Ignatieff's Canadianness

Written and framed to coincide with his official coronation as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in May 2009, True Patriot Love is a historical biography of Michael Ignatieff's maternal side of his family.

It is clear what Ignatieff hopes to achieve politically through this book, that Ignatieff his roots go as far back as John A. Macdonald -- deep enough to go as far as the reformers of the 1830s. I will give credit to Ignatieff, the book succeeds as much.

As a historical biography though, the book falls woefully short. In reading "True Patriot Love" one wonders why Ignatieff completely ignores the women of the Grants (Ignatieff's maternal family name) whom he presumes us to believe had no role whatsoever in the development of his family. If Ignatieff's choices of whom he focuses his attention on is a reflection on him, then Ignatieff wants to be seen as the stiff academic patriarch who prances around in privileged elite circles, the all-male Upper Canada College clique.

In my opinion, Ignatieff fundamentally misreads what it means to be Canadian in today's Canada. More than half of Canada's current citizenry came after World War II. What binds us as Canadians has less to do with the political and much more to do with the cultural. In other words, hockey is heck of a lot more important than the War in Afghanistan. Canadians could care less about an empty idea of Canadian nationalism and instead care more about a government that actually works, that can deliver the services that we need in a timely fashion.

I've read several of Ignatieff's books including "Russian Album" which were all outstanding. I'm very disappointed to say that "True Patriot Love" falls far short of my expectations of Ignatieff. ( )