Angry in the Great White North

This story is bigger that you think.  It feeds into the image of Michael Ignatieff pretending to be a Canadian.

Apparently, Michael Ignatieff messed up his talking points.  He was told to say that William Hutt's performance in King Lear in 1972 was a life-changing experience.  But wouldn't you know it?  He got the year wrong -- by nearly a decade!

In a profile of Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, Canadian expat Adam Gopnik followed the Canadian ex-expat to Stratford, Ontario. Ignatieff later revealed to the Goppers that: "Seeing William Hutt do King Lear [at Stratford] in 1964 was one of the three or four shaping experiences of my life; I don't think I've ever written a book without mentioning Lear."

There's only one problem with Ignatieff's story and that's that William Hutt didn't play King Lear at Stratford in 1964. John Colicos played King Lear at Stratford in 1964. Hutt didn't play Lear at Stratford until 1972.

I'm sorry, but who gets it wrong by eight years?  Especially something that was life-shaping experience that he has referred to over and over and over again through the years.

In 1964, Michael Ignatieff was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, working part-time as a reporter for The Globe and Mail.

In 1972, Michael Ignatieff was at Harvard working towards his PhD, earning money as a teaching fellow.

Michael Ignatieff's circumstances were so radically different between 1964 and 1972 that to suggest that he had merely confused the dates is absurd.  I mean, presumably he has a clear recollection of sitting in the audience and thinking to himself, "I must change my life!" and considering in great detail what his life was like at that moment.

It is possible Michael Ignatieff has been mistaken about who he had seen playing King Lear all this time.  In fact, it's plausible that he had no idea who was playing King Lear and looked it up much later, messing up his research.  That might be the mistake Michael Ignatieff will own up to, though it would be pretty silly thing for a history professor to screw up.

The other explanation -- that this whole business about seeing William Hutt was just a contrivance cooked up to bolster his Canadian-ness with something that most Canadians would have had no personal experience and therefore would have to take Michael Ignatieff's word on -- would be a major blow to Michael Ignatieff's already rickety credibility.  Heck, it would border on being cynically duplicitous.

Michael Ignatieff mentioned other life-changing experiences.  I wonder what they were.  I think someone ought to ask. 

One might be that amazing Stanley Cup win by the Vancouver Maple Leafs in 1981.

I remember how everyone was cheering with a Molson's Blue in their hands.

Or maybe participating in the opening ceremonies of the CN Tower in Edmonton in 1987.

I know I was never the same after that glorious day.  I wanted to be there, but I couldn't afford the bus ticket to Saskatchewan.