Until this past week, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff needed to become more arrogant.

As weird as it sounds, there is no sarcasm in that statement.

The odd thing about it is that the former Harvard professor has a long history of arrogance, but was pretending like he didn’t in an attempt to woo voters. Immediately after being nominated party leader he was criticized by his political opponents for being overtly arrogant and it seemed that these attacks really got to him. Ignatieff began presenting himself as some sort of moldable mass, able to adjust to anything the public wanted him to be.

In the process, he began losing the very essence that had made him so popular in the first place.

For a history major, Ignatieff should have realized from the beginning that assertive behavior isn’t a bad thing in Canadian politics. As William Ferguson argues in his book Bastards and Boneheads, arrogance has political appeal that few realize.

Canadians support arrogant leaders and have done so for a long time. William Lyon Mackenize was notoriously arrogant and he held office for 21 years, developing the welfare state in the process.

Then there’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who was blessed with arrogance and good looks. He held office for 15 years and created the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Jean Chrétien held office through three parliaments, all of which were majority governments.

In the present day, Stephen Harper crushed Stephane Dion last election with his ruthless aggression, even while governing through an economic recession.

People connect with outright confidence and it’s comforting to a lot of voters if a politician can employ this trait correctly.

As Ignatieff’s election threats rally through Ottawa, he must continue to embrace his renewed confidence. In a very real way, he is a salesperson attempting to convince millions why they should take an hour out of their day and go vote this fall.

For example, Ignatieff must refuse to shy away from his disagreement with the Conservatives over employment insurance. EI is one the few things that the Liberals have strongly opposed the Conservatives on, with the Conservatives being uncompromising in their stand. If the Liberals are worried that Canada’s economic situation is only going to get worse, EI is a worthy sales pitch. As unemployment numbers soar, Ignatieff should tell everyone that is fortunate enough to have kept their jobs that we should be more responsible to our fellow Canadians that have lost theirs.

Sticking to what you believe in can be arrogant as well as noble and people admire noble politicians too.   

In the end, if the Liberals want to get this country out of the rut of minority governments, they will have to do one of two things. One is to fall back on the ‘polling and molding’ model as their support falls slightly with recent election threats. This will continue to present Ignatieff as not confident and unfit for leadership.

The other is to get Ignatieff to utilize his natural arrogance and bite Harper hard in the ass – nobly, of course. In so doing, the Liberals should develop a sound economic strategy alternative, as well as have Ignatieff use his human rights background to develop some admirable foreign policy that can reinvigorate Canadian interest in federal government.

If Ignatieff is that fresh face to Canadian politics that those hyped articles convinced me of half a year ago, let’s see him be himself. History shows that arrogance works in Canadian politics.

Matt Austman is a University of Winnipeg student.

Published in Volume 64, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 17, 2009)