Ignatieff steps down as Liberal leader
Posted May 3, 2011 1:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Michael Ignatieff has announced that he will step down as Liberal leader after he and his party suffered devastating defeats in Monday’s federal election.
The Liberals were reduced to a record low number of seats as Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were vaulted to majority status in the House of Commons.
Ignatieff says he is a teacher and wants to return to the classroom.
“What I’d like to go back and do is teach young Canadians. I’m a teacher born and bred and I’m really looking forward to teaching. No offers yet, no reasonable offers refused, but that’s where I’ll go,” he said to the Toronto audience.
Under Ignatieff, the Liberal party that governed the country for much of the last century was reduced to just 34 seats, a distant third behind Jack Layton’s bounding New Democrats.
“I do want to remind you that this was a prime minister found in contempt of Parliament,” he said. “I think the surest guarantee for the future for the Liberal Party of Canada is four years of Conservative government and four years of NDP opposition.”
Ignatieff, who also lost his own seat in Toronto, says he will consult with party officials about the timing of his departure.
Under party rules, a leadership convention must be held within six months of the leader’s departure.
Meanwhile, the NDP and the Tories are coming off of big wins.
NDP Leader Jack Layton told a crowd at his news conference Tuesday that he’s looking forward to having some younger members sitting under the NDP banner.
“I think it was very exciting, and the fact that some of these young people have now been chosen, I think we should see that as something to celebrate,” Layton said.
Layton says he’s already spoken with Harper, and although there will be some issues ahead, he looks forward to working through them with the Conservatives.
The prime minister, meanwhile, appeared happy and relaxed as he spoke to a crowd at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Calgary Tuesday.
“We’re honoured and humbled by the mandate we received from Canadians last night,” Harper said. “Canadians expect us to continue to move forward in the same way, to be true to the platform we’ve run on and policies we’ve laid out before them.”
Prime Minister Harper added he’ll continue to focus on the economy and wants to sit down with the provinces to work out a new health accord to make the system more efficient and cost-effective.
