether the next government — any government — will actually consider their election promises important to honour. Now, that would get our attention.