IGNATIEFF COURTS STUDENTS IN RICHMOND

A Liberal government would make education a top priority, cancel the
Conservative government's $6-billion corporate tax cut, tackle
Canada's $56-billion deficit, introduce a program that would pay
people to take time off work to care for sick or dying family members
and decriminalize marijuana possession.

Those were among the pledges made by federal Liberal Leader Michael
Ignatieff at a town hall meeting at Richmond secondary school Friday.

In exchange, he asked all students who will be 18 for the next federal
election to vote.

"I want you to commit," he told roughly 200 students. "It's your
country. You're up next."

The meeting was one of several Open Mike town hall meetings taking
place across the country. The meetings use the Internet and
interactive social media to engage young voters. Participants from
across the country can ask questions via Twitter and Facebook and can
read real-time blogs and listen to podcasts. (Visit
www.liberal.ca/openmike.)

Ignatieff said only out of five voters who had just reached voting age
(18) bothered to vote in the last federal election. He encouraged
students to take an interest in politics, saying it is a good way for
young people to rise quickly up the ladder, and cited his own
experience. Ignatieef was just 21 when he became the national Liberal
youth leader under Liberal Leader Pierre Trudeau.

"You can be in there playing an important role very fast," Ignatieff
said.

Asked by Glen Arthur in Vancouver by Twitter what his top priorities
will be if his party forms the next government, Ignatieff said the
first thing he would do is cancel a $6 billion corporate tax cut.

"When you're in a $56-billion hole, we've got to get our deficit
straitened out," he said. "And we've got to make some investments in
learning and care."

His second priority would be getting the country's deficit and debt
under control, adding "we wouldn't waste so much darned money."

"Last June, the government spent a billion dollars - I'm not making
this up - in 72 hours for a G-8 summit meeting that didn't result in
anything positive," he said. "And that's the kind of waste our
government would be committed to eliminating."

Ignatieff said his third priority would be investing in higher
education, saying it is critical to job creation.

"I've got to create a system that doesn't load you or your parents
with debt," Ignatieff said.

He said he wants a simple rule of thumb in Canada for higher
education: "If you get the grades, you get to go."

But for a policy that ranks third on his priority, Ignatieff was vague
on just how he would make education more affordable and accessible. He
said details of his party's education policies will be fleshed out in
his party's platform in time for the next election.

One plank that Ignatieff has expanded on is a $1 billion family care
program that would pay people to take up to six months off work to
care for ailing or dying loved ones. Ignatieff said it would be
similar to employment insurance.

He said families looking after their own sick or dying loved ones at
home are shouldering huge costs. His plan would provide them with up
to $1,350 per year to help defray those costs.

"The future of health care is in the home, but only if families get
some help to do it," Ignatieff said.

Asked about his stance on trade with China and India, Ignatieff said
trade agreements should be global in nature, and should address a
variety of issues, not just economic ones.

"It's not just trade," he said. "It's education, it's culture, it's
visas, it's family travel."

He added Canada also needs to makes its views on things like human
rights known to countries like China, without sounding like it is
lecturing. He cited China's attempts to control and censor the
Internet as one example.

In his last visit to China, Ignatieff said he let Chinese leaders know
that "we think it's crazy to try and control the Internet.

"They're a big, powerful country," he said. "They're going to do what
they want to do. But they need to hear from their friends that this
attempt to control freedom is both wrong and impractical. It's not
even in their own interest."

One student, who is a recent immigrant, asked: "What are the Liberals
doing to ensure our multicultural population is supported?"

Ignatieff - whose Russian-born father was an immigrant - said he wants
to see immigration maintained at the current levels and wants to see
more immigrants integrated in politics.

But he added, immigrants have an obligation to learn one of Canada's
official languages - English or French.

"The key to immigrant success and integration and holding our society
together is everybody speaks the same darned language," he said.

Asked what he made of the recent failure of Proposition 19 - a
referendum in California on legalizing marijuana - Ignatieff said the
Liberals would reintroduce a bill (which died with the election of a
Conservative government) to decriminalize simple marijuana possession.

"I don't want any young person's life ruined for being arrested for
possession of small amounts of marijuana," Ignatieff said.