He's been the official leader of the Liberal party for less than a day. But Michael Ignatieff is already making it clear he doesn't have any qualms about ringing down the curtain on Stephen Harper's minority government.
Ignatieff took the crown by default after challenger Bob Rae bowed out on Tuesday.
But while he took a neutral tack on the possibility of a coalition government taking over on Parliament Hill, he was clear that it's up to Harper to put the "Tory" in conciliatory - or his reign will end.
"Mr. Harper now has a choice: you can continue down this path of divisive politics or he can start working constructively with Parliament. The choice is his," the former college professor warns. "We will do our job as parliamentarians and hold him and his government to account. At a time when he has polarized our politics, we need to find a better way."
Ignatieff notes a lot depends on whether the Conservatives are being honest with the opposition - and by extension, the Canadian people.
"If we get the facts, how bad the deficit is going to be, where we truly actually are on the 10th of December in the Year of Our Lord 2008, we can do lots of things, but right now, to be candid, I don't believe this government is leveling with the country about the nature of the public finance and until we get that clear understanding, it's difficult to move forward, but I hope we can move forward."
The new party leader certainly has his work cut out for him - faced with the challenge of rebuilding the beleaguered Liberal party following one of its worst ever showings in a federal election.
"I want us to reach out and hope that western Canadians forgive and forget ... some of the errors the party has made in the past," Ignatieff said.
Not everyone is happy that Ignatieff has been anointed leader without having to participate in debates or win votes. There's worry Liberal party members will be less inclined to donate given they weren't included in the crucial selection process.
But there's another side to that coin as well.
"If anything the clarification of the leadership is a good thing for the coalition," said NDP MP Thomas Mulcair.
"We won't have a side issue of leadership to deal with."
And though Harper expressed his desire to meet with the new Liberal boss in an attempt to work together before the budget is presented, at least one Conservative politician is already taking shots at him.
Doug Finley, chair of the Tory national campaign, claimed Ignatieff would become the head of a Liberal-NDP coalition, which if it goes forward could result in the Toronto-area politician being named the new prime minister. Finley argues Canadians didn't vote for that.
A recent poll suggests the Liberals would have a better shot at defeating the Conservatives with Ignatieff at the helm.
A brief sketch of Michael Ignatieff:
Born -- May 12, 1947, in Toronto. Age 61
Education -- University of Toronto, Oxford, Harvard University (PhD).
Career -- Senior research Fellow at King's College, Cambridge. Taught at Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics. Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Politics -- First elected to House of Commons 2006, re-elected 2008 in Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore. Ran for party leadership 2006, lost to Stephane Dion.
Family -- Wife Zsuzsanna Zsohar; two children, Theo and Sophie.
Quote -- "Politics is about listening, and then politics is about acting."
Michael Ignatieff arrives at the Palais des Congres as the Liberal Party Convention gets underway on November 29, 2006 in Montreal. (Photo by Simon Hayter/Getty Images)