Ok, I'm not going to lie, I'm very interested in knowing more about Michael Ignatieff. I need to know more...yes, he's been out of the country for a considerable amount of time, but the gain from that time abroad has my eyes and ears open to learn more about the leader of the Liberal party...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/we-can-do-better-liberals-declare/article1273297/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ignatieff


"In The Rights Revolution, Ignatieff identifies three aspects of Canada's approach to human rights that give the country its distinctive culture: 1) On moral issues, Canadian law is secular and liberal, approximating European standards more closely than American ones; 2) Canadian political culture is socially democratic, and Canadians take it for granted that citizens have the right to free health care and public assistance; 3) Canadians place a particular emphasis on group rights, expressed in Quebec's language laws and in treaty agreements that recognize collective aboriginal rights. "Apart from New Zealand, no other country has given such recognition to the idea of group rights," he writes.[21]

Ignatieff states that despite its admirable commitment to equality and group rights, Canadian society still places an unjust burden on women and gays and lesbians, and he says it is still difficult for newcomers of non-British or French descent to form an enduring sense of citizenship. Ignatieff attributes this to the "patch-work quilt of distinctive societies," emphasizing that civic bonds will only be easier when the understanding of Canada as a multinational community is more widely shared."