Goodbye Michael Ignatieff and sadly, Borys Wrzesnewskyj

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Like it or not, the Conservatives reached their majority last night while the Liberals got their worst government in their history (since Confederation): 3rd place behind the NDP. With that, Michael Ignatieff announced today he has stepped down as leader of the Liberal party, after losing his Etobicoke-Lakeshore seat he was parachuted into back in 2006 (a very strong Liberal riding for many years).

Ignatieff was certainly no friend to the Ukrainian Canadian community, denouncing Ukrainian nationalism and labelling it anti-semitic in his book Blood and Belonging. He has never really renounced these passages.

From the BBC documentary adapted from his book ‘Blood and Belonging’

 

images[1]Sadly Etobicoke-Centre MP also Borys Wrzesnewskyj lost his seatto the Conservatives by only a mere 26 votes, and a recount will be under way. When Ignatieff became the Liberal leader in 2009, he sacked Borys from his shadow cabinet only to promote him back months later amid his sagging popularity. Borys was a champion for Ukrainian and Eastern European causes on Parliament Hill, and was instrumental in Canada passing a law recognizing the Holodomor as genocide. His service will be sorely missed from the community, thank you for all your hard work!