This morning, I took in the news of the new minority Canadian government to be led by Stephen Harper.
When trying to explain the results to Laura, I realized how out of
Canadian politics I've been. At best, I could parrot what I read on the
CBC website and New York Times (!). One interesting wrinkle for me is the speculation that Michael Ignatieff might contend for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Years ago, while I was a student at the University of Toronto, I went
to a book reading of Michael Ignatieff's. He was just a rising young
star at that time. I had since followed his career, primarily reading his articles in The New York Review of Books.
The jump from young writer to Harvard professor to
Canadian-bigshot-returned-from-USA professor at the University of
Toronto to MP was startling to take in this morning. Read what the CBC writes:

Ignatieff has been called "the new Pierre Trudeau"
and was labelled the "thinking woman's crumpet" when he served as a BBC
commentator and arts program host in the 1990s. His decision to move
back to Canada in the summer of 2005 was greeted by breathless profiles
in national publications, with his future as leader of the Liberal
Party of Canada taken for granted. However, Ignatieff has rejected
suggestions that he was drafted to come home as part of "an anti-Martin
leadership campaign," adding: "I would not have taken part in such
activity."