Fellow blogger Steve Janke gets his opinion in the National Post:
Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj’s demotion to the backbenches is proving to be a big deal in the Ukrainian-Canadian community.
A lot of Ukrainian-Canadians are wondering just what Michael Ignatieff really thinks of them.
Vladimir Putin, Russia’s strongman prime minister, has not made it a secret that he thinks the Ukraine is part of Russia
Ignatieff has written at length about his Russian heritage, and ran into trouble over passages in one of his books that were criticized as dismissive of the Ukraine’s claim to statehood. A University of Calgary thesis on Ignatieff’s writings noted:
You don’t have to be paranoid to think that Ignatieff, the scion of Russian nobility, is depriving Ukrainians of a soapbox to criticize Russia. You just have to be Ukrainian, because that is exactly what a lot of Ukrainians are thinking.
I’ve been told, anecdotally, that Wrzesnewskyj’s banishment to the backbenches is a big deal in the Ukrainian community, much more so than it would normally be because of Ignatieff’s family background (which he can’t help) and the statements he’s made that seem to provide comfort to Russian neo-imperialists (which are entirely his fault).
The Liberal leader can claim to have revised his thinking. Again. Like he did on Israel (twice) and the coalition and Iraq and torture and, well, you get the idea. I suppose another revision can’t hurt at this point.
It’s a great article with lots of references that makes his case very solid. Unfortunately Steve’s getting hammered in the comments with a lot of petty name calling. You know what to do.