Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac helps Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff energize Yarmouth crowd
YARMOUTH, Nova Scotia – With the help of a Cape Breton fiddler, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff got a rise out of this small community in Atlantic Canada, urging them to replace the Conservative government with one that would show more respect.
The rally ended a day in which Ignatieff accused Harper of acting like a “king” by refusing to acknowledge that a minority government must work with other parties and make compromises on its policies.
“Mr. Harper, that’s why you lost power,” Ignatieff said. “You didn’t show respect to the Parliament of Canada. you didn’t work with other parties. That’s why we’re having an election… This guy doesn’t seem to be hearing what Canadians are saying here, which is: ‘Show some respect.’”
Ignatieff has been entering an exiting most of his rallies to the tune of a modified version of MacIssac’s Wing Stock. But this time he got the live version.
He reiterated several Liberal promises including a pledge to launch a new ferry service to replace one cancelled by the provincial NDP government, as well as his party’s plan to offer financial support to military veterans seeking a post-secondary education.
The Liberal leader was scheduled to head to Montreal Wednesday night for a day of campaigning in one of its stronghold regions, while tackling the NDP’s recent gain in the riding of Outremont.
His events Thursday were also to include an online discussion with young Canadians on the Facebook social networking site, as well as an appearance on the popular Quebec television French-language talk show, Tout le monde en parle, scheduled to air on the evening of Easter Sunday.
The Liberals are also buying 30 minutes of air time Sunday afternoon on the Global and City-TV networks to air segments of his town hall exchanges with citizens during the campaign.
Ignatieff said he expects family to gather this holiday weekend and discuss which direction they want the country to go.
“This is the time in that quiet way that Canadians do – they do it better than anyone else – to rise up,” he told the Yarmouth crowd.
“It’s time to change this government. It’s time to get this country back on the right path. It’s time to do something so that when we hand off, and our time is short, we hand off to these kids, it’s in better shape than we found it. It’s as simple as that.”
mdesouza@postmedia.com
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