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Ignatieff eats his way across Canada

Liberal leader enjoys food-filled pit stops during summer tour

By: Bruce Owen

Posted: 08/14/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

One look at his gruelling daily schedule and you wonder how Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff does it.

As he criss-crosses Canada on his Liberal Express summer bus tour, no matter where he is on the map, there's one ingredient in common at each stop -- food.

Your autograph please, Mr. Ignatieff

LIBERAL Leader Michael Ignatieff was all over the place Friday in Winnipeg.

But he only bumped into one autograph hound. Sort of.

Winnipegger Tony Bremen staked out the Fort Garry Hotel in the hope of bumping into Ignatieff and getting his signature, but not for himself.

Bremen said he wanted Ignatieff to sign a congratulatory note for his nephew, John Dettleff, recently promoted as a ship commander in the U.S. Coast Guard. He said Dettleff was a student when Ignatieff taught at Harvard University before becoming Liberal leader.

Ignatieff obliged Bremen's request and even posed for a photo. "It all worked out," Bremen said. "I'm still kind of shaking."

The so-far svelte Ignatieff is eating his way across the country, a feat that could be easily turned into a show on TV's Food Network.

His stops while in Winnipeg included five Folklorama pavilions on Friday night, an early-morning Saturday breakfast at the Punjab Sweet House and Restaurant followed by a mid-morning community Dim Sum event in south Winnipeg.

Tummy still grumbly?

Next up on Ignatieff's eating agenda is a noon-hour barbecue at the Norwood Community Centre.

Ignatieff credits his wife, Zsuzsanna Zsohar, who travels with him, with making sure he doesn't become a jelly belly.

"When I get a little pudgy, there's some sit-ups that have to be done, there's some yoga and there's some running that has to be done," he said.

The tour started in mid-July with the first stop, a cheese factory in St-Albert, Ont. In the coming days it will wind through British Columbia's Okanagan Valley with a stop at a winery or two. Liberal organizers say all the seats on the bus that day are already booked.

One of his first official events on Friday included a stop at Red River College's culinary arts school. There Ignatieff was introduced to a gorgeous prime rib being seasoned and prepped for cooking. "I only watched the pot roast being tied," he joked later. "I didn't eat the pot roast. So I'm selling a lot of discipline here."

Ignatieff also lunched with a group of businesswomen at the Fort Garry Hotel and toured the Canadian Wheat Board on Main Street before heading off to Folklorama. This afternoon, he goes to Dryden, Ont.

The Express is aimed at getting Ignatieff more exposure in the regional media and for him to meet as many people as possible, plus showcase his MPs and candidates. The likelihood of Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling a fall federal election is slim, but the Liberals are still using the tour as a way to boost Ignatieff's profile and their own morale.

Liberal insiders say the trip has been successful in getting Ignatieff out and about the country and that the mood, at least among party faithful, is positive.

Also on the bus were nominated candidates Terry Duguid (Winnipeg South), Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North), Allan Wise (Winnipeg Centre), Ray Simard (St. Boniface) and Ilona Niemczyk (Elmwood Transcona). Winnipeg South Centre MP Anita Neville was also on the bus along with several out-of-province MPs, including Ralph Goodale, Wayne Easter, Navdeep Singh Bains and Senator Jim Munson.

What has hurt the trip is the death of one of Ignatieff's key aides in a motorcycle crash Thursday morning in Ottawa. "It's been a tough 24 hours," Ignatieff said. "This was a big, vibrant, funny Québécois we all came to love," he said of Mario Laguë.

"So when a team has a loss like that you just have to take a deep breath. These are the things that test a team, test leadership, test our determination. "He wouldn't want us to be anywhere else than at Red River (College) today and anywhere else but in Manitoba continuing the tour. We loved the guy."

Laguë was one of the architects of Ignatieff's summer bus tour.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 14, 2010 A4

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