| Canadian historian, publicist and politician Date of Birth: 12.05.1947 Country: Canada |
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian historian, journalist, and politician. He is the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He is the son of Georgy Ignatiev and Alison Grant, the grandson of P.N. Ignatiev, the great-grandson of N.P. Ignatiev, and the great-great-grandson of P.N. Ignatiev. As a descendant of Russian counts, Ignatieff also has the right to use the title of Count, although he finds the idea of being a Russian count amusing.
Ignatieff completed his studies at the University of Toronto and defended his doctoral thesis in philosophy (Ph.D.) at Harvard University in 1976. From 1976 to 1978, he taught at the University of British Columbia. In 1978, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked at the University of Cambridge until 1984, when he relocated to London and engaged in journalistic activities. During his time in the UK, Ignatieff became well-known as a radio and television presenter. In 2000, he joined Harvard University as a professor and taught there until 2005, when he returned to Canada and began working at the University of Toronto.
Ignatieff has been active in politics since his youth and participated in the election campaigns of Pierre Trudeau and Lester Pearson. In 2004, a group of Canadian Liberal Party members approached Ignatieff with an offer to run for the position of party leader. In November 2006, Ignatieff was elected as a member of the House of Commons of Canada and was re-elected in 2008. In December 2006, Ignatieff ran for the position of leader of the Liberal Party of Canada but lost to Stéphane Dion, who later appointed him as his deputy. In November 2008, Ignatieff again ran for the position of party leader in the upcoming elections scheduled to take place in May 2009 in Vancouver. However, in early December 2008, two other candidates for the leadership position, Bob Rae and Dominic LeBlanc, withdrew their candidacies, making Ignatieff the de facto winner without a vote. On December 10, 2008, he was elected as the interim leader of the Liberal Party. On May 2, 2009, at the convention in Vancouver, Ignatieff was officially elected as the leader of the Liberal Party with 97% of the votes from participating MPs.
In 2007, Ignatieff received an honorary doctorate in law from Tilburg University in the Netherlands.