It has been reported that Canadian Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's tour of the country got off to a bit of a rough start on Tuesday when his bus broke down.

The Toronto Star has reported that transmission problems apparently forced the red-and-white bus to the shoulder of the road near Hawkesbury, near the Ontario-Quebec border.

Ignatieff joked he had heard a rumor Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper had been spotted making a getaway "with motor oil on his hands."

He added that the bus's mechanical woes were "not a metaphor for anything. Sometimes a bump in the road is just a bump in the road."

Ignatieff, speaking to a crowd in Hawkesbury, chided Harper for being stand-offish.

Ignatieff said, "Stephen Harper would have you about 25 feet back; he'd have you behind a rope line. He wouldn't take an unscripted question. He wouldn't wade into the crowd. This prime minister who believes in control. I'm a leader of the opposition who wants to talk, who wants to listen, who wants to reach out, who wants to hear, who wants to be on the ground, who wants to be as close as I can to the concerns and anxieties and worries of Canadians."

It has been reported that Ignatieff is spending two months traveling by bus to all 10 Canadian provinces and three territories. (With Inputs from Agencies)