Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Butter please, they’re toast - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
*** Before the main Commentary this morning: An astute reader of this space, Brian Nguyen, points out an error I made in this column on Tuesday. I accept all responsiblity as it was bad form of me to write: "Jean Chrétien hasn’t attempted anything remotely beneficial to the making of this country, for better or worse." Mr. Nguyen notes that “the word ‘beneficial’ generally implies a favorable result, so you can't really say ‘for better or worse’ because you can't have an outcome which is both bad and beneficial.” As I do not have an editor for this column, and I do the editing myself, I neglected to cut that last part (“for better or worse”). Had I to do it over again, I would. I thank Brian for his observation and I make the correction forthwith.
VANCOUVER -- Is this the end of Joe Clark’s political career? If it were, then it’d be a long swan song before going into that good night. It’s hard to not like Joe Clark. He’s a thoroughly decent man and a man who’s served this country for over three decades and has reached the highest office in the land, albeit it was for something like half an hour. Joe Clark’s personal popularity has been mentioned and he realises it, as his polling data says so. The party of Sir John A. Macdonald and Georges-Étienne Cartier sadly can’t capitalise on their leader’s popularity.
The deal as revealed by the Right Honourable Member for Calgary-Centre is that he’ll stay on as leader until a new one is chosen, which could be anywhere from a year from now. Should Paul Martin succeed in driving Prime Minister Chrétien out and call a snap election, then Clark rightfully exerts his right to remain leader. All, a plot hatched by Clark and his operatives to avoid what would be an embarrassing leadership review vote scheduled two weeks from now in Edmonton. Would Clark, as he vowed he’d face, survive that vote? Well, that’d be doubtful judging that at least one MP in his caucus of 13 has already said it’s time for him to go. Former cabinet minister’s Heward Grafftey and John Crosbie have called for their leader’s head, and I guess Joe saw the writing on the wall. It is fun to note this exit is the most convoluted in recent memory.
Joe Clark’s political career, as it seems, is ending. He’s a skilled performer in the House of Commons and he did surprise many in 1976 when he snatched the Tory leadership from Brian Mulroney, Claude Wagner and Flora MacDonald among others. He remains one of the only people ever to defeat Pierre Trudeau, though Trudeau got him back some nine months later. He not only faced Liberal opponents, but opponents within his own party. Brian Mulroney happily stabbed Joe in the back, swiping the leadership and forming his own government. Mulroney though, did make Joe external affairs minister, where he did a fine job. Mulroney also made him constitutional affairs minister, where he failed to deliver the Charlottetown Accord. He left politics in 1993, declining to run in the election that buried the Tory party, a party that has yet to recover. He returned in 1998 to “save Canada” and at the same time barely resuscitated his struggling Tories. Now he plans on relinquishing that leadership, and so goes Joe into the annals of history -- yesterday’s man, the perpetual loser, but a nice guy. Nice guys do finish last I guess, and now the Tories are searching from amongst themselves to find a new leader. I admire the Tories’ acceptance that their new leader would not run in a snap election, were the Grits to call one. I think Joe Clark’s the best they could do, and even if Mike Harris or Bernard Lord or as expected Peter MacKay, would succeed Joe, they’d be better off letting the Tories sacrifice an immediate election for greater success in a subsequent.
The chance to succeed Joe and gather up a tattered paryt is actually floating some interesting names. The talent pool is surprising, considering the party has not improved it’s 1993 record of the infamous two seats. Though Clark retained the party status in the House in 2000, and he did win his own seat in Calgary, the Tory party’s popularity has declined to levels lower than the 1993 outing. The Tory party in actuality is not a player in the national political scene, but remains one because Joe Clark is a personality who can garner publicity and attention. (That’s damning with faint praise, I might add.) One name being bandied about is New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord. Lord, in his early ‘30s is personable and popular. He’s bilingual and he isn’t tainted with any of the old Mulroney Tories of a previous lifetime. Lord however has, as Paul Wells said, a day job and he’s planning to head to the polls in New Brunswick and national politics isn’t an option just yet.
Mike Harris, the recently retired former premier of Ontario, has had his name considered for the top Tory job. I think he’d be a good candidate and his entry alone would bring the Tories greater prominence in the press and from Canadians in general. However he’s said he’d be uninterested. I say until he says no he’s a possibility. He left the premiership of Ontario to try and patch up his marriage, but since that failed, a return to politics could be one to not rule out.
Peter MacKay will most likely enter the leadership race. He’s a star candidate who’s got a healthy following in the media. Pundits have been extolling the young MacKay’s loyalty to the leader and his party for years, sensing a political star in the making. He’s been brushing up on his French, something leadership hopefuls in Ottawa usually do, and he comes from good Tory stock. Sure he’s got appeal like Stockwell Day had, but because he’s young and actually with substance. MacKay’s style could be bought by Canadians across the country.
And then there’s Heward Grafftey’s name, which is confirmed, as he announced last month he’d seek the leadership because Clark was bringing the party down. There’s David Orchard, the rabid anti-free trader who ran in 1998, and there’s also Hugh Segal. Segal, a former back room boy also ran in 1998 and he could return again. Another name mentioned is John Tory, whose surname alone could be a reason for selection.
At this point my money’s on MacKay, but it will get interesting as the weeks and months progress. Late yesterday was word that Stephen Harper has extended a further invitation to hook up both the Tory and Alliance parties, by calling one leadership vote between the two parties. I admire Mr. Harper’s attempt at bridging the two parties, and I respect his desire to see one small-c conservative party to defeat the Liberals. However, the Tories won’t want to die so easily, because they want to keep going at any cost. I’m afraid it’ll take another humiliating defeat in the polls for the party of Macdonald, Diefenbaker and Mulroney to fold up and die. Until that happens, we’d be subjected to more years of Liberal domination. It is Canadians, who will lose out in the end, as usual.
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