Michael Ignatieff wants to be prime minister of Canada.

'I want to restore our standing in the world as the leader. I think we are not a small, unimportant country, I think we're a really big, important country,' Ignatieff told a jam-packed room of more than 50 Liberal supporters last Friday at the Gold Rush Inn.

'We have not fulfilled our potential as a world leader and I want to be part of the process of getting us up there.'

The attendees, who included the likes of territorial party leader Arthur Mitchell, former commissioner Jack Cable and various contenders for the next territorial election, paid $10 a person to hear Ignatieff speak.

Ignatieff is among 10 Liberals seeking the federal leadership crown. The final vote will take place at a convention in Montreal on Dec. 3.

The Etobicoke-Lakeshore, member of Parliament has the largest contingent of elected representatives in Canada currently supporting him in his bid to lead the party.

Etobicoke-Lakeshore is a riding in Toronto.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell became his latest declared supporter last Friday and has also been named Ignatieff's national advisor on northern affairs for the remainder of the campaign.

The contender's resume and family history are long.

The 59-year-old is the son of George Ignatieff and Alison Grant.

His father was a Canadian diplomat who served as an ambassador to Yugoslavia, NATO and the United Nations, president of the United Nations Security Council and chancellor of the University of Toronto. His mother's linage connects the family to Vincent Massey, Canada's first national-born governor general.

Ignatieff has travelled the world, spending much of his adult life outside of Canada. He's been a journalist, a war correspondent, an acclaimed writer and a university professor.

Considered an international expert in human rights, democracy, security and international affairs, he has been named by Maclean's to be among Canada's 50 most influential people.

He returned to Canada, from his director position at Harvard University's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, approximately 12 months ago with the intention to run in last January's federal election and the not-so secret ambition to succeed Paul Martin as leader of the federal Liberal party.

He says his story is a very Canadian one.

'People who come to this country with nothing, roll up their sleeves and make things happen push the ceiling up for themselves, push the walls out for everyone else.'

And he's comfortable with the fact he's been away from Canada for years. He says that's not much different than many Canadians.

'Many Yukoners live, work all over the world. I feel there's something very Canadian about going overseas and doing stuff and then coming back. I don't feel it's un-Canadaian.'

What is important, he adds, is the Liberal party is the driving force of progressive social change in the country and his vision for Canada is all about hope.

'I think the issue I see across our country is that there are regions of our country that feel left out, not fully involved.

'It's not part of my vision of Canada that all the hope, all the opportunity and all the growth is in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.'

The Liberal party is currently a 'fortress party', he says, with the belief that to get the votes a party must go 'downtown'.

He says he doesn't want to lead a party that looks at the country through that lens. The fact it is occurring now it just a symptom of what he labels as the 'undiscussed national unity challenge.'

National unity is no longer about the French-English dynamic, he says, it is about rural-urban, metropolitan-regional, North-South.

'Single-industry towns hanging by a thread, farm sectors in our country hanging by a thread, oceans and fisheries areas hanging by a thread you begin to get a sense that there's an undiscussed national unity issue here,' says Ignatieff.

The solution, as he sees it, is regional economic development programs.

'It's about the distribution of hope in our country,' he says. 'There's no one-size fits-all national regional development strategy.'

Creating greater post-secondary education opportunities, investing in research and infrastructure and ensuring linkages across the country are fundament, says Ignatieff.

'I no longer believe that you can do regional development from Ottawa. You shouldn't even try. It's a waste of time.

'Get the development plan generated locally and then you come to the federal government.'

Communities know what they need, he says. It's communities' jobs to come up with the plan. It is the federal government's job to cut through the 'bureaucratic red tape' and get the cheque in the mail.

Federal governments aren't so good at delivering programs, he says, but are good at handing out money.

A progressive social party must also have 'robust environmental action,' he adds.

He sees the Yukon as having the ability to be a global leader in research for climate change, labelling the territory as the 'canaries in the mine' of the rest of the national experience.

The territory is also a leader in dealings with first nations, adds Ignatieff.

'The relationship between first nations people and other residents of this great territory, you're trying to do something very important here in the international context and it's very important to remember how much it matters.'

There needs to be a greater recognition in Canada that dealings with first nations governments are nation-to-nation discussions.

'Aboriginal leaders are ready to be as accountable as any other order of government. They are willing to step up and say, We owe the same duty of fiduciary accountability to our people as any other municipality, province or federal government.' Those are the only terms on which we can do this.

'Every government has to be accountable and responsible to its people, period. There are no excuses, there are no second standards. Everybody plays by the same standards of transparency, accountability and responsibility.

'I am willing to commit myself as a leader, to creating an aboriginal order of government that is recognized as having the status of a nation in our country and is held to the same standards as of fiduciary accountability as any other order of government and has the capacity to serve and the responsibility to serve. I'm willing to be radical to get that done and Yukon can show us the way.'

Ignatieff would also like to see the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development phased out, stating he is uncomfortable with its existence, its problematic history and its representation of a 19th-century relationship with aboriginal people.

He would also like to see the $5.1-billion Kelowna Accord, aimed at reducing poverty gaps between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians, returned.

Though, he warns that with all the cuts the Conservatives have made to the fiscal system since coming to power last February and canning the accord, he doesn't know where the money will come from even if he were to lead Canada in the future.

Ignatieff says he will continue his staunch support of Canada's role in Afghanistan and the country's soldiers and military.

Canadians must accept that the role of the Canadian peacekeeper has changed from what it was 50 years ago.

'We must never have a Canadian solider sent to do a mission in a place like that when he doesn't have equipment, the rules of engagement to do the job. Doing the job is protecting civilians,' he says. 'You can't protect civilians now unless you have combat capability.'

Canada is an enormous success, he says, and has a role and a responsibility to continue to move forward as an example to the world.

'We must do absolutely everything to keep this show on the road,' he says. 'We come from a thousand different places. We're trying to make a life together in the second-largest country in the world.

'If we can't do it, nobody can.'