His father's son, redux

Woof. Those of us who've been mocking Ignatieff's presumptuous claim to be "the next Trudeau" since forever are very, very happy to see not just one, but both of Trudeau's surviving sons talk smack about Michael Ignatieff:

OTTAWA (CP) - Michael Ignatieff received a blast Wednesday from one of Pierre Trudeau's sons, after a top aide suggested the late Liberal icon would have endorsed the leadership front-runner's position on recognizing Quebec as a nation.

Alexandre Trudeau issued a written statement saying that anyone who believes his father would have supported Ignateiff's views "couldn't be more wrong." He said it's "more objectionable still" to suggest that his father "would, like Ignatieff, deal in vacuous terms meant to appease emotions."

...Alexandre Trudeau was having none of it. He said his father would never have supported Ignatieff's "paternalistic and empty" recognition of Quebec as a nation.

Moreover, he said the term nation cannot be strictly symbolic; it either "signifies a sovereign country, as in the United Nations" or it signifies a "cultural collective."

If it's a cultural collective, Alexandre Trudeau questioned how only Quebec can be recognized as a nation, and not other collectives such as "Mohawks, Jews, Arabs, Sri Lankans, Guatemalans, Crees, Irish, English, German and French descendents."

"One might be able to argue for a French Canadian nation. One might be able to argue for a state of Quebec. But arguing for the Quebec nation to the exclusion of the myriad of other nations of Canada is absurd for someone who aims to lead Canada," he said.

"It takes no son of Trudeau to know how foreign to him is the idea of allowing Canadian nation building to proceed along the path of ill-defined collective recognitions and entitlements as opposed to the clear rights of free individuals, each capable of being many nations or of none."

So what does Sarah Trudeau think of Mr. Ignatieff?