Ignatieff 'remarkable individual:' Easter
P.E.I. MP Wayne Easter expressed his sadness Tuesday that Canadians never got to know the Michael Ignatieff that he knows.
Easter, one of three Liberal MPs elected on the Island Monday night, said Ignatieff was a victim of a relentless negative advertising campaign by the Conservatives.
"[I'm] a little bit saddened because I do think Michael Ignatieff was a remarkable individual who probably would have made one of the best prime minister's this country would have ever seen," said Easter.
"But he didn't get a fair shake, as he said in his own press conference. The negative ads, $20 million and 6,000 ads over two years on his person and his character, did their job. And so Canadians never really got to know the Michael Ignatieff that I know. And now we're left with the most right-wing government that this country has ever seen."
The Liberal party was decimated Monday, returning just 34 MPs. Ignatieff resigned as party leader Tuesday.
An interim leader will be chosen during a caucus meeting next Wednesday, with a leadership convention likely coming in the fall.
Easter said he will not be putting his name forward. He said it's not something he'll consider. He said the interim leader and the permanent leader will have to be bilingual.
