Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Without Lord - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER – Lawrence MacAulay, the heretofore embattled Solicitor General is no more. Yesterday afternoon, he resigned from Cabinet, therefore adding yet another stripe of disgrace to the government of Jean Chrétien. However, I'm sure Mr. Chrétien does not see it that way. No, in viewing the letters exchanged between the former minister and the Prime Minister, it's clear that Mr. Chrétien believes that Mr. MacAulay did nothing wrong. It seems that the Prime Minister's own, personal ethics councillor, Howard Wilson, found something wrong, thus suggested to Mr. MacAulay that it was not wise of him to remain in the Cabinet. Wayne Easter, another MP from Prince Edward Island is now the Solicitor General. Mr. MacAulay, like his predecessor Andy Scott, has resigned in amidst many questions that remain unanswered.
Clearly, there's something wrong with this government. The optics are not good that so many ministers have had to resign not passing the all-too important smell test, when it comes to honourable and honest conduct. One needn't review the list of sins of this government. Read Preston Manning's excellent book, Think Big, and see the disgracefulness of this Liberal government in Ottawa. Read his book too, to see what an honourable and thoroughly decent man Mr. Manning was and is.
The story of Lawrence MacAulay was nearly overshadowed by a press conference that took place at the same time the resignation story broke. In New Brunswick, Premier Bernard Lord called a press conference where the topic of discussion would be his political future. The political watching nation has been for months now, anticipating the next move of the young Premier from Atlantic Canada. After a well-performed speech in Edmonton, at the Tory conference there this past summer, wags were wondering if he'd leave New Brunswick and join big time politics in Ottawa. The Tory Party's leadership, up for grabs with Joe Clark's impending departure, has been coveted by many Tory members, for the fluently and impeccably bilingual New Brunswick Premier. Brian Mulroney was amongst those lobbying Lord to seek the entry to national politics.
Well, Premier Lord spoke and made it abundantly clear that New Brunswick was his home and for his family's sake, he'd opt for seeking another term as their Premier. The door to lead a slowly disappearing federal Conservative Party, is locked for now, said Lord to the adulation of his supporters. One no doubt believes that his decision was fuelled by the fact he wants to remain a winner. You can't blame him for that, because the Tories do look dead. Joe Clark, no matter his commendable efforts, did nothing to make the party any more viable. Premier Lord's decision does make things clear for the Tories. Other leadership hopefuls need to emerge now. They will in due course, as that the uncrowned choice for leadership has bowed out.
Should we lament the loss of Lord? Well, it would have been fun to see an aging Paul Martin match wits with Bernard Lord. (Not to mention Lord matching wits with arch-conservative rival, the Alliance's Stephen Harper.) It would have also been interesting to see if Lord could have in fact saved the Tories and made them competitive. Politics, as ever, is a constant game of ‘what if?'
Then, who will seek to succeed Joe Clark? There's Peter MacKay, the bright and also young Nova Scotian who's been working hard as an MP. His only handicap is that he isn't nearly as bilingual as someone like Bernard Lord, or even Joe Clark for that matter. There's Scott Brison, another young MP in Clark's backbench. Brison's well endowed with political talent, doing admirable work in the House. The other name floating the radar screens is John Tory, who by his very name would be an ideal candidate. Think of the slogans: "Vote for the real Tory," amongst others. Tory, is the head at Rogers and the financial press has been a buzz the last little while as the company's been preparing for his exit. His only political experience is that of working on Kim Campbell's ill-fated 1993 election campaign. His lack of political experience is a handicap, then again it wasn't to Brian Mulroney.
How about Mike Harris? What happened to him? Haven't heard much on the prospect of him entering the race as of late, but since they've been boosting Bernard Lord so much, I doubt he'd have entered anyway. He'd make a terrific leader, and there's still some hope, I guess.
Politics is getting a tad exciting. The nation is being remade on all sides. The Alliance is adjusting to Stephen Harper. Liberal cabinet ministers have had the ban on their leadership aspirations lifted. The NDP and the Tories are going through leadership changes, and of course in Quebec an earthquake of sorts is about to strike with the success of Mario Dumont. Again, the hope is that Canadians themselves will be better off after all this fuss.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .