Things known by the initialism CIDA include:

Canadian International Development Agency

Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomia, Venezuelan institute of astronomical investigation

CIDA City Campus

Council for Interior Design Accreditation

Certificate in Digital Applications - An ICT qualification

de:CIDA

Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Michael Grant Ignatieff
Honorific-suffix	PC, Ph.D.11 Honorary Doctorates
Office	Leader of the Opposition
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Primeminister	Stephen Harper
Term start	December 10, 2008
Term end	May 2, 2011
Predecessor	Stéphane Dion
Successor	Jack Layton
Office2	Leader of the Liberal Party
Term start2	Acting: December 10, 2008 – May 2, 2009May 2, 2009
Term end2	May 25, 2011
Predecessor2	Stéphane Dion
Successor2	Bob Rae (Acting)
Constituency mp3	Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Parliament3	Canadian
Term start3	February 6, 2006
Term end3	May 26, 2011
Predecessor3	Jean Augustine
Successor3	Bernard Trottier
Birth date	May 12, 1947
Birth place	Toronto, Ontario
Party	Liberal Party
Spouse	Susan Barrowclough (1977–1997)Zsuzsanna Zsohar (1999–present)
Residence	Toronto (private)
Alma mater	University of TorontoUniversity of OxfordHarvard UniversityKing's College, Cambridge
Profession	AuthorScreenwriterJournalistProfessorAcademic
Signature	Michael Ignatieff Signature.svg }}

Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has held senior academic posts at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Toronto.

While living in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 2000, Ignatieff became well-known as a television and radio broadcaster and as an editorial columnist for ''The Observer''. His documentary series ''Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism'' aired on BBC in 1993, and won a Canadian Gemini Award. His book of the same name, based on the series, won the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues and the University of Toronto's Lionel Gelber Prize. His memoir, ''The Russian Album'', won Canada's Governor General's Literary Award and the British Royal Society of Literature’s Heinemann Prize in 1988. His novel, ''Scar Tissue'', was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1994. In 2000, he delivered the Massey Lectures, entitled ''The Rights Revolution,'' which was released in print later that year.

In the 2006 federal election, Ignatieff was elected to the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke—Lakeshore. That same year, he ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party, ultimately losing to Stéphane Dion. He served as the party's deputy leader under Dion. After Dion's resignation in the wake of the 2008 election, Ignatieff served as interim leader from November 2008 until he was elected leader at the party's May 2009 convention. In the 2011 federal election, Ignatieff lost his own seat in the Liberal Party's worst showing in its history. Winning only 34 seats, the party placed a distant third behind the Conservatives and NDP, and thus lost its position as the Official Opposition. On May 3, 2011, Ignatieff announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party, pending the selection of an interim leader, which became effective May 25, 2011.

Following his electoral defeat, Ignatieff accepted a position as senior resident with the University of Toronto's Massey College, where he will teach courses in law and political science for the Munk School of Global Affairs and the School of Public Policy and Governance. The one year posting commences July 1, 2011.

Early life and education

Ignatieff was born on May 12, 1947 in Toronto, the elder son of Russian-born Canadian diplomat George Ignatieff and his Canadian-born wife, Jessie Alison (née Grant). Ignatieff's family moved abroad regularly in his early childhood as his father rose in the diplomatic ranks. George Ignatieff was a diplomat and chief of staff to the prime minister under Lester Bowles Pearson. He also worked for Pearson's leadership campaigns.

At the age of 11, Ignatieff was sent back to Toronto to attend Upper Canada College as a boarder in 1959. At UCC, Ignatieff was elected a school prefect as Head of Wedd's House, was the captain of the varsity soccer team, and served as editor-in-chief of the school's yearbook. As well, Ignatieff volunteered for the Liberal Party during the 1965 federal election by canvassing the York South riding. He resumed his work for the Liberal Party in 1968, as a national youth organizer and party delegate for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau party leadership campaign.

After high school, Ignatieff studied history at the University of Toronto's Trinity College (B.A., 1969). There, he met fellow student Bob Rae, from University College, who was a debating opponent and fourth-year roommate. After completing his undergraduate degree, Ignatieff took up his studies at the University of Oxford, where he studied under, and was influenced by, the famous liberal philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin, about whom he would later write. While an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, he was a part-time reporter for ''The Globe and Mail'' in 1964–65. In 1976, Ignatieff completed his Ph.D in History at Harvard University. He was granted a Cambridge M.A. by incorporation in 1978 on taking up a fellowship at King's College there.

Family

Ignatieff numbers many prominent Canadian and Russian historical figures from both sides of his family among his ancestors. His paternal grandfather was Count Pavel Ignatieff, the Russian Minister of Education during the First World War and son of Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev, an important Russian statesman and diplomat. His mother's grandfathers were George Monro Grant and Sir George Robert Parkin, and her younger brother was the Canadian Conservative political philosopher George Grant (1918–1988), author of ''Lament for a Nation''.

His great-aunt Alice Parkin Massey was the wife of Canada's first home-grown Governor General, Vincent Massey. He is also a descendant of William Lawson, the first President of the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Ignatieff is married to Hungarian-born Zsuzsanna M. Zsohar, and has two children, Theo and Sophie, from his first marriage to Londoner Susan Barrowclough. He also has a younger brother, Andrew, a community worker who assisted with Ignatieff's campaign.

Although he says he is not a "church guy", Ignatieff was raised Russian Orthodox and occasionally attends services with family. He describes himself as neither an atheist nor a 'believer'.

University professor, writer, broadcaster

Early career

Ignatieff was an assistant professor of history at the University of British Columbia from 1976 to 1978. In 1978 he moved to the United Kingdom, where he held a senior research fellowship at King's College, Cambridge until 1984. He then left Cambridge for London, where he began to focus on his career as a writer and journalist. His book ''The Russian Album'' documented a history of his family's experiences in nineteenth-century Russia (and subsequent exile), and won the 1987 Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction and the British Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Prize in Canada.

During this time, he traveled extensively. He also continued to lecture at universities in Europe and North America, and held teaching posts at Oxford, the University of London, the London School of Economics, the University of California and in France. While living in the United Kingdom, Ignatieff became well-known as a broadcaster on radio and television. His best-known television work has been ''Voices'' on Channel 4, the BBC 2 discussion programme ''Thinking Aloud'' and BBC 2's arts programme, ''The Late Show''. He was also an editorial columnist for ''The Observer'' from 1990 to 1993.

His documentary series ''Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism'' aired on BBC in 1993, winning a Canadian Gemini Award. He later adapted this series into a book, ''Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism'', detailing the dangers of ethnic nationalism in the post-Cold War period. This book won the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues and the University of Toronto's Lionel Gelber Prize. Ignatieff also wrote the novel, ''Scar Tissue'', which was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1994.

In 1998 he was on the first panel of the long-running BBC Radio discussion series ''In Our Time''. Around this time, his 1998 biography of Isaiah Berlin was shortlisted for both the Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Non-Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Human rights policy

In 2000, Ignatieff accepted a position as the director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Ignatieff's influence on policy continued to grow, helping to prepare the report ''The Responsibility to Protect'' for the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. This report examined the role of international involvement in Kosovo and Rwanda, and advocated a framework for 'humanitarian' intervention in future humanitarian crises. He delivered the Massey Lectures in 2000, entitled ''The Rights Revolution,'' which was released in print later that year. He would eventually become a participant and panel leader at the World Economic Forum in Geneva.

2001 marked the September 11 attacks in the United States, renewing academic interest in issues of foreign policy and nation building. Ignatieff's text on Western interventionist policies and nation building, ''Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond,'' won the Orwell Prize for political non-fiction in 2001. As a journalist, Ignatieff observed that the United States had established "an empire lite, a global hegemony whose grace notes are free markets, human rights and democracy, enforced by the most awesome military power the world has ever known." This became the subject of his 2003 book ''Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan'', which argued that America had a responsibility to create a "humanitarian empire" through nation-building and, if necessary, military force. This would become a frequent topic in his lectures. At the Amnesty 2005 Lecture in Dublin, he offered evidence to show that "we wouldn't have international human rights without the leadership of the United States".

Ignatieff's interventionist approach led him to support the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. According to Ignatieff, the United States had a duty to expend itself unseating Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the interests of international security and human rights. Ignatieff initially accepted the argument of George W. Bush administration that containment through sanctions and threats would not prevent Hussein from selling weapons of mass destruction to international terrorists. Ignatieff wrongly believed that those weapons were still being developed in Iraq.

In 2004, he published ''The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror,'' a philosophical work analyzing human rights in the post-9/11 world. Ignatieff argued that there may be circumstances where indefinite detention or coercive interrogations may need to be used on terror suspects to combat terrorism. Democratic institutions would need to evolve to protect human rights, finding a way to keep these necessary evils from offending democracy as much as the evils they are meant to prevent. The book attracted considerable attention. It was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize, but also earned him some criticism. In 2005, he was criticized by his peers on the editorial board for the ''Index on Censorship'', where human rights advocate Conor Gearty said Ignatieff fell into a category of "hand-wringing, apologetic apologists for human-rights abuses". Ignatieff responded by resigning from the editorial board for the ''Index'', and has maintained that he supports a complete ban on torture.

By 2005, Ignatieff's writings on human rights and foreign affairs earned him the 37th rank on a list of most influential public intellectuals prepared by ''Prospect'' and ''Foreign Policy'' magazines.

Return to Canadian academia

Around 2005, Ignatieff became more frequently mentioned as a possible Liberal candidate for the next federal election, and rumors swirled about the beginnings of a political career. At this time, he left Harvard to become the Chancellor Jackman Professor in Human Rights Policy at the University of Toronto and a senior fellow of the university's Munk Centre for International Studies.

He continued to write about the subject of Iraq, reiterating his support, if not the method in which it was conducted. According to Ignatieff, "what Saddam Hussein had done to the Kurds and the Shia" in Iraq was sufficient justification for the invasion. His support for the war began to wane as time passed. "I supported an administration whose intentions I didn't trust," he averred, "believing that the consequences would repay the gamble. Now I realize that intentions do shape consequences." He eventually recanted his support for the war entirely. In a 2007 ''New York Times Magazine'' article, he wrote: "The unfolding catastrophe in Iraq has condemned the political judgment of a president, but it has also condemned the judgment of many others, myself included, who as commentators supported the invasion." Ignatieff partly interpreted what he now saw as his particular errors of judgment, by presenting them as typical of academics and intellectuals in general, whom he characterised as "generalizing and interpreting particular facts as instances of some big idea". In politics, by contrast, "Specifics matter more than generalities".

Writings

Michael Ignatieff is a historian, a fiction writer and public intellectual who has written several books on international relations and nation building. He has written seventeen books, and has been described by the British Arts Council as "an extraordinarily versatile writer," in both the style and the subjects he writes about. He has contributed articles to newspapers such as ''The Globe and Mail'' and ''The New York Times Magazine''. ''Maclean's'' named him among the "Top 10 Canadian Who's Who" in 1997 and one of the "50 Most Influential Canadians Shaping Society" in 2002. In 2003, Maclean's named him Canada's "Sexiest Cerebral Man."

Fictional works

His fictional works, ''Asya'', ''Scar Tissue'', and ''Charlie Johnson in the Flames'' cover, respectively, the life and travels of a Russian girl, the disintegration of one's mother due to neurological disease, and the haunting memories of a journalist in Kosovo. In all three works, however, one sees elements of the author's own life coming through. For instance, Ignatieff travelled to the Balkans and Kurdistan while working as a journalist, witnessing first hand the consequences of modern ethnic warfare.

Historian and biographer

A historian by training, he wrote ''A Just Measure of Pain,'' a history of prisons during the Industrial Revolution. His biography of Isaiah Berlin reveals the strong impression the celebrated philosopher made on Ignatieff. Philosophical writings by Ignatieff include ''The Needs of Strangers'' and ''The Rights Revolution.'' The latter work explores social welfare and community, and shows Berlin's influence on Ignatieff. These tie closely to Ignatieff's political writings on national self-determination and the imperatives of democratic self-government. Ignatieff has also written extensively on international affairs. His historical memoir, ''The Russian Album,'' traces his family's life in Russia and their troubles and subsequent emigration as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Canadian studies

In ''The Rights Revolution'', Ignatieff identifies three aspects of Canada's approach to human rights that give the country its distinctive culture: 1) On moral issues, Canadian law is secular and liberal, approximating European standards more closely than American ones; 2) Canadian political culture is social democratic, and Canadians take it for granted that citizens have the right to free health care and public assistance; 3) Canadians place a particular emphasis on group rights, expressed in Quebec's language laws and in treaty agreements that recognize collective aboriginal rights. "Apart from New Zealand, no other country has given such recognition to the idea of group rights," he writes.

Ignatieff states that despite its admirable commitment to equality and group rights, Canadian society still places an unjust burden on women and gays and lesbians, and he says it is still difficult for newcomers of non-British or French descent to form an enduring sense of citizenship. Ignatieff attributes this to the "patch-work quilt of distinctive societies," emphasizing that civic bonds will only be easier when the understanding of Canada as a multinational community is more widely shared.

International studies

Ignatieff has written extensively on international development, peacekeeping and the international responsibilities of Western nations. ''Blood and Belonging'', a 1993 work, explores the duality of nationalism, from Yugoslavia to Northern Ireland. It is the first of a trilogy of books that explore modern conflicts. ''The Warrior's Honour'', published in 1998, deals with ethnically motivated conflicts, including the conflicts in Afghanistan and Rwanda. The final book, ''Virtual War'', describes the problems of modern peacekeeping, with special reference to the NATO presence in Kosovo.

His 2003 book ''Empire Lite'' attracted considerable attention for suggesting that America, the world's last remaining superpower, should create a "humanitarian empire". This book continued his criticism of the limited-risk approach practiced by NATO in conflicts like the Kosovo War and the Rwandan Genocide. Ignatieff became an advocate for more active involvement and larger scale deployment of land forces by Western nations in future conflicts in the developing world. Ignatieff was originally a prominent supporter of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. However, Ignatieff attempts to distinguish the empire lite approach from neo-conservativism because the motives of the foreign engagement he advocates are essentially altruistic rather than self-serving.

Ignatieff's 2004 book ''The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror'', argued that Western democracies may have to resort to "lesser evils" like indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, assassinations, and pre-emptive wars in order to combat the greater evil of terrorism. The 'Lesser Evil' approach has been criticized by some prominent human rights advocates, like Conor Gearty, for incorporating a problematic form of moral language that can be used to legitimize forms of torture. But other human rights advocates, like Human Rights Watch's Kenneth Roth, have defended Ignatieff, saying his work "cannot fairly be equated with support for torture or 'torture lite'." In the context of this "lesser evil" analysis, Ignatieff has discussed whether or not liberal democracies should employ coercive interrogation and torture. Ignatieff has adamantly maintained that he supports a complete ban on torture. His definition of torture, according to his 2004 Op-ed in ''The New York Times'', does not include "forms of sleep deprivation that do not result in lasting harm to mental or physical health, together with disinformation and disorientation (like keeping prisoners in hoods)."

Political career

In 2004, three Liberal organizers, former Liberal candidate Alfred Apps, Ian Davey (son of Senator Keith Davey) and lawyer Daniel Brock, travelled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to convince Ignatieff to move back to Canada and run for the Canadian House of Commons, and to consider a possible bid for the Liberal leadership should Paul Martin retire. Rocco Rossi, who was at that time a key Liberal Party organizer, had previously mentioned to Davey that Davey's father had said that Ignatieff had "the makings of a prime minister". In January 2005, as a result of the efforts of Apps, Brock and Davey, press speculation that Ignatieff could be a star candidate for the Liberals in the next election, and possibly a candidate to eventually succeed Prime Minister Paul Martin, the leader of the governing Liberal Party of Canada.

After months of rumours and several denials, Ignatieff confirmed in November 2005 that he would run for a seat in the House of Commons in the winter 2006 election. It was announced that Ignatieff would seek the Liberal nomination in the Toronto riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore.

Some Ukrainian-Canadian members of the riding association objected to the nomination, citing a perceived anti-Ukrainian sentiment in ''Blood and Belonging'', where Ignatieff said: "I have reasons to take the Ukraine seriously indeed. But, to be honest, I'm having trouble. Ukrainian independence conjures up images of peasants in embroidered shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phony Cossacks in cloaks and boots..." Critics also questioned his commitment to Canada, pointing out that Ignatieff had lived outside of Canada for more than 30 years and had referred to himself as an American many times. When asked about it by Peter Newman in a ''Maclean's'' interview published on April 6, 2006, Ignatieff said: "Sometimes you want to increase your influence over your audience by appropriating their voice, but it was a mistake. Every single one of the students from 85 countries who took my courses at Harvard knew one thing about me: I was that funny Canadian." Two other candidates filed for the nomination but were disqualified (one, because he was not a member of the party and the second because he had failed to resign from his position on the riding association executive). Ignatieff went on to defeat the Conservative candidate by a margin of roughly 5,000 votes to win the seat.

Leadership bid

After the Liberal government was defeated in the January 2006 federal election, Paul Martin resigned the party leadership in March that same year. On April 7, 2006, Ignatieff announced his candidacy in the upcoming Liberal leadership race, joining several others who had already declared their candidacy.

Ignatieff received several high profile endorsements of his candidacy. His campaign was headed by Senator David Smith, who had been a Chrétien organizer, along with Ian Davey, Daniel Brock, Alfred Apps and Paul Lalonde, a Toronto lawyer and son of Marc Lalonde.

An impressive team of policy advisors was assembled, led by Toronto lawyer Brad Davis, and including Brock, fellow lawyers Mark Sakamoto, Sachin Aggarwal, Jason Rosychuck, Jon Penney, Nigel Marshman, Alex Mazer, Will Amos, and Alix Dostal, former Ignatieff student Jeff Anders, banker Clint Davis, economists Blair Stransky, Leslie Church and Ellis Westwood, and Liberal operatives Alexis Levine, Marc Gendron, Mike Pal, Julie Dzerowicz, Patrice Ryan, Taylor Owen and Jamie Macdonald.

Following the selection of delegates in the party's "Super Weekend" exercise on the last weekend of September, Ignatieff gained more support from delegates than other candidates with 30% voting for him.

In August 2006, Ignatieff said he was "not losing any sleep" over dozens of civilian deaths caused by Israel's attack on Qana during its military actions in Lebanon. Ignatieff recanted those words the following week. Then, on October 11, 2006, Ignatieff described the Qana attack as a war crime (committed by Israel). Susan Kadis, who had previously been Ignatieff's campaign co-chair, withdrew her support following the comment. Other Liberal leadership candidates have also criticized Ignatieff's comments. Ariela Cotler, a Jewish community leader and the wife of prominent Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, left the party following Ignatieff's comments. Ignatieff later qualified his statement, saying "Whether war crimes were committed in the attack on Qana is for international bodies to determine. That doesn't change the fact that Qana was a terrible tragedy."

On October 14, Ignatieff announced that he would visit Israel, to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and "learn first-hand their view of the situation". He noted that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel's own B'Tselem have stated that war crimes were committed in Qana, describing the suggestion as "a serious matter precisely because Israel has a record of compliance, concern and respect for the laws of war and human rights". Ignatieff added that he would not meet with Palestinian leaders who did not recognize Israel. However, the Jewish organization sponsoring the trip subsequently cancelled it, because of too much media attention.

Montreal Convention

At the leadership convention in Montreal, taking place at Palais des Congrès, Ignatieff entered as the apparent front-runner, having elected more delegates to the convention than any other contender. However, polls consistently showed he had weak second-ballot support, and those delegates not already tied to him would be unlikely to support him later.

On December 1, 2006, Michael Ignatieff led the leadership candidates on the first ballot, garnering 29% support. The subsequent ballots were cast the following day, and Ignatieff managed a small increase, to 31% on the second ballot, good enough to maintain his lead over Bob Rae, who had attracted 24% support, and Stéphane Dion, who garnered 20%. However, due to massive movement towards Stéphane Dion by delegates who supported Gerard Kennedy, Ignatieff dropped to second on the third ballot. Shortly before voting for the third ballot was completed, with the realization that there was a Dion-Kennedy pact, Ignatieff campaign co-chair Denis Coderre made an appeal to Bob Rae to join forces and prevent Dion from winning the Liberal Party leadership (on the basis that Stephane Dion's ardent federalism would alienate Quebecers), but Rae turned down the offer and opted to release his delegates. With the help of the Kennedy delegates, Dion jumped up to 37% support on the third ballot, in contrast to Ignatieff's 34% and Rae's 29%. Bob Rae was eliminated and the bulk of his delegates opted to vote for Dion rather than Ignatieff. In the fourth and final round of voting, Ignatieff took 2084 votes and lost the contest to Stéphane Dion, who won with 2,521 votes.

Ignatieff confirmed that he would run as the Liberal MP for Etobicoke—Lakeshore in the next federal election.

Deputy leadership

On December 18, 2006, new Liberal leader Stéphane Dion named Ignatieff his deputy leader, in line with Dion's plan to give high-ranking positions to each of his former leadership rivals.

During three by-elections held on September 18, 2007, the ''Halifax Chronicle-Herald'' reported that unidentified Dion supporters were accusing Ignatieff's supporters of undermining by-election efforts, with the goal of showing that Dion could not hold on to the party's Quebec base. Susan Delacourt of the ''Toronto Star'' described this as a recurring issue in the party with the leadership runner-up. ''The National Post'' referred to the affair as, "Discreet signs of a mutiny." Although Ignatieff called Dion to deny the allegations, the Globe and Mail cited the NDP's widening lead after the article's release, suggested that the report had a negative impact on the Liberals' morale. The Liberals were defeated in their former stronghold of Outremont. Since then, Ignatieff has urged the Liberals to put aside their differences, saying "united we win, divided we lose".

Interim leadership of the Liberal Party

Dion announced that he would schedule his departure as Liberal leader for the next party convention, after the Liberals lost seats and support in the 2008 federal election. Ignatieff held a news conference on November 13, 2008, to once again announce his candidacy for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.

When the Liberals reached an accord with the other opposition parties to form a coalition and defeat the government, Ignatieff reluctantly endorsed it. He was reportedly uncomfortable with a coalition with the NDP and support from the Bloc Québécois, and has been described as one of the last Liberals to sign on. After the announcement to prorogue Parliament, delaying the non-confidence motion until January 2009, Dion announced his intention to stay on as leader until the party selected a new one.

Leadership contender Dominic LeBlanc dropped out and threw his support behind Ignatieff. On December 9, the other remaining opponent for the Liberal Party leadership, Bob Rae, withdrew from the race, leaving Ignatieff as the presumptive winner. On December 10, he was formally declared the interim leader in a caucus meeting, and his position was ratified at the May 2009 convention.

On February 19, 2009, during U.S. President Barack Obama's election visit to Ottawa to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which was the President's first foreign trip since taking office, Obama also met with Ignatieff as per parliamentary protocol where the leader of the opposition meets foreign dignitaries. Their discussion included climate change, Afghanistan and human rights. As director of the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard, Ignatieff became world-renowned as a human rights scholar and advisor to several world leaders.

Leadership

On May 2, 2009, Ignatieff was officially endorsed as the leader of the Liberal Party by 97% of delegates at the party convention in Vancouver. The vote was mostly a formality as the other candidates had stepped down.

On August 31, 2009, Ignatieff announced that the Liberal Party would withdraw support for the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. However, the NDP under Jack Layton abstained and the Conservatives survived the confidence motion. Ignatieff's attempt to force a September 2009 election was reported as a miscalculation, as polls showed that most Canadians did not want another election. Ignatieff's popularity as well as that of the Liberals dropped off considerably immediately afterwards.

On March 25, 2011, Ignatieff introduced a motion of non-confidence against the Harper government to attempt to force a May 2011 federal election after the government was found to be in Contempt of Parliament, the first such occurrence in Commonwealth history. The House of Commons passed the motion by 156-145.

The Liberals had considerable momentum when the writ was dropped, and Ignatieff successfully squeezed NDP leader Jack Layton out of media attention, by issuing challenges to Harper for one-on-one debates. In the first couple weeks of the campaign, Ignatieff kept his party in second place in the polls, and his personal ratings exceeded that of Layton for the first time. However opponents frequently criticized Ignatieff's perceived political opportunism, particularly during the leaders' debates when Layton criticized Ignatieff for having a poor attendance record for Commons votes saying “You know, most Canadians, if they don’t show up for work, they don’t get a promotion”. Ignatieff failed to defend himself against these charges, and the debates were said to be a turning point for his party's campaign. Near the end of the campaign, a late surge in support for Layton and the NDP relegated Ignatieff and the Liberals to third in the polls. }} On May 2, 2011, Ignatieff's Liberals lost 43 seats only winning 34 and thus slipped to third party status behind the NDP and the Conservatives, who gained a majority in Parliament. It was the worst result in the history of the Liberal Party, the worst result in Canadian history for an incumbent Official Opposition party, and the first time since Confederation the Liberals failed to finish first or second. Ignatieff himself was defeated by Conservative challenger Bernard Trottier, being the first incumbent Leader of the Official Opposition to lose his own seat since Sir John A. Macdonald's defeat in Kingston in 1878, as well as the first sitting Liberal leader since Mackenzie King lost his riding in the 1945 election. Reports suggested that Ignatieff had initially promised to move into a home inside his riding, but instead he resided in the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Yorkville, which rankled Etobicoke-Lakeshore residents and reinforced perceptions of Ignatieff’s political opportunism.

On May 3, 2011 Ignatieff announced his resignation as leader of the party pending the appointment of an interim leader. He is only the third non-interim Liberal leader not to serve as Prime Minister.

Notable political stances

International affairs

In October 2006, Ignatieff indicated that he personally would not support ballistic missile defence nor the weaponization of space. He referred to the likelihood of America developing a Missile Defense System in his book ''Virtual War'', but did not voice support for Canadian participation in such a scheme.

On June 3, 2008, and on March 30, 2009, Michael Ignatieff voted in support of ''non-binding'' motions in the House of Commons calling on the government to "allow conscientious objectors...to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations.....[(including Iraq war resisters)]...to...remain in Canada..." However on September 29, 2010, when those motions were proposed as a ''binding'' private member's bill from Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy, CTV News reported that Ignatieff "walked out during the vote." The bill then failed to pass this second reading vote by seven votes.

Extension of Canada's Afghanistan mission

Since his election to Parliament, Ignatieff has been one of the few opposition members supporting the minority Conservative government's commitment to Canadian military activity in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper called a vote in the House of Commons for May 17, 2006, on extending the Canadian Forces current deployment in Afghanistan until February 2009. During the debate, Ignatieff expressed his "unequivocal support for the troops in Afghanistan, for the mission, and also for the renewal of the mission." He argued that the Afghanistan mission tests the success of Canada's shift from "the peacekeeping paradigm to the peace-enforcement paradigm," the latter combining "military, reconstruction and humanitarian efforts together." The opposition Liberal caucus of 102 MPs was divided, with 24 MPs supporting the extension, 66 voting against, and 12 abstentions. Among Liberal leadership candidates, Ignatieff and Scott Brison voted for the extension. Ignatieff led the largest Liberal contingent of votes in favour, with at least five of his caucus supporters voting along with him to extend the mission. The vote was 149–145 for extending the military deployment. Following the vote, Harper shook Ignatieff's hand. In a subsequent campaign appearance, Ignatieff reiterated his view of the mission in Afghanistan. He stated: "the thing that Canadians have to understand about Afghanistan is that we are well past the era of Pearsonian peacekeeping."

Climate change policy

During the Liberal leadership race in 2006, Ignatieff advocated strong measures, including measures to address climate change. Following the 2008 election, he shifted his approach. In a speech to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce in February 2009, he said: "You've got to work with the grain of Canadians and not against them. I think we learned a lesson in the last election."

Forming of a potential coalition government

During the Spring 2011 federal election, Ignatieff clearly ruled out the formation of a coalition government with the NDP and Bloc parties. Contrary to the suggestion from the Conservative party that he was planning to form a government with the other opposition parties, Ignatieff issued a statement on March 26, 2011, stating that "[t]he party that wins the most seats on election day will form the government".

Honorary degrees

Ignatieff has received 11 Honorary Doctorates as of June 2009 including:

Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec in 1995 University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland (D.Univ) on June 28, 1996 Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario (LL.D) on October 25, 2001 University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario ( D.Litt) on October 26, 2001 University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick (D.Litt) in 2001 McGill University in Montreal, Quebec (D.Litt) on June 17, 2002 University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan (LL.D) on May 28, 2003 Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington (LL.D) in 2004 Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, USA (DHL) May 21, 2006

Bibliography

Screenplays

''Onegin'', 1999 (with Peter Ettedgui)

''1919'', 1985 (with Hugh Brody)

Drama

''Dialogue in the Dark'', for the BBC

Fiction

''Asya'', 1991

''Scar Tissue'', 1993

''Charlie Johnson in the Flames'', 2005

Non-fiction

''A Just Measure of Pain: Penitentiaries in the Industrial Revolution, 1780–1850'', 1978

(ed. with István Hont) ''Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment'', Cambridge University Press , 1983. ISBN 0-521-23397-6

''The Needs of Strangers'', 1984

''The Russian Album'', 1987

''Blood and Belonging: Journeys Into the New Nationalism'', 1994

''Warrior's Honour: Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience'', 1997

''Isaiah Berlin: A Life'', 1998

''Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond'', 2000

''The Rights Revolution'', Viking, 2000

''Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry'', Anansi Press Ltd, 2001

''Empire Lite: Nation-Building in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan'', Minerva, 2003

''The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror'', Princeton University Press, 2004 (2003 Gifford Lectures; sample chapters)

''American Exceptionalism and Human Rights (ed.)'', Princeton University Press, 2005.

''True Patriot Love'', Penguin Group Canada, 2009.

Selected articles (2002–2007)

''Getting Iraq Wrong'', The New York Times Magazine, August 5, 2007.

''What I Would Do If I Were The Prime Minister.'' Maclean's, September 4, 2006.

''The Broken Contract'', The New York Times Magazine, September 25, 2005.

''Iranian Lessons'', The New York Times Magazine, July 17, 2005.

''Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread?'', The New York Times Magazine, June 26, 2005.

''The Uncommitted'', The New York Times Magazine, January 30, 2005.

''The Terrorist as Auteur'', The New York Times Magazine, November 14, 2004.

''Mirage in the Desert'', The New York Times Magazine, June 27, 2004.

''Could We Lose the War on Terror?: Lesser Evils'', (cover story), The New York Times Magazine, May 2, 2004.

''The Year of Living Dangerously'', The New York Times Magazine, March 14, 2004.

''Arms and the Inspector'', Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2004.

''Peace, Order and Good Government: A Foreign Policy Agenda for Canada'', OD Skelton Lecture, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, March 12, 2004.

''Why America Must Know Its Limits'', Financial Times, December 24, 2003.

''A Mess of Intervention. Peacekeeping. Pre-emption. Liberation. Revenge. When should we send in the Troops?'', The New York Times Magazine [cover story], September 7, 2003.

''I am Iraq'', The New York Times Magazine, March 31, 2003 [Reprinted in The Guardian and The National Post].

''American Empire: The Burden'', (cover story), The New York Times Magazine, January 5, 2003.

Acceptance Speech from the 2003 ''Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking''

''Mission Impossible?'', A Review of ''A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis'', by David Rieff (Simon and Schuster, 2002), Printed in The New York Review of Books, December 19, 2002.

''When a Bridge Is Not a Bridge'', New York Times Magazine, October 27, 2002.

''The Divided West'', The Financial Times, August 31, 2002.

''Nation Building Lite'', (cover story) The New York Times Magazine, July 28, 2002.

''The Rights Stuff'', New York Times of Books, June 13, 2002.

''No Exceptions?'', Legal Affairs, May/June 2002.

''Why Bush Must Send in His Troops'', The Guardian, April 19, 2002.

''Barbarians at the Gates?'', The New York Times Book Review, February 18, 2002.

''Is the Human Rights Era Ending?'', New York Times, February 5, 2002.

''Intervention and State Failure'', Dissent, Winter 2002.

''Kaboul-Sarajevo: Les nouvelles frontières de l'empire'', Seuil, 2002.

See also

List of Canadian Leaders of the Opposition

List of Canadian Leaders of the Opposition in the Senate

Official Opposition (Canada)

References

External links

Michael Ignatieff Biography from contemporarywriters.com

"Michael Grant Ignatieff" from The Canadian Encyclopedia

;Articles by Ignatieff (1997–2005)

The Meaning of Diana, ''Prospect Magazine'', October 23, 1997. A review of Diana Spencer.

Why Bush must send in his troops, ''The Guardian'', April 19, 2002. On why Ignatieff believes a two-state solution is the last chance for Middle East peace.

The Burden, ''The New York Times Magazine'', January 5, 2003. Written just prior to the Iraq war, this article explains his support for the invasion.

The Year of Living Dangerously, ''The New York Times Magazine'', March 14, 2004. A follow-up to ''The Burden'', discussing the war.

Lesser Evils, ''The New York Times Magazine'', May 2, 2004, An article on finding the balance between civil liberties and security.

A Generous Helping of Liberal Brains, ''The Globe and Mail'', March 4, 2005 (subscription). An excerpt from his address to the biennial policy conference of the Liberal Party.

Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread? , ''The New York Times Magazine'', June 26, 2005. Ignatieff On Spreading Democracy

Category:Academics of the London School of Economics Category:Academics of the University of London Category:Academics of the University of Oxford Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Canada Category:Canadian historians Category:Canadian novelists Category:Canadian philosophers Category:Canadian people of Russian descent Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian republicans Category:Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Category:Governor General's Award winning non-fiction writers Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Harvard University faculty Category:Leaders of the Opposition (Canada) Category:Leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Massey Lecturers Category:Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Ontario Category:Russian nobility Category:Russian Orthodox Christians Category:Scholars of nationalism Category:Trinity College (Canada) alumni Category:University of British Columbia faculty Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Upper Canada College alumni Category:University of Toronto faculty Category:Gifford Lecturers Category:1947 births Category:Living people

ar:مايكل إغناتييف be:Майкл Грант Ігнацьеў be-x-old:Майкл Грант Ігнацьеў bg:Майкъл Игнатиев cs:Michael Ignatieff pdc:Michael Ignatieff de:Michael Ignatieff es:Michael Ignatieff fa:مایکل ایگناتیف fr:Michael Ignatieff ko:마이클 이그나티에프 he:מייקל איגנטייף la:Michael Ignatieff nl:Michael Ignatieff ja:マイケル・イグナティエフ pl:Michael Ignatieff pt:Michael Ignatieff ru:Игнатьев, Майкл Грант fi:Michael Ignatieff sv:Michael Ignatieff ta:மைக்கல் இக்னேட்டியஃவ் uk:Майкл Ігнатьєв zh:葉禮庭

Josep Maria Carreras i Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (), is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his debut on the opera stage at the age of 11 as Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's ''El retablo de Maese Pedro'' and went on to a career that encompassed over 60 roles on the stages of the world's leading opera houses and in the recording studio.

He gained fame with a wider audience as one of The Three Tenors along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in a series of mass concerts that began in 1990 and continued until 2003. Carreras is also known for his humanitarian work as the president of the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (''La Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia''), which he established following his own recovery from the disease in 1988.

Life and career

Early years

The youngest of three children, Carreras was born in Sants, a working class district in Barcelona, Spain. In 1951, his family emigrated to Argentina in an unsuccessful search for a better life. However, within a year they had returned to Sants where Carreras was to spend the rest of his childhood and teenage years. [citation needed]

thumb|200px|left|José Carreras, age 8, in his first public performance. Spanish National Radio, December 1954.He showed an early talent for music and particularly singing, which intensified at the age of 6 when he saw Mario Lanza in ''The Great Caruso''. The story recounted in his autobiography and numerous interviews is that after seeing the film, Carreras sang the arias incessantly to his family, especially 'La donna è mobile', often locking himself in the family's bathroom when they became exasperated with his impromptu concerts. At that point, his parents, with the encouragement of his grandfather Salvador Coll, an amateur baritone, found the money for music lessons for him. At first he studied piano and voice with Magda Prunera, the mother of one of his childhood friends, and at the age of 8, he also started taking music lessons at Barcelona's Municipal Conservatory.

At the age of 8, he also gave his first public performance, singing 'La donna è Mobile' accompanied by Magda Prunera on the piano, on Spanish National Radio. A recording of this still exists and can be heard on the video biography, ''José Carreras – A Life Story''. On 3 January 1958, at the age of 11, he made his debut in Barcelona's great opera house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, singing the boy soprano role of Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's ''El retablo de Maese Pedro''. A few months later, he sang for the last time as a boy soprano at the Liceu in the second act of ''La Bohème''.

Throughout his teenage years, he continued to study music, moving on to the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu and taking private voice lessons, first with Francisco Puig and later with Juan Ruax, whom Carreras has described as his "artistic father". Following the advice of his father and brother, who felt that he needed a 'back-up ' career, he also entered the University of Barcelona to study chemistry, but after two years he left the university to concentrate on singing.

1970s and 1980s

Juan Ruax encouraged Carreras to audition for what was to become his first tenor role at the Liceu, Flavio in ''Norma'', which opened on 8 January 1970. Although only a minor role, the few phrases he sang caught the attention of the production's leading lady, the eminent soprano and fellow Catalan, Montserrat Caballé. She asked him to sing Gennaro with her in Donizetti's ''Lucrezia Borgia'', which opened on 19 December 1970. It was his first principal adult role, and the one which he considers to be his true debut as a tenor. In 1971, he made his international debut in a concert performance of ''Maria Stuarda'' in London's Royal Festival Hall, again with Caballé singing the title role. Caballé was instrumental in promoting and encouraging his career for many years, appearing in over 15 different operas with him, while her brother and manager, Carlos Caballé, was also Carreras's manager until the mid-1990s.

During the 1970s Carreras's career progressed rapidly. In late 1971, he won first prize in Parma's prestigious Voci Verdiane competition which led to his Italian debut as Rodolfo in ''La bohème'' at the Teatro Regio di Parma on 12 January 1972. Later that year he made his American debut as Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly'' with the New York City Opera. Other major house debuts followed – the San Francisco Opera in 1973, as Rodolfo; the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1973, as Alfredo in ''La traviata''; the Vienna Staatsoper in 1974, as the Duke of Mantua in ''Rigoletto''; London's Royal Opera House in 1974, as Alfredo; the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1974, as Cavaradossi in ''Tosca''; and La Scala, Milan in 1975, as Riccardo in ''Un ballo in maschera''. By the age of 28, he had already sung the tenor lead in 24 different operas in both Europe and North America, and had an exclusive recording contract with Philips, which resulted in valuable recordings of several less often performed Verdi operas, notably ''Il Corsaro'', ''I due Foscari'', ''La battaglia di Legnano'', ''Un giorno di regno'', and ''Stiffelio''. Carreras's leading ladies during the 1970s and 1980s included some of the most famous sopranos and mezzo-sopranos of the day: Montserrat Caballé, Birgit Nilsson, Viorica Cortez, Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubas, Sylvia Sass, Teresa Stratas, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Agnes Baltsa, Teresa Berganza, and Katia Ricciarelli. His artistic partnership with Ricciarelli began when they both sang in the 1972 ''La bohème'' at Parma and lasted for 13 years, both in the recording studio and on stage. They later made a studio recording of ''La bohème'' for Philips Classics and can be heard together on over 12 other commercial recordings of both operas and recitals, predominantly on the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

Of the many conductors he worked with during this period, the one with whom Carreras had the closest artistic relationship and who had the most profound influence on his career was Herbert von Karajan. He first sang under Karajan in the Verdi Requiem at Salzburg on 10 April 1976, with their final collaboration in a 1986 production of ''Carmen'', again at Salzburg. With Karajan's encouragement, he increasingly moved towards singing heavier lirico-spinto roles, including ''Aïda'', ''Don Carlos'', and ''Carmen'', which some critics have said were too heavy for his natural voice and may have shortened his vocal prime. (See the section on Carreras's voice.)

The 1980s saw Carreras occasionally moving outside the strictly operatic repertoire, at least in the recording studio, with recitals of songs from zarzuela, musicals, and operettas. He also made full-length recordings of two musicals – ''West Side Story'' (1985) and ''South Pacific'' (1986) – both with Kiri Te Kanawa as his co-star. His 1987 Philips recording of the Argentine folk mass, ''Misa Criolla'', conducted by its composer, Ariel Ramirez, brought the work to a worldwide audience. Although many of Carreras's stage performances are available on video, he also ventured into film. In 1986, he portrayed the 19th century Spanish tenor Julián Gayarre in ''Romanza Final'' (The Final Romance) and in 1987, he started working on a film version of ''La bohème'' directed by Luigi Comencini.

It was during the filming of ''La bohème'' in Paris that he was found to be suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and given a 1 in 10 chance of survival. However, he recovered from the disease after undergoing a gruelling treatment involving chemotherapy, radiation therapy and an autologous bone marrow transplant at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Following his recovery, he gradually returned to both the operatic and the concert stage, embarking on a tour of come-back recitals in 1988 and 1989 and singing with Montserrat Caballé in ''Medea'' (Mérida, 1989) and in the world premiere of Balada's ''Cristóbal Colón'' (Barcelona, 1989)

1990 – present

The 1990s continued to see Carreras performing on the operatic stage in ''Carmen'' and ''Fedora'' and making role debuts in ''Samson et Dalila'' (Peralada, 1990), Verdi's ''Stiffelio'' (London, 1993), and Wolf-Ferrari's ''Sly'' (Zurich, 1998). However, his opera performances became less frequent as he increasingly devoted himself to concerts and recitals. His final performance in a fully staged opera was on 12 July 2002 in Tokyo, where he reprised the title role in ''Sly'', while his final operatic performances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the opera house where his career began, were in ''Samson et Dalila'' (March 2001).

In 1990 the first Three Tenors concert, took place in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals. It was originally conceived to raise money for Carreras's leukemia foundation and as a way for his colleagues, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, to welcome their "little brother" back to the world of opera. However, it and the subsequent Three Tenors concerts brought Carreras a fame that went far beyond the opera house. It is estimated that over a billion people around the world watched the television broadcast of the 1994 Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles. By 1999, the CD from the first Three Tenors concert in Rome had sold an estimated 13 million copies, making it the best-selling classical recording of all time. The early 1990s also saw Carreras serving as the Musical Director for the opening and closing ceremonies of 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, and performing in a worldwide concert tour in tribute to his first singing hero, Mario Lanza.

Carreras's recording and concert repertoire has now moved almost entirely into Neapolitan songs, the light classical genre, and 'easy-listening'. He has also increasingly performed and recorded with artists from outside the classical music world, such as Diana Ross, Edyta Górniak, Lluis Llach, Peter Maffay, Udo Jürgens, Klaus Meine, Charles Aznavour, Kim Styles, Sarah Brightman, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Debbie Harry, Majida El Roumi, and Giorgia Fumanti.

Humanitarian work

thumb|200px|right|José Carreras visiting a leukemia patient on the cover of ''Amigos de la Fundación'', July 2005Following his own recovery from leukemia, Carreras sought both to repay the debt he owed to medical science and to improve the lives and care of other leukemia sufferers. On 14 July 1988, he established the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation (Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia) in Barcelona. The foundation, which publishes a tri-monthly magazine on its activities, ''Amigos de la Fundación'', concentrates its efforts in four main areas:

Development of clinical research into the cure and treatment of leukemia through scholarships and research grants.

Campaigns to increase bone marrow and cord blood donation for leukemia patients requiring transplants, along with the operation of REDMO, the Spanish national registry of bone marrow donors.

Strengthening of the research and clinical infrastructures in both leading international institutions and hospitals and laboratories in the developing world.

Provision of social services to leukemia patients and their families, including free accommodation near transplant centres.

The José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation also has affiliates in the U.S., Switzerland, and Germany, with the German affiliate the most active of the three. Since 1995, Carreras has presented an annual live television benefit gala in Leipzig to raise funds for the foundation's work in Germany. Since its inception, the gala alone has raised well over €71 million. Carreras also performs at least 20 charity concerts a year in aid of his foundation and other medical related charities. He is an Honorary Member of the European Society for Medicine and the European Haematology Association, an Honorary Patron of the European Society for Medical Oncology, and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO.

Awards and distinctions

Carreras has received numerous awards and distinctions for both his artistic and humanitarian work. These include: Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (France); Gran Croce di Cavaliere and Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana; Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria; the Cruz de Oro del Orden Civil de la Solidaridad Social from Queen Sofia of Spain, The Prince of Asturias Prize, and the Bundesverdienstkreuz from the Federal Republic of Germany. On 23 February 2004, the Austrian Post Office issued a 1€ stamp to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper.

He has Honorary Doctorates from the University of Barcelona and Miguel Hernández University (Spain); Napier, Loughborough and Sheffield universities (United Kingdom); the Mendeleev Russian University of Chemistry and Technology (Russia); the University of Camerino (Italy); Rutgers University (United States); the University of Coimbra (Portugal); the National University of Music Bucharest (Romania); Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany); the University of Pécs (Hungary) and most recently, the Hyunghee University (Korea) and the University of Porto (Portugal).

In Spain the central plaza in Sant Joan d'Alacant bears his name, as do two theatres – the Auditori Josep Carreras in Vila-seca (near Tarragona) and The Teatro Josep Carreras in Fuenlabrada.

Family

Throughout his childhood in Barcelona, Carreras's father, Josep Carreras i Soler, worked as a traffic policeman. He had originally been a French teacher. However, he had fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, and when the Franco government came into power in 1939, he was no longer allowed to teach. His mother, Antonia Coll i Saigi, ran a small hair-dressing salon, where, as a child, Carreras often sang to the customers in return for pocket money. He was very close to his mother, who was convinced that he would one day be a great singer, and her death from cancer when he was only 18 affected him greatly. In ''José Carreras: A Life Story'', he said that "even now, every time I go on stage, I always, always, have a quick thought for her." In 1971 Carreras married Mercedes Pérez. They had two children: a son, Albert (born in 1972), and a daughter, Julia (born in 1978). The marriage ended in divorce in 1992. In 2006, Carreras married Jutta Jäger. Carreras's nephew, David Giménez Carreras, is a conductor and Director of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès. He has conducted many of Carreras's concerts since the late 1990s as well as his opera performances in ''Sly'' at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in June 2000.

Voice

thumb|180px|right|José Carreras in ''Andrea Chénier'', La Scala, 1985In its prime, Carreras's voice was considered one of the most beautiful tenor voices of the day. The Spanish critic, Fernando Fraga has described it as a lyric tenor with the generosity of a spinto, having "a noble timbre, richly coloured and sumptuously resonant". This is particularly true of the middle range of his voice. Fraga also noted, as has Carreras himself, that even in his youth the high notes of the tenor range were always somewhat problematic for him, and became more so as his career progressed. Like his idol, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carreras was also known for the beauty and expressiveness of his phrasing and for his passionate delivery. These qualities are perhaps best exemplified in his 1976 recording of ''Tosca'' with Montserrat Caballé in the title role and conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

According to several critics his assumption of the heavier spinto roles such as ''Andrea Chénier'', Don José in ''Carmen'', ''Don Carlo'', and Alvaro in ''La forza del destino'' put a strain on his naturally lyric instrument which may have caused the voice to prematurely darken and lose some of its bloom. Nevertheless he produced some of his finest performances in those roles. The ''Daily Telegraph'' wrote of his 1984 ''Andrea Chénier'' at London's Royal Opera House: "Switching effortlessly from the lyric poet Rodolfo in ''La Bohème'' a few weeks ago to the heroic poet Chenier, the Spanish tenor's vocal artistry held us spellbound throughout." Of his 1985 performance in ''Andrea Chénier'' at La Scala (preserved on DVD), Carl Battaglia wrote in ''Opera News'' that Carreras dominated the opera "with formidable concentration and a cleverly refined vocal accent that imparts to this spinto role an overlay of intensity lacking in his essentially lyric tenor." However, Carl H. Hiller's review of the La Scala performance in ''Opera'' also noted that while in the quiet phrases of the score "he could display all the tonal mellowness of which this perhaps most beautiful tenor voice of our time is capable", he had difficulty with the high loud notes, which sounded strained and uneasily produced. Critic Peter G. Davis wrote of Carreras' choice to continue his career:

Even critics hostile to the Three Tenors phenomenon draw the veil of charity over Carreras's charmless contributions to those mechanized events, hesitating to point out that his voice lost its luster and lyric beauty long before its owner fell ill. Yet that unpleasant fact never seems to dampen the enthusiasm of his fans, who may be less interested in music and expressive singing than in applauding triumph over adversity.

Recordings

Listed below is a representative selection of notable commercial recordings from the peak years of José Carreras's career. He has an extremely large discography and videography, which also includes many performances preserved on private recordings. The complete list of recordings through 1999 is available on Carreras's official web site (see External links).

Complete operas

Bizet: ''Carmen'' (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Leona Mitchell, Samuel Ramey, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine) DVD Deutschegrammophon 73000

Donizetti: ''L'elisir d'amore'' (Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras, Leo Nucci, Susanna Rigacci, Domenico Trimarchi, Coro della RAI di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Della Rai Di Torino, Claudio Scimone) CD Philips 00289 475 4422

Donizetti: ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' (Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Samuel Ramey, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Jesús López-Cobos) CD Philips 00289 470 4212

Giordano: ''Andrea Chénier'' (José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Eva Marton, Nella Verri, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Chailly) DVD Kultur ISBN 0-7697-8050-4

Halévy: ''La Juive'' (June Anderson, Julia Varady, José Carreras, Philharmonia Orchestra, Antonio Almeida) CD Philips 00289 475 7629

Massenet: ''Werther'' (José Carreras, Frederica Stade, Isobel Buchanan, Thomas Allen, Robert Lloyd, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 475 7567

Puccini: ''La Bohème'' (Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 442 2602

Puccini: ''Manon Lescaut'' (Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras, Paolo Coni, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Riccardo Chailly) CD Decca 460-750-2

Puccini: ''Madama Butterfly'' (Mirella Freni, Teresa Berganza, José Carreras, Juan Pons, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli) CD Deutsche Grammophon 423 5672

Puccini: ''Tosca'' (Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Ingvar Wixell, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 464 7292

Saint-Saëns: ''Samson et Dalila'' (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Jonathan Summers, Simon Estes, Paata Burchuladze, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Colin Davis) CD Philips 000289 475 8706

Verdi: ''Un ballo in maschera'' (Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Ingvar Wixell, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 470 5862

Verdi: ''Il Corsaro'' (Montserrat Caballé, Jessye Norman, José Carreras, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli) CD Philips 00289 475 6769

Verdi: ''Don Carlo'' (José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, Fiamma Izzo D'amico, Piero Cappuccilli, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan) DVD Sony Classical 48312

Verdi: ''I due Foscari'' ( José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Katia Ricciarelli, Samuel Ramey, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli, CD Philips 422426

Verdi: ''La forza del destino'' (Sesto Bruscantini, José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Giuseppe Patané) CD Myto 984192

Verdi: ''Un giorno di regno'' (Jessye Norman, Fiorenza Cossotto, José Carreras, Ingvar Wixell, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli) CD Philips 00289 475 6772

Verdi: ''I lombardi alla prima crociata'' (José Carreras, Ghena Dimitrova, Carlo Bii, Silvano Carroli, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Gianandrea Gavazzeni) DVD Kultur 2036

Verdi: ''Simon Boccanegra'' (Piero Cappuccilli, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Nicolai Ghiaurov, José van Dam, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado) CD Deutsche Grammophon 449 7522

Verdi: ''Stiffelio'' (Sylvia Sass, José Carreras, Matteo Manuguerra, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli) CD Philips 00289 475 6775

Recitals, sacred music and cross-over

Bernstein: ''West Side Story'' (Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras, Tatiana Troyanos, Kurt Ollmann, Marilyn Horne, Leonard Bernstein) CD Deutschegrammophon 457 1992

Puccini: ''Messa di Gloria'' (José Carreras, Hermann Prey, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Scimone) CD Erato 48692

Ramirez: ''Misa Criolla'', ''Navidad Nuestra'' CD Philips 420955

Verdi: ''Messa da Requiem'' (Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, José Dam, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan) CD Deutschegrammophon 439 0332

Various: ''Ave Maria'' (José Carreras, Vienna Boys Choir, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Uwe Christian Harrer) Philips 4111382

Various: ''José Carreras – The Golden Years'' (arias and songs by Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Massenet, Bizet, Lehár, Handel, Gastoldi, Giordano, Tosti, Cardillo, Denza, de Curtis, Lara, d' Hardelot, Brodszky, Bernstein, Lloyd Webber) CD Philips 462892

Various: ''The Very Best of José Carreras'' (arias from ''Aida'', ''Macbeth'', ''Cavalleria rusticana'', ''Pagliacci'', ''Turandot'', ''Don Carlo'', ''Carmen'', ''Faust'', ''Roméo et Juliette'', ''Polyeucte'', ''Le Cid'', ''Sappho'', ''Hérodiade'', ''La Juive'', ''L'Africaine'', ''Le Roi d'Ys'', ''La Périchole'') CD EMI 7243 5 75903 2 7

Notes and references

Matheopoulos, H., ''The Great Tenors: From Caruso to the Present'', 1999, London: Laurence King Publishing.

Osborne, R., ''Conversations with Karajan'', 1991, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Taylor, S. and Pullen, R., ''Montserrat Caballé – Casta Diva'', 1994, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Spanish language bibliography

Alier, R., ''El Trobador – Retrat de Josep Carreras'', 2007, Barcelona: Edicions Dau. ISBN 9788493522858

Nidal, P., ''Carreras, La Pasion de Vivir'', 1988, Barcelona: Clip.

Perez Senz, J., ''El Placer de Cantar – Un Retrato Autobiografico'', 1988, Barcelona: Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor.

External links

Josep Carreras — official website

Official website dedicated primarily to Carreras's 2004 CD ''Energia''

Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia – the official web site for Carreras's leukemia foundation with versions in Catalan, Spanish and English.

Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung – the official web site for the German branch of Carreras's leukemia foundation.

The Unofficial José Carreras Web Site – a large data base of media articles and reviews dating from 1970 to 2002.

The José Carreras Timeline 1958–2004.

Complete performance records at The New York Metropolitan Opera and La Scala

Agent Peter Kupfer

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name	Glen Douglas Pearson
honorific-suffix	MP
riding	London North Centre
parliament	Canadian
term start	December 7, 2006
term end	2011
predecessor	Joe Fontana
successor	Susan Truppe
birth date	December 26, 1950
birth place	Calgary, Alberta
party	Liberal
spouse	Jane Roy
residence	London, Ontario
profession	firefighter
religion	United Church of Canada
footnotes	}}

Glen Douglas Pearson (born December 26, 1950) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a former Member of Parliament for London North Centre, and is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Life and career

Pearson was born in Calgary, Alberta. He is a professional firefighter in London, Ontario, Canada, well known for his charitable and humanitarian activities. He has recently retired as a captain in the London Fire Department, where he has worked for the past 29 years, but he is perhaps better known as the co-founder and volunteer executive director of the London Food Bank for the past 20 years. He has also previously been involved in the Ontario Association of Food Banks as a Board member, serving one term as Chairperson.

In 1998, along with his wife, Jane Roy, Pearson worked on human rights and development projects in Sudan. This work included building schools and infrastructure, general community development and campaigning against slavery.

On August 15, 2007, Pearson reunited his Sudanese born adoptive daughter, Abuk Roy, with her twin sister, Achan and brother Ater, who were previously thought to be dead.

Politics

Pearson originally stood as the Liberal candidate in London—Fanshawe in the general election of January 23, 2006, losing to Irene Mathyssen of the New Democratic Party.

Following the resignation of Joe Fontana in London North Centre, he was elected in the resulting by-election on November 27, 2006. His closest competition was Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May, who received 26% of the vote.

His campaign emphasized environmental, health care and accountability issues.

A father of seven and grandfather of three, Pearson lives with his wife and their adopted children, Abuk, Achan and Ater in London, Ontario. He supported Stéphane Dion in the Liberal leadership election, and introduced him on the night of the candidate speeches.

Electoral record

|- |Glen Pearson |align="right"|13,287 |align="right"|34.85% |align="right"|-5.27% |- |Elizabeth May |align="right"|9,864 |align="right"|25.87% |align="right"|+20.38% |- |Dianne Haskett |align="right"|9,309 |align="right"|24.42% |align="right"|-5.48% |- |Megan Walker |align="right"|5,388 |align="right"|14.13% |align="right"|-9.62% |- | Steven Hunter |align="right"|145 |align="right"|0.38% |align="right"|-0.09% |- | Robert Ede |align="right"|77 |align="right"|0.20% |align="right"|- |- |Will Arlow |align="right"|53 |align="right"|0.14% |align="right"|- |- bgcolor="white" |align="left" colspan=3|Total |align="right"|38,123 |align="right"|100.00% |align="right"|

References

External links

Parliament Webpage

Category:1950 births Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs Category:Living people Category:Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Ontario Category:Members of the United Church of Canada Category:People from Calgary

fr:Glen Pearson