Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff kicked-off a two-month cross-country tour Tuesday to connect with Canadians and "restore faith in the political process."

Ignatieff didn't let rainy skies in Ottawa dampen the launch of his Liberal Express tour, vowing that his party will "practice the power of persuasion, instead of the politics of manipulation."

"We're going to bring politics back to the Canadian people, restore faith in the political process, give Canadians an alternative, give them passionate, progressive, reforming alternatives," Ignatieff told reporters on Parliament Hill.

Between now and the start of September, Ignatieff will visit every province and territory bringing various Liberal MPs, senators, local candidates and Young Liberals along with him.

The tour is not unlike an election campaign, with a gaggle of reporters following Ignatieff to barbecues, rallies and visits to doughnut shops. Also along on the tour are MPs Ralph Goodale and Dominic LeBlanc.

The first major stop was in the community of St. Albert, Ont., where Ignatieff met with staff at a 116-year-old cheese factory. Ignatieff later spoke to about 50 supporters outside, telling them the Liberals care about rural issues.

But the tour hit a snag Tuesday evening when the bus broke down just outside the town of Hawkesbury, Ont. en route to a barbecue in Cornwall. The red-and-white bus was forced to pull over to the side of the road with a blown transmission, and tour organizers called for cars to carry passengers on to Cornwall, reported CTV's Roger Smith.

"You can imagine the disappointment and panic aboard the bus as the Liberals scrambled to figure out what the problem was and whether it could be solved," Smith told CTV News Channel via telephone Tuesday evening.

"Ignatieff tried to shrug it all off, saying ‘look it's just a bump in the road, what could we do? We rented a bus and it broke down.' And he said really this tour is about testing how he and his team handle the stresses and glitches of a real campaign, so they got a real test today."

Earlier Tuesday, Ignatieff said the tour will give Canadians an opportunity to hear what he has to say, while listening to their ideas and concerns.

"I want to talk and listen to Canadians, I want to show them my ideas of a progressive, compassionate alternative to this government and listen to what they have to say," he told CTV's Canada AM from Ottawa.

Ignatieff said he believes "you've got to earn the right to be a government, you've got to show Canadians an alternative that they can believe in."

For these reasons, he will be spelling out the ways his party would prefer to manage the country's interests -- and the ways the Liberals differ from the Conservatives.

"I think we want to be a country where we're building more schools than we're building prisons. Where we're investing in learning and training and education, rather than corporate tax cuts the country can't afford," Ignatieff said.

The Conservatives have dubbed the expedition the "Just Visiting Tour" and even handed out T-shirts with that slogan to reporters. While the Tories have long criticized Ignatieff's time spent outside Canada as an academic and writer, Ignatieff defended his efforts to get close to Canadians.

"Stephen Harper hasn't taken an unscripted question from a Canadian in five years," Ignatieff said in Ottawa.

"I've been in town halls across the country, I've been in universities, I've been in colleges, I've been in union halls and I've been in legion halls, up and down the country. I know one thing about this thing, you have to earn it every single day."

Ignatieff will spend this week touring parts of Ontario by bus, before visiting Saskatchewan and Quebec next week.

Smith said Ignatieff will try to shed his image as an aloof intellectual and connect with voters ahead of a federal election.

"Ignatieff has never done an election campaign before," Smith said. "This is going to test whether he can handle the rigors of a campaign, three and four speeches a day. And it will also test his team, give them a chance to work out some of the glitches so they'll be ready for the contest that really counts."

With files from The Canadian Press