Idea alert

Michael Ignatieff throws out a suggestion.

On the second day of his summer-long cross-country tour, Ignatieff told people at a town hall meeting in Kingston that international experience is not something that should be frowned upon. It’s a direct rebuttal to the Conservative party’s efforts to paint Ignatieff — who spent more than two decades living and working in Britain and the United States — as someone who’s just visiting Canada.

“I don’t want Canadians to think the only good Canadian is someone who’s never left these shores,” Ignatieff said. He envisions a program in which the federal government would provide subsidized placements with Canadian institutions or partners overseas to “internationalize” an entire generation of young people.