By Lloyd Mackey

IN TODAY'S and next week's OttawaWatch, I want to provide some further analysis on the concept of centre-right power-sharing, consensus, collaboration, or whatever is the most appropriate term.

This week, the analysis is based on my observation of a public meeting, on May 14, between leaders of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), on one hand, and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

Next week, I will want to explore the historic centre-right arrangements that have prevailed for some 70 years in British Columbia, and what can be learned on the federal level from the BC experience. Since mentioning this last week, I have had some responses from people commenting on potential pitfalls for Christians interested in public policy posed by the recently re-elected Gordon Campbell government. My hope would be to take those concerns into account in looking at things from that 70-year perspective.

* * *

There is one caveat to note in talking about the Ottawa Ignatieff meeting. It is that Ignatieff's team asked for and received a commitment from the CCC leadership that there be no media coverage of Ignatieff's comments. It left me in a bit of a bind because I did not want to place CCC in a "breach of confidence" situation with the Liberals.

What I have chosen to do, today, is comment on some of the dynamics, as follows:

1. James Christie, the outgoing president of the CCC, made the point, in introducing "Dr. Ignatieff", that one of the reasons for wanting to meet with him was represented by the plans for next June's pre-G-8 Religious Leaders Summit (RLS). The implication was that the Liberal leader needed to be in the loop because he might be prime minister by then.
2. Linked to that prospect was the fact that the RLS will be held at the University of Winnipeg, whose president is former Chretien-era Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy.
3. As noted above, the Liberal leader was referred to, not once, but likely about 10 times, as "Dr. Ignatieff". And this was done in a context of presenting him to the crowd as an illustrious dignitary.
   I must say that Ignatieff, himself, behaved with a modesty for which he is not usually recognized. He began by commenting on the head-held microphone arrangement provided him, by suggesting it made him feel like Britney Spears.
   And, when an Orthodox priest presented his particular question to him, he prefaced it by a peace greeting in the language of the priest. It was a poignant moment as Ignatieff responded to the greeting, humbly, in the language in which it was offered.

Continue article >>

My general comment on Ignatieff's remarks and answers to questions was that he showed great agility. This was in some contrast to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose answers would reflect, more, an approach that would best be described as "stability."

I mean both those descriptives to be taken in the best and most honourable sense.

The fact is that, in public communication, the two men are studies in contrast. Ignatieff moves with great verbal agility, to establish common ground. He draws from a considerable range of philosophical considerations in dialoguing with those opposite him.

Harper will listen carefully or speak with great deliberation, shifting ground to those who have challenged him only after considerable time to reflect. His stability is a given and he only shifts position if he is satisfied with a new set of facts and is sure of his new ground.

* * *

It is my fond wish that Harper and Ignatieff could be collaborators, rather than competitors. They each have strengths to bring. Their political philosophies are similar enough. And one's agility complements the other's stability.

Not being a political scientist, I would not try to advise on how such a collaborative vision might come about. I am far enough along in my own pilgrimage that I feel quite in order to tell those "young fellas" (Ignatieff at 62 and Harper at 50) to get their act together.

Harper remains the person to drive the car. And Ignatieff has the makings of a fine navigator.

* * *

Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006), More Faithful Than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW Press, 1997). Lloyd can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.

May 21/2009