Future PM sighting.....

The Globe and Mail: Ignatieff accepts U of T job

And now this news break on the future of the Liberal Party....

Ignatieff accepts U of T job

By CAMPBELL CLARK

Friday, August 26, 2005 Updated at 5:29 AM EDT

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Internationally known academic and author Michael Ignatieff, touted by some Liberals as a future prime minister, is returning to Canada as a professor at the University of Toronto.

The appointment of the 58-year-old Harvard University academic, to be announced today, is likely to set tongues wagging in political circles because some Liberal organizers have suggested he will enter Canadian politics and run to succeed Prime Minister Paul Martin as Liberal leader.

Sources who know Mr. Ignatieff said, however, that he is still undecided on whether he wants to enter politics. They insisted his new job as the Hal Jackman visiting professor in human rights is about returning home to Canada, and not necessarily a prelude to a political career.

"It's not connected specifically to any political aspirations. There's going to be talk and speculation, but it is what it is," said a person who knows Mr. Ignatieff and his plans.

"I think he's very excited about the prospect of coming back to Toronto."

That said, those close to Mr. Ignatieff acknowledge he wants to get involved in the public debate in Canada after decades of living and working in England and the United States, and spending only a small part of the year in Canada. But they say he is not yet sure whether he will do that as a writer and academic, or as a politician.

Still would like to know more about him....

A.L.