Death of a titan

Labour Minister Steve Peters had an understandable reason for missing Question Period on Wednesday.

He had to attend a funeral service.

But Peters isn’t mourning a family member or even a constituent. He flew to Boston as an invited guest at the memorial for John Kenneth Galbraith, whose roots ran deep in his Elgin-Middlesex-London riding.

Galbraith, of course, was one of the leading economists of the last century and an influential adviser to U.S. presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, as well as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from both Truman and Bill Clinton. He died last month at the age of 97.

Peters, a former St. Thomas mayor, got to know Galbraith, who was born in Iona Station in 1908, when the young municipal politician sought the legendary thinker’s advice on civic matters.

“John was a big opponent of municipal amalgamation. He understood the importance of communities and a local identity,” the minister remembered Tuesday night before racing to catch a flight to Boston.

He also appreciated - as Peters does (and some provincial and federal elected officials forget) - that all politics is local.

Low Blow on High Voice

It’s one of those standard rules of politics, right up there with "never wear a funny hat" and "don’t get photographed with your mouth full" -- if you’re a man, NEVER make fun of a woman’s voice.

Unfortunately, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay forgot the rule today, mocking NDP defence critic Dawn Black during her questioning on the Afghanistan mission. Sarcastically, MacKay said: "Mr. Speaker, I was having difficulty hearing the member as well. Maybe she could raise her voice in her next question."

Women MPs cried "shame." Even some folks on the Tory benches winced a little. It is, after all, 2006. Men are allowed to publicly mourn when their girlfriends break up with them (remember the potato patch?) and women are allowed to talk in a higher register than men.

Olivia Chow, Unplugged

The New Democrat critic of federal childcare policy, Olivia Chow, was considering a formal complaint to the Speaker of the Commons about the rude treatment afforded her at this week's federal-provincial-territorial ministers meeting. Chow, on the heels of the federal minister Diane Finley, then three provincial ministers, had just stepped up to the microphones to give her reaction to the media (who had been earlier shooed off the hotel floor where the meeting was held and sent to a media room).

"Hey, this is a fed-prov meeting," said Alain Garceau, the public servant in charge of media relations for Finley's department. With that, Garceau unplugged the microphone's feed into the soundbox, as Chow was mid-quote.

Zap! The feed went dead. Camera operators looked around. And Chow was left, momentarily, speechless.

Chow told reporters her privileges as an MP were violated by the public servant's actions. But late today she opted for a letter to Finley herself to complain about her department's behaviour.

Okay, all's forgiven, we're waiting by the phone....

Given that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vowed to bypass the national media and talk only to regional and local reporters, it is with some puzzlement that we here in the Star's Ottawa bureau received this email in the past 24 hours.

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Dear Media Outlet,

The Prime Minister's Office is in the process of updating our nationwide media contact database.

In order to ensure that your news organization is included in our database, please send a reply to this email with your contact information

Name:
Title:
News organization:
Mailing address:
Office telephone number:
Cellular number:
Blackberry PIN:

Thanking you in advance and awaiting your reply,

Portents of the Past

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has unveiled his legislation to set the next federal election on Oct. 19, 2009. What attracted Harper to that date? Past history shows that Oct. 19 has a checkered legacy.

• In 1987, "Black Monday" erupted in stock markets worldwide, seeing record-breaking plummets of stock in Canada, the United States, Britain and  Hong Kong.
• In 1939, the date marked the debut of the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which revolves around a young earnest politician fighting the evil forces of big corruption and cynicism. 
• It's also the birthday for spy novelist John LeCarré.

Better late than never!

At 3:53 p.m. last Friday, the Toronto Star conducted a test of the links on Premier Dalton McGuinty's website www.strongontario.ca, which encourages Ontarians stressed out about the province's fiscal position to email Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet members.

Treasury Board President John Baird's office was the first to respond -- just three minutes after the paper's query.

At 4:06 p.m., Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Mike Chong's office confirmed they had received the message.

At 4:55 p.m., an email arrived from Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl.

And then? Silence.

Not a missive has been received from any other Conservative minister.
The Star finally heard back from Harper's office on Tuesday at 8:12 a.m. A lightning-like response given the PMO's struggles with media relations.

In the interest of full disclosure, here is the complete text of that scintillating exchange:

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Dear Mr. Benzie:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.

L.A. Lavell
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction
pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre

---

>>>   Rob Benzie  rbenzie@thestar.ca  2006/05/30 07:49:31 AM   >>>

This is a test to see if anyone actually reads these e-mails or if they vanish into the ether.

I am sending this to Messrs. Harper and McGuinty and will report on who writes back first.

Yours truly,
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Toronto Star
rbenzie@thestar.ca

Those kids. Why can’t they pick on someone their own size?

At a federal-provincial-territorial meeting on child care at a downtown hotel, provincial ministers were more than willing to speak to media representatives. But the federal delegation ordered reporters off the entire fourth floor where the conference was taking place. Reporters, who couldn’t even tell when the meetings were starting and ending, were ordered downstairs several times. "We had some issues, that I won’t discuss with you. There was possibility of demonstrations, and other issues," said Anita Beau-Soleil for the federal delegation. No sign of demonstrators, unless you count the dozen or so children from the Wellington Child Care Centre whose caregivers were there with the Childcare Advocacy Association for a photo op with sympathetic provincial ministers.

Will they dub the PM Stevie Blunder?

It’s official. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s feud with the Parlimentary Press Gallery has made him into a joke. Or at least a punch line.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has taken to using Harper’s bizarre (and surely unwinnable) fight with what the PM has dubbed "the anti-Conservative" national media as a gag in speeches.

On Monday in Markham, McGuinty cracked to 1,200 developers -- many of them Tories -- that he wished he’d thought of freezing out the media when he first got elected in 2003.

Then in a press scrum -- yes, at Queen’s Park, we still do those and, no, government officials don’t have a say in who asks the questions -- McGuinty was asked whether he had "any sympathy" for Harper in his plight.

"I do," interjected Chris Morley, the premier’s tireless press secretary and sometime punching bag for cranky reporters.

With a big grin splashed across his face, McGuinty said diplomatically: “I wish him the very best dealing with the media.”

 

The Lighter Side of the PM

Conservatives turned out in force Thursday for a party that was part roast of a former colleague and part celebration for their own good political fortunes.

So many in fact, that Vancouver could have the site of an impromptu cabinet meeting as federal Conservatives gathered on the west coast to honour John Reynolds.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Reynolds, a long-time provincial and federal politician could easily have run for leader of the then Alliance party – and won. “Had John run, we’re under no illusions, neither I nor anyone else would have any chance to beat him . . . So John, you could have been a Prime Minister,” Harper said in his tribute speech.

Harper was in a rare form as he roasted the long-time politician he remembered as his “mentor,” a towering politician who loves red wine – and was a lousy singer of the national anthem during caucus meetings.

“After a few bars, I actually forget the tune. I couldn’t remember. Since John has left our caucus the anthem is actually better,” Harper told a crowd of 800 people.

The Prime Minister noted the diverse crowd that came out to honour Reynolds at the gala dinner at the downtown Vancouver hotel, including Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and cabinet ministers from provinces and territories. “Who could bring together such a disparate group of people like this. The answer is the NDP,” Harper quipped.

The Prime Minister displayed a gag video, produced for the press gallery dinner a few years back, that showed Reynolds refusing to vacate Stornoway for Harper, who was then the newly leader of the official opposition.

“That’s provided thanks to my really good friends in the Ottawa press gallery,” Harper said to laughter.

The Prime Minister said Reynolds, now an advisor to a Vancouver law firm, laid the foundation for the party that formed government in the last election and now, according to one recent poll, could win a majority.

“Of course, the same poll says no one wants an election,” Harper said.

Harper was joined by almost two dozen federal Tories were among the guests, including Immigration Minister Monte Solberg, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, caucus chair Rahim Jaffer, Justice Minister Vic Toews and Treasury Board John Baird.

One Tory official quipped that many MPs scrambled to find some excuse to be out in Vancouver this week just so they could attend the dinner. Reynolds, who served as a B.C. MLA as well as two stints as MP, has represented the Social Credit Party, the Progressive Conservative Party, the Reform Party, the Alliance Party and the Conservative Party.

“He’s been switching parties so often he’s giving David Emerson advice,” said Campbell, referring to the cabinet minister who left the Liberals for the Conservative benches after the Jan. 23 election. 

The No-GO Train

Here's something for new Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield to fix.

GO Train riders arriving at the Mimico station for the 8:54 train to downtown this morning were treated to coffee, juice, muffins and pastry in the parking lot as part of a customer appreciation day.

Problem was the train was 10 minutes late. The irony, shall we say, was delicious.

One GO staffer standing on the platform did his best to deflect beefs from passengers remarking they'd rather have the trains running on time than free eats.

“We just wanted you to have time to enjoy your muffins,” he quipped.

When the train arrived at Union Station 10 minutes late, there was, as usual, no apology or explanation for the delay.