Ignatieff's "I Feel Your Pain" Goes Too Far

The Liberal leader in trying push his Family Care Plan uses his family tragedy in his email that he has sent .  John Ivison calls it "manipulative, undignified and in poor taste." 

 This email from Michael Ignatieff to his mass-mailing list went out this afternoon. Titled “This is personal,” it strikes me as manipulative, undignified and in poor taste — using the Liberal leader’s own personal tragedy to wring votes from Canadians. I know Ignatieff is trying to establish a personal connection with voters but this was a poor decision, more likely to make people feel uncomfortable than sympathetic.

Here is what is in the email  Ivison  refers to.

John — My mother got sick with Alzheimer’s when she was in her 60s — early, in other words — and my dad took care of her at home. I’ve never admired my father more than when he looked after my mom, but it killed him, basically. It was tough, even with my brother, Andrew, stepping up, and our family and friends helping. Like my Dad did, millions of Canadians care for family members at home when loved ones fall ill. They are a silent workforce, providing $9-billion in unpaid work each year. Many must use personal savings to survive, miss work or quit their jobs. Over half have household incomes under $45,000. Like the loved ones they are caring for, many of these caregivers are in the fight of their lives. Yesterday, I announced a new Liberal Party policy to change that.
Canadians want to shoulder the responsibility of caring for their ill parents, grandparents, spouse or young children. But they also want a government that stands with them, a government that chooses families over corporate tax breaks. That’s why the new Liberal Family Care Plan will introduce:
A new six-month Family Care Employment Insurance Benefit, similar to the EI parental leave benefit, so that more Canadians can care for gravely ill family members at home without having to quit their jobs; and A new Family Care Tax Benefit, modeled on the Child Tax Benefit, to help low- and middle-income family caregivers who provide essential care to a family member at home.
Replacing the current six-week EI program, the Family Care Employment Insurance Benefit will let families claim up to six months in blocks over a year long period, and share it with other family members. Meanwhile, the new Family Care Tax Benefit will help low- and middle-income family caregivers defray the cost of providing essential care to a family member at home. The new benefit will provide families that qualify with a tax-free monthly payment worth up to $1,350 per year. During difficult economic times, governments — and Canadians — must choose. Stephen Harper and the Conservatives choose a $6-billion annual tax break for corporations. We choose families. We’ll keep the corporate tax rate where it is now, 25 percent lower than in the United States, and use some of the savings it provides to pay for the Liberal Family Care Plan. I know this policy will help countless Canadians struggling to provide care for sick loved ones at home. Please visit www.liberal.ca/liberal-family-care-plan to watch the video, share your caregiver stories, and read the full brochure to learn more about the difference this policy could make for your family.
Thank you.
Michael Ignatieff
To contact the Liberal Party of Canada, please reply to this email. Our mailing address: 81 Metcalfe street, suite 600 Ottawa ON K1P 6M8

David Frum is bang on, on  the so called empathy of Ignatieff in 2006 particularly commenting on Iffy's book "Scar Tissue" when Iffy was first seeking the Liberal leadership which was won by Stephane Dion later that year.  Iffy talked about his mothers condition in that book.

It is a work by a man without empathy trying to understand those who possess it; of a man who has arrogantly separated himself from the suffering human race grappling with the realization that he belongs to it; of a man who has despised the unbeautiful and the unclever confronting the possibility that in the ways that ultimately count most, one particular unbeautiful and unclever person is his own better.

Iffy feels your pain?  Wants to help your friends and family while using his own family?  Right!   To use your own family for your own personal gain?  That is is pretty low.  He doesn't have an empathetic bone in his body. He's cold, detached and pretentious. You don't use a family tragedy to further your own political agenda.
John Ivison is right in his description of this as manipulative, undignified and poor taste.  Don't buy into it!