to garner support than he had in the last leadership contest, with his 2006 campaign co-chair now supporting Ignatieff. As it was obvious that Ignatieff had lined up enough support to become the party's leader, Rae withdrew on December 9, 2008. He has since criticized Ignatieff's decision to withdraw from the coalition with the NDP. He served as Foreign Affairs critic in the shadow cabinets of both Dion and Ignatieff. On June 9, 2009, Rae was denied entry by Sri Lankan Immigration officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka on grounds that he was "a threat to national security and sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers rebel group". Rae responded, "Sri Lanka is afraid of dialogue, afraid of discussion, afraid of engagement ... If this is how they treat me, imagine how they treat people who can't speak out." Rae has described Sri Lanka as 'a very dangerous place to be a journalist. "It's a very dangerous place to be any kind of Tamil right now and this is nuts." In November 2009, Rae sponsored a motion for Canada to recognize Black Ribbon Day to commemorate the victims of Nazi and Communist regimes. Interim Liberal leader In the aftermath of the 2011 federal election in which the Liberals were reduced to third place behind the NDP, Rae speculated on national television about the possibility of future co-operation between the two parties. Following Ignatieff's announcement that he would be resigning as leader, Rae was touted as a possible successor. However, his advocacy of a possible Liberal-NDP merger caused consternation among some Liberals. Former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien reportedly called senior Liberals urging Rae's selection as interim leader. However, the Liberal National Board announced that the interim leader position could only be held by an individual who agreed not to seek the permanent leadership and not to seek to change the party or merge it with another party during his tenure. On May 19, 2011, Rae declared that he would not be running for leadership for the Liberal Party, but would instead seek the interim leadership position. He was chosen over Quebec MP Marc Garneau for the interim leadership on May 25, 2011. While Rae had been widely expected to resign the post of interim leader and make a bid for the permanent leadership he announced on June 13, 2012, that he would not be a candidate in the Liberal