Ottawa

And the Politician Unclear on the Concept of the Week Award goes to …

Michael Ignatieff.

From Canadian Press:

Harper’s main political rival, Liberal Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff, apparently had second thoughts about donning an outlandish bit of Canadiana in Edmonton.

He took part in the annual Old Strathcona Silly Summer Parade featuring unique headwear.

Compared to the daily question period “it’s a lot sillier and a lot more fun,” he said. “I just want to be out in the streets with Canadians today and what better (way) than wearing a silly hat? I haven’t got my silly hat yet, but we’re going to get a really silly one.”

Ignatieff looked dubious, however, when a large, floppy red-and-white topper emblazoned with maple leaves was presented.

He walked off bare-headed as the parade began.

“Mrs. Ignatieff said ‘No,”’ a Liberal staffer explained.

Note: A minor detail, but last time I checked, there’s no such person as “Mrs. Ignatieff”. The woman to whom he is married is named Zsuzsanna Zsohar, and given her purported reaction to the proffered headgear, I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the luckless Liberal staffer who referred to her as anything else.

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