Angry in the Great White North

Michael Ignatieff has to deal with a problem, and that is a sense of frustration among many Liberals that they never had a chance to cast a vote for a different choice as Liberal leader.

Michael Ignatieff himself acknowledges this, but points out it was all just a happy accident:

Defending the fact that he was acclaimed leader and did not have to face a contest, Ignatieff said, "I didn't choose this result."

Credit goes to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he said, who galvanized the Liberals in December when he got Parliament suspended temporarily.

The Liberals were caught in a situation where then-leader Stephane Dion had resigned but not stepped down, and had signed a coalition deal with the NDP and Bloc Quebecois. MPs Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc bowed out of a race with Ignatieff for the party leadership and the federal caucus acclaimed Ignatieff interim leader.

Here's how I remembered it.  The coalition is formed.  Stephen Harper prorogues parliament.  Stephane Dion is tossed as Liberal leader, no doubt with a push from Michael Ignatieff's people (certainly they did nothing to advance the idea that Stephane Dion ought to hold out until May as originally planned).  But what of the coalition? 

Bob Rae strongly supported the coalition.

Michael Ignatieff was known to be cool to the idea.

If after parliament resumed, the Liberals adhered to the coalition agreement (signed by both Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff), then there would be a need to install a new leader immediately to lead the coalition or lead the party in an election (depending on what the Governor General decided after the Conservatives were brought down by a post-prorogation confidence vote).

If that was the plan, then it made sense to put Bob Rae in the driver's seat.

If instead the decision was taken that the coalition represented too many risks for the Liberal Party, then the Conservatives would stay in power.  In that case, there would be no need for an immediate selection of a Liberal leader.  Stephane Dion could be replaced by a neutral interim leader (someone not in the leadership race -- John McCallum's name was bandied about at the time), and the leadership race could have been held as planned.

But instead, Michael Ignatieff was installed as de facto leader even though the coalition was essentially dead.

In other words, Michael Ignatieff and his people kept the coalition idea alive on life support ("a coalition if necessary but not necessarily a coalition") in order to scare the party into short-circuiting the leadership selection process.  I suspect that during Stephane Dion's disastrous run as leader, Michael Ignatieff's people were quietly lining up support (something Garth Turner alluded to when he talked about factions in the Liberal Party continuing to promote their agendas).  At this key moment, they pounced. 

There might be a coalition, and Michael Ignatieff has the most support within the party.  We have to be ready!

But of course, once Michael Ignatieff was in the driver's seat, he spiked the coalition, and so ensured he'd be leader for quite some time.  In opposition, sure, but it still counts.

Michael Ignatieff didn't choose this?  Go on.  Tell me another one.