Life must be a bit bittersweet these days for Stephane Dion. As much as I’m sure he would have liked to have left the leadership of the Liberals under different circumstances, he did so with as much grace as could be mustered under the circumstances. Bob Rae also made a class act exit from the leadership race that cleared the way for the party to put Michael Ignatieff in as ‘interim’ leader. He’ll have to be confirmed at the convention which is still scheduled for May.

Two years ago I was strongly opposed to Ignatieff as leader. My main complaint at the time was that he had not been back in this country long and definitely had little political experience. I support his leadership now. It is clear that Ignatieff has engaged his well known learning and adaptability to have earned that support. I didn’t dislike Ignatieff two years ago, I had been aware of him for some time and had great respect for him as an intellect. I just didn’t think he was ready for political prime time.

So far, I like what I’m seeing. He is and will be a formidable adversary for Harper, one of the few who can intellectually match Harper. He’s less partisan than Harper and despite them both being seen as serious and aloof, Ignatieff can come across far more sincerely than Harper could think about and that’s without resort to sweater vests.

My first guess is that Harper is going to have a harder time getting the squeals of indignation out of Ignatieff that he was able to get out of other Liberals. I watched him being interviewed on Canada AM this morning and was pretty pleased with his tone and approach. When asked about the reports that Harper plans on appointing 18 Conservatives to the Senate to fill vacant seats, Ignatieff responded that he had noted how empty the Senate was at the time of the Throne Speech and that the seats needed to be filled.

When asked about Harper’s desire for a ‘reformed’ or elected Senate, Ignatieff replied that Harper hasn’t been real clear on what he wants for the Senate and certainly hasn’t consulted with the other parties since he is in a minority government. He then wryly pointed out that Harper need to learn to consult and that as leader of the Opposition, it was his job to remind him of that. Stated matter of factly and without the stridency that has so marked much of the Liberal statements the last couple of years. Almost a sense of …. gasp… maturity appearing on the hill.

Harper had the grace to call Ignatieff to congratulate him on the win and suggest they get together. Ignatieff indicated this morning that he’s open to that and it will be set up. He’s willing to listen to what the Prime Minister has to say. I suspect that Harper will be able to bring himself to respect Ignatieff which might help to balance the House enough to return some level of civility. Well, that might be a bit too much to hope for since Harper’s ‘people’ immediately engaged in their partisan attacks on Ignatieff and the Liberals in an effort to raise even more money.

They are characterizing the withdrawal of the two other candidates to clear the way for Ignatieff as undemocratic. Would that be right up there with getting the Governor General to prorogue Parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote that is going to be lost? How democratic is that? If Harper is at all serious about building some trust to make Parliament under his leadership work, he needs to muzzle his attack dogs and fast.

Ignatieff is right to take the stance that the Liberal-NDP coalition is viable as a tool to keep Harper’s feet to the fire but not the bee all and end all way to go. The NDP can stubbornly cling to the notion that they are going to bring down the government no matter what, they have nothing to lose in the future. The chances of Layton or any future NDP leader becoming Prime Minister is minimal. The Liberals on the other hand have to be more balanced in their approach as they are a party that wants to be voted back into government.

Ignatieff is right when he told his caucus that you can’t reject a budget that hasn’t even been written let alone read. Opposition has to be considered and balanced not knee-jerk.

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