Thornhill

In the latest print edition of Maclean’s there are something like 1,300 words, under this byline, about Michael Ignatieff’s summer. Here, for your amusement, curiosity or comparison, is the indulgently long version, including a never-before-seen alternate ending.

By my count, the Liberal bus stopped in eight ridings—all of them held by either a New Democrat or Conservative—over the last three days. For those who are interested in such things, here are those ridings, how the Liberals finished there in 2008, the margin of defeat and when the Liberals last won the riding.

In a speech just now to a few hundred Liberals in suburban Thornhill, Mr. Ignatieff used the word “tendentious” to describe the Conservative government.

On the way to MuchMusic, a steel drum band played at the back of the bus. Mr. Ignatieff tried his hand at the drum, while a camera clicked away. He and one of the drummers then discussed the band’s prospects at a competition this weekend (the band—Afropan—expects to win).

As of tomorrow morning, I’m on the road, again. In this case that means following Michael Ignatieff around southern Ontario—Thornhill, Toronto, Burlington, Stoney Creek, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Oakville and Mississauga. The trip concludes with a visit to Caribana where the Liberal leader will, in a party tradition that dates to Laurier, be made to jump and wine.