Oh, Iggy, Iggy, Iggy. For a Harvard egghead, you sure are one thick-headed Canadian politician.

Parliament has resumed, but no one knows how long it will last. Michael Ignatieff, this year’s leader of the Liberals, has decreed from his perch high above the rabble that Canadians are fed up with Stephen Harper (true for some of us), and are clamouring for an election (not true for any of us). “Enough is enough,” Ignatieff has declared. One could say the same thing about the Canadian election carousel.

It has been less than a year since fewer than 60 per cent of Canadians, the lowest total in our history, trudged to the polls and cast an underwhelming vote of confidence in Harper and his repressive Conservatives. The Liberals, under Stéphane Dion, were handed one of the worst results in the party’s history, bringing an unusually quick end to the Dion era. Now, with the feckless Dion disposed of and born-again Canadian Michael Ignatieff in control, the Liberals seem to have convinced themselves that Canadians are ready to end their flirtation with the Conservative party and come back to their natural home. All is forgiven, Iggy says. Let’s have one of those silly little elections, install the true and rightful ruling party back on the throne, and all will be well in the peaceable kingdom.

I don’t know if that’s really how the Liberals are thinking. It appears that the Liberals aren’t doing any real thinking at all. The party came up with the idea to force an election during a caucus meeting in Sudbury, so I can only assume there’s something in the water in that city. Maybe too much nickel.

From where I sit (which, as I write this, is my backyard on a beautiful September night), Canadians have no more desire for another federal election than Oiler fans have for the return of Mike Comrie. But it’s still gonna happen.

In many ways, the situation is no different than last year, when Harper broke his own fixed election date law and forced an election that nobody wanted in an ultimately futile bid for a majority. This time, it’s Ignatieff who, if he does force an election, must bear the blame for forcing Canadians to exercise their franchise once again. Harper claimed Parliament was dysfunctional and had to be disbanded. Ignatieff may try to make the same claim, but he will be on even shakier ground than Harper.

If Ignatieff does force an election, I think he will be making a catastrophic mistake, perhaps a mistake of historic proportions.

Now, I’m not saying I’m smarter than Michael Ignatieff; the guy has 11 honorary degrees, including one from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. I have a journalism diploma from Mount Royal College in Calgary and have successfully completed the Dale Carnegie course. But I dare say that I think I have better political instincts than Iggy, perhaps because I have spent more of my life in Canada than he has. And my instincts tell me that Canadians are in no mood for another election, and they just might smite the one who brings another election down upon us.

It’s true that nobody loves Harper, except for his wife and kids, I assume. He is a viciously partisan control freak who, I am absolutely sure, would take Canada farther right than it has ever gone were he rewarded with a majority. But his government has been competent if uninspired, or at least no more incompetent and uninspired than Jean Chrétien ever was, and scandal-free. Harper may be a profoundly unpleasant politician, but he’s not a terrible administrator. Compare Harper to someone colossally incompetent like Ed Stelmach, and Harper looks like a northern Abe Lincoln.

If Iggy forces an election based on nothing more than his “enough is enough” mantra, he would be playing a very dangerous game. You’d think the guy would take a few clues from Canadian history, a topic on which he is an alleged expert. Surely he can draw a comparison between the position he finds himself in today and the position Lester Pearson was in way back in 1958.

Back then Pearson, my political hero, was the newly installed leader of the Liberal party. John Diefenbaker had just defeated Louis St. Laurent with a minority, ending 22 years of Liberal rule. Pearson — who, like Ignatieff, was a bigger name in international circles than at home — heeded the advice of party elders and made a very bold statement. The first thing Pearson did after being named Liberal leader was to demand that Diefenbaker resign and hand the government over to him. Diefenbaker, jowls flapping and finger wagging, pounced on the golden opportunity, and called an election. The Liberals were buried, reduced to just 48 of the 265 seats in the House of Commons, the worst Liberal defeat in history to that time.

If Ignatieff is given a chance to reverse his threat and save face at the same time, he should take it. As George Santayana (whoever he is) said: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Maurice Tougas is the former Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Meadowlark.

mauricetougas@live.com