Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff delivers a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations in Montreal, November 2, 2010.Shaun Best/Reuters
Over on the Star's site, Susan Delacourt pokes some fun at "earnest commentators" who failed to see the humour in Michael Ignatieff's comments about airport security.
As one of those earnest commentators (I got into it on my Twitter feed), I feel terrible about contributing to the general humourlessness of Canadian politics. What was I possibly thinking, taking seriously the Liberal Leader's flippant comments about having his "private parts" touched?
Oh, right. I wasn't taking that seriously at all. What I was taking seriously was the part that came after he was done joking - which is easy to spot, because he segues into it by saying "I'm serious."
He then offers what I can only assume is a serious reflection of his views about the balance between security and personal liberties. "I've long ceased worrying about these issues," he says of invasive screening procedures. "We have to keep this country safe, and the people I feel strongly in support of are the hardworking security screeners."
Personally, that's not exactly the viewpoint I'd expect from someone who leads a party that self-identifies as liberal - however blurry that label has become. Others might think it's a necessary position for someone who'd otherwise be branded soft on terrorism - though I'm increasingly thinking that's not exactly Ignatieff's biggest liability. But whatever it is, coming from someone who aspires to be prime minister, I think it deserves to be taken seriously.