OTTAWA - Michael Ignatieff will hold private meetings in Washington this week with President Barack Obama's inner circle in a move to showcase the Liberal leader's close bonds to the Democratic administration and a possible one-on-one meeting with the popular U.S. president before the next general election.
Ignatieff will deliver an off-the-record keynote address on Afghanistan on Thursday to an exclusive group of U.S. policymakers that includes Richard Holbrooke, the president 's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Liberal insiders say.
On Wednesday night, Ignatieff will have dinner with Holbrooke, who is spearheading Obama's aggressive new policy to defeat the Taliban and crackdown on insurgents using Pakistan as a safe haven.
"Michael Ignatieff is not even prime minister and already the Obama team is reaching out to him for his expertise and because they believe he will be Canada's next prime minister," said one senior Liberal.
Ignatieff will also be the guest of honour at a private dinner Thursday night in Washington hosted by Obama's White House foreign policy adviser Samantha Power and her husband Cass Sunstein, who also works for Obama and is rumoured to be in line for the president's first Supreme Court appointment.
Larry Summer, the president's economic adviser, is also expected to attend the private dinner. Summer, the former president of Harvard University, is a close friend of Ignatieff as is Power. Summer and Ignatieff have often vacationed together.
The Liberal leader will also meet Barney Frank, the powerful chairman of the House Representatives Financial Services Committee to discuss American efforts to combat the global recession and deal with the banking crisis.
"This shows how highly regarded Michael Ignatieff is to leading figures in the Obama administration," a Liberal insider said.
Holbrooke, who speaks regularly to Ignatieff, will open the Conference on Afghanistan and the Region that is being organized by the United States Institute of Peace.
Liberal sources say Ignatieff will speak on Canada's role in Afghanistan and offer his support for Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But he will also argue Canada should be taking a much bigger role in the Holbrooke mission given the country's military and financial commitment to Afghanistan. Ignatieff has criticized the Harper government for failing to appoint a special envoy to region as Britain, France and Italy have done.
"Canada's voice has been muted. We should not simply be a repeat of the U.S." a Liberal insider said. "We have paid the largest price in the percentage of soldiers killed and we are significant aid donor. We should make sure we have a say in the war against terrorism and the mounting challenge in Pakistan."
Other participants include international experts from the Kennedy School of Government and Harvard's Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy where Ignatieff was director until he returned to Canada to seek run for the Liberals in 2005.
The conference is closed to the media and includes 75 academics and US policymakers.
"It's basically to get a lot of smart people in the same room and try to hash out deeper questions about Afghanistan and Pakistan policy," Tyler Moselle of the Carr Centre told Foreign Policy Magazine. "It's off-the-record and limited to a certain group -- a mixture of Washington, international, and Afghan and Pakistani experts and humanitarians. We hope the ideas symbiotically go back and forth."
Ignatieff will not meet Obama during his visit but some Liberals are hopeful the two can meet later this year in Washington. There is precedent for the president meeting the leader of Canada's official opposition at the White House.
Brian Mulroney went to Washington to meet President Ronald Reagan after he became Conservative leader and before he defeated the Liberals in the 1984 general election.
Ignatieff met Obama for about 35 minutes during the President's recent visit to Ottawa.
