The “Liberal Express”
Posted Jul 22, 2010 03:27:44 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
That sign on the road may read “Election Ahead.” So says Dr. Rob Leone, professor of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University, when asked about Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s summer bus tour. While Leone isn’t convinced a fall election is a certainty, he calls Ignatieff’s current tour a “test run” for a campaign.
“This is a tour across the country much like he would be doing in a campaign,” Leone states. “So they’re going to get the kinks out throughout the summer and know what went well and what didn’t go well and fix that for a campaign.”
And Leone doesn’t see any real danger ahead for Ignatieff and the Liberal party by embarking on this summer tour.
“This is the summer, there are not a lot of people paying attention, so the chances of a significant problem arising are minimal,” Leone explains. “The spotlight will be on Michael Ignatieff when he’s the Liberal leader during an election campaign and that’s where he has to be more cautious.”
That said, Leone believes the bus tour has its benefits. “He (Michael Ignatieff) is still relatively unknown and his name recognition suffers,” Leone says. “Also, his leadership reputation numbers aren’t as high as they ought to be.”
Other than a Day One breakdown, the tour has been relatively uneventful for Ignatieff to date. “The only kind of people who are going to meet Michael Ignatieff this summer are the people who aren’t vacationing and are probably Liberal supporters anyway,” Leone speculates. He says that makes it hard to determine what impact the tour will ultimately have.
The “Liberal Express” arrives in our region on Monday with scheduled stops in Guelph, Cambridge and Kitchener.
