Rod McQueen's Blog, page 22

Mighty Mouse

You’re never too old to learn the same lesson again. People on television are not the same as people in real life. This week I attended a speech by Canada’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, and came away more impressed than I expected to be. The minister was in a free-wheeling mode, self-deprecating at times, never glib, and always spoke to the point, unlike some politicians who dance around the topic at hand.

Her main message was that democracies around the world are under siege. During the last thirty years the middle-class has been hollowed out, jobs have disappeared, and wages haven’t kept pace. The children of today will not attain the standard of living enjoyed by their parents. She listed some steps the federal government had taken in response and mentioned the name of her riding, University-Rosedale, several times. You have to expect some partisan messaging.

Freeland’s answers to questions from the largely student audience were more revealing. One young woman asked how to achieve your goals in life. Freeland had three points. First, “Go for it.” Second, she cited herself, saying, “As you can see I’m not very tall.” (She looks about 5’2″.) “And as you can hear, I have a high voice, so I don’t intimidate anybody.” The best course of action is to become an expert in some field. That way you earn respect. Third, she said, “Surround yourself with people you trust.”

Another student asked how Freeland, a former journalist, became interested in politics. Turns out she was asked to run by Justin Trudeau. When she balked, her father stepped in and said, “If you don’t run, you will no longer be my daughter.” Perhaps the most interesting point of all was what was not discussed. None of the eight questions from the floor involved SNC Lavalin or her two female cabinet colleagues who recently resigned. Maybe people don’t care as much about some stories as do the newscasts and newspapers. That’s another lesson worth re-learning.

 

Three into one doesn’t go

Of all the corporate manoeuvres in recent times, the consolidation of three life insurance subsidiaries – Great-West, London Life and Canada Life – has to rank among the more foolish. The three companies have long been part of Power Financial but that, apparently, has not been sufficient for the kind of synergies needed in this day and age, according to company officials.

In Canada Life, they certainly have chosen the most storied of the three names for continuing use. Canada Life, founded in 1847, was the first Canadian life insurance company. Great-West acquired Canada Life in 2003, London Life in 1997, and continued to use all three corporate names. As the names Great-West and London Life disappear, company officials claim there will be no new job losses because all possible back-room efficiencies have already been achieved.

Proponents of this new merger will excuse me if I am skeptical. After all, employment promises made when London Life was bought were not kept. Moreover, Great-West showed an inordinate stubborn streak when it sought to buy the beleaguered Confederation Life in 1994. An insurance industry consortium that had agreed to help rescue Confed along with Great-West – the lone potential buyer – watched with growing ire as Great-West kept raising the amount of other people’s money necessary for a deal. Finally, the private sector bailed and the federal government seized Confed.

For individual clients there will be fewer choices under the new regime, a situation that drives up prices and premiums. There is also the question of differing corporate cultures. Life insurers have unique qualities that don’t always fare well under new rulers. Those making the announcement say that the unifying process will take two-to-three years. That certainly sounds like an honest claim, so far out into the future. By then, we’ll all have forgotten what was said in the beginning. Sometimes success can arrive by advance definition rather than actual accomplishment.

 

Uncivil war

We were at a dinner recently where we knew no one. Seating was random so we ended up across from a couple who lived in Chicago. After the usual niceties about jobs and how beautiful each other’s cities were, I ventured into the topic of politics. “Most people in Chicago are Democrats,” I said, “are you?” “We’re Republicans,” replied the wife.

I should have known from her chilly tone that I had made a horrendous mistake, as if I called them idiots or worse. Foolishly, I carried on, asking,”How do you think your man in Washington is doing?” “He’s trying his best,” she said. By this time, my partner was gently poking my leg under the table. I still didn’t shut up, even though I should have.

“What do you mean?” I asked blithely. The husband cleared his throat. Until then, he had been charming, talking about his profession, and generally being cheerful. Now, his face was dark and angry as he launched into a diatribe about how Barack Obama oversaw some kind of conspiracy in the last election to suppress Republican votes, if I understood him correctly. Still unable to fall silent, I said, “I don’t think I’ve read about that.”

As you might imagine, there followed an awkward silence as we all inspected our food closely. Luckily, we were joined by someone who proceeded to commandeer the small talk. Thank goodness. But through that outburst I got some small sense of the divisiveness in America today. It’s gone far beyond partisan politics. With Robert Mueller’s report now concluded, everyone has dug in deeper. I fear for them all.

 

A man for all seasons

If my grandmother were alive, she’d say, “The back of winter has been broken.” Of course, she also maintained, “Winter hasn’t gone until the snow is out of the bush.” Still, there are positive signs, Nanna. Daylight saving time arrived over the weekend and the rest of this week is supposed to get warmer, reaching a balmy 13C in Toronto on Thursday.

But there were other, earlier aspects of spring, particularly in the bird world. Cardinals started singing on territory three weeks ago as they announced their nesting sites and fended off other males of the species. A week ago today, I saw an American Robin south of the Whitney Block at Queen’s Park feasting on crabapples leftover from last year. He might have been a wintering bird but usually they travel in small flocks. He was a loner and therefore a candidate, in my mind at least, to be a recent returnee. The third and final bird sighting that offered testimony of an incipient spring were crows in the open land north of Toronto near Orillia this past weekend. They were flying in small groups, wheeling almost gleefully, calling to each other about the difference they sensed in the climate.

Even some portions of gardens are evoking hopeful signs. At the back of Burwash Hall on the University of Toronto campus, warmth exuding from window wells has melted the snow and created several semi-circles of garden dirt. These areas have been snow-free and warmed for so many days that some tulip leaves have shot up three inches. Buds are sure to soon appear. I’ll admit this example is a bit forced and artificial, but hey, at this time of year you take any good news you can get.

I am not one of those morose Canadians who complains about winter. After all, I survived and thrived during the winter of 1970-71 in Ottawa when 444 cm (more than 14 feet) of snow fell, setting a local record that still stands today. No complaints from me; I revel equally in all the seasons. It’s just that it’s time for the next one.

 

Don’t get fooled again

If Jody Wilson-Raybould is to be believed, and she certainly seems credible, the minister was under extreme duress to change her mind about prosecuting SNC-Lavalin. I’m not going to detail her testimony in this blog, everyone is now all too familiar with the ongoing efforts made by her colleagues on behalf of the Quebec-based firm. None of that activity seems to fall under the “rule of law” rubric so beloved by Justin Trudeau.

While multiple participants have supplied facts (as they see them), the Globe and Mail is to be congratulated on first raising this matter last month. Turns out the original piece written by Robert Fife and others – based on anonymous sources – was accurate. However, the Globe has now gone over the top in crowing about subsequent events. In his page one opinion piece this morning, Konrad Yakabuski did a fine job until the last two paragraphs that, to my mind, contain defamatory wording that I will not repeat. But, as Casey Stengel used to say, “You could look it up.”

Of all the issues to explode in Trudeau’s face, this is certainly the most ironic possible topic. As a newly elected prime minister, his virtues and values were very much tied to indigenous people, gender equity, and the “sunny ways” slogan that voters took to mean real change at the top. Turns out politics is focused on the same old goal as ever: getting re-elected no matter the cost.

I voted Liberal in 2015 for the first time since 1968. This October my vote is going elsewhere. Disappointment is too weak a word to describe how I feel. You’d think after all these years I’d be less naive.

Last of a line

The play, 1979, by Michael Healey, is regularly described as a satire, but it is more than that. It is also a paean to Joe Clark who forty years ago lost a confidence vote and his job as prime minister. At the time, Clark was seen as a bumpkin and a fool. He was neither, as the play that recently finished a Toronto run, reminds us.

The play is also a comedy filled with great lines. “I’ve got Peter Lougheed riding me like a pony and it’s the last day at the Ex,” says Philip Riccio who stars as Clark and is on stage for the full ninety minutes. The other two actors cover off with elan the remaining characters that include Clark cabinet ministers Allan Lawrence, John Crosbie, and Flora MacDonald as well as Brian Mulroney, Stephen Harper, and Pierre Trudeau. At one point, Clark complains to Trudeau, “You don’t even know who I am.” Snaps Trudeau, “Whose fault is that?”

To be sure, if Clark had not been defeated, maybe Trudeau would not have made a comeback and brought home the constitution or Mulroney might not have achieved free trade. Who knows how history would have turned out? But aside from the history and the humour, there is something poignant – even a little depressing – about the play in which Clark is portrayed as a principled politician in a conniving world.

All I know is this: despite his brief nine-month term in office, Clark stands as tall as any of his successors. He was the last prime minister who acted, as Healey’s script has Clark say, “in the interests of the whole country whether they voted for me or not.” Which political leader does that today? None that come to mind.

 

 

Leaders and lessers

There’s an ad running in my morning paper that trumpets a one-day conference next month that’s entitled “Cultivate Leadership Charisma.” The seven speakers listed are unknown to me but that may be my fault. I guess I hang out with the wrong crowd. This bunch promises charisma like Tony Robbins, a more famous name on the lecture circuit, claims he can teach anyone selling skills.

I went to a Robbins performance once, just to see how it all worked. Hundreds of people, many of them real estate agents, had paid big bucks to have their egos rebuilt, techniques burnished, and confidence restored. Attendees were like golf carts being recharged. I can understand people in sales needing a boost. Hearing “no” to your pitch must wear you down after a while. Larry King was among the speakers that day. He couldn’t believe his good luck when the audience howled at the Yogi Berra quips he used for openers. His talk deteriorated into a recitation of Berra one-liners, then he picked up his cheque, and flew home.

So you can sell laughs and even raise a few hopes. And it may be that some requisites of leadership can be learned or at least enhanced: capacity to execute, ability to draw out the best in people, communications skills, experience and expertise. But a leader also needs high energy levels that have to be inherent.

As for charisma, I can think of only a few such leaders who have graced Canada’s legislatures or boardrooms. Among modern-day politicians: Pierre Trudeau, René Lévesque, John Diefenbaker, and Tommy Douglas. Among business leaders: Matt Barrett, Hunter Harrison, Bruce Flatt, and Chief Billy Diamond. Can you teach charisma? I think not. I would argue that leaders are born, not made. And certainly not created at a one-day seminar.

Gotta light?

When we returned from Washington, D.C. in May 1993, Canada was in a shambles. There was a recession, the government of the day was at a nadir, and housing prices had fallen 50 percent. I no longer smoked, but my late wife did, so I was in a corner store to buy cigarettes. Asked the clerk, “How much do you want to pay?” Turns out he had legitimate packages where the taxes had been collected but also gray market items that cost much less. Eventually two cigarette companies were fined $1.15 billion for their part in that contraband market.

I don’t know who is running the shadowy show these days, but cheap cigarettes are back. According to the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco, one-third of all the cigarettes bought in Ontario are illegal, costing government $1 billion in foregone revenue. If Doug Ford is looking for “efficiencies,” as he so often talked about during the election campaign, here’s a place to direct police attention.

And while you’re at it, premier, how about the rampant theft from LCBO outlets where staff are instructed not to stop even the most obvious shoplifters. What a foolish system as we all stand politely in line waiting to pay while someone strolls out with two or three bottles for free. I was in the Yorkville branch of the Toronto Public Library recently and even they had a security guard. If every LCBO outlet hired security for $15 an hour it wouldn’t take long to stop the losses and raise profits to an amount that no one can even estimate.

Meanwhile, I can only hope the premier knows what he’s doing about “efficiencies.” He promised a 4 percent reduction in government spending. That’s an interesting number because it’s the same as consulting firm McKinsey & Co. uses to win business clients. But achieving such across-the-board cost reductions in the corporate sector usually includes laying off employees, something that the premier has said he will not do. Maybe all those fired public servants could form vigilante gangs to clean up the flagrant wrongdoing in the cigarette and booze businesses. No one else seems capable.

Celebrating a celebrity

One of the fluffiest puff pieces ever written is floating on page one of today’s Globe and Mail. The focus is Timothy Caulfield, Edmonton author and academic at the University of Alberta. In the first few paragraphs we learn he can’t sleep for fretting about his projects, by day he is pensive, and in the evening he worries about the health and welfare of the world.

Even the professor can’t fully explain why he is so wired, saying, “I can honestly say I don’t know why I care so much.” For a best-selling author, star of a new Netflix show, and someone with a high social media profile he seems possessed with far too little self-knowledge. And what exactly ranks among his riveting concerns? Why, products like those fronted by actress Gwyneth Paltrow such as jade eggs that women put in their vaginas.

As a self-proclaimed debunker Caulfield’s perorations haven’t achieved much. Paltrow is still proselytizing at a great clip. Yet the so-called story continues inside to a two-page spread with two large photos of Caulfield looking pretty happy for a guy who purports to be so grumpy about pseudoscience. We’re told that “Caulfield (really) likes evidence” and how he “works to keep his own assumptions in check” as proof that he’s no skimmer of a skeptic. The writer describes him by saying “his square jaw, heavy framed glasses and glossy curl of hair recall Clark Kent.” Even his tattoo receives a rave review.

Isn’t all of this is a tad too much for someone who does nothing more than sidle into a spotlight already shining on someone else to see if in so doing he can cast at least a small shadow himself? Professor Caulfield, now that you have an audience, would you kindly tackle a cause that’s a little more worthy? Forget about jade eggs, colonics, and vaginal steaming. Even beauty pageant contestants care about world peace.

Let there be light

On a Tuesday afternoon, the Ontario legislature is brightly lit by massive chandeliers. That’s what the debate is all about: light and the electricity to run the province. MPPs have gathered to debate Bill C-67 that will prevent the 6,000 members of the Power Workers Union from going on strike. Without this bill, there could be rolling blackouts as workers shut down nuclear and hydro facilities.

But there is also a strict legislative process that must be followed. With unanimous consent, the bill could pass immediately. The NDP has refused such consent saying it would never halt collective bargaining. As a result, even with a special sitting last night, debate could run all week. And so bill C-67 is introduced by Labour Minister Laurie Scott who shares her one-hour allotted time with Energy Minister Greg Rickford and Premier Doug Ford. Ford opens on an odd note, saying that afternoon sittings are far different from those in the morning because the afternoon is “silly season” when interventions by MPPs go off track.

But the premier soon rights the ship and lists those who would be impacted by brownouts such as community centres, hockey rinks and long-term care residences. Who could be in favour of hurting them? He concludes by wishing season’s greetings to all MPPs, including the opposition, saying that he hopes they all return healthy after the holidays since good health is what matters most in life, perhaps a reference to the death by cancer at a young age of his bother, Rob.

You never know exactly what kind of speech Premier Ford will deliver when he rises in his place. Today’s effort opened with derision but ended with a non-partisan, even kindly, homily. He made an effort to appeal to everyone’s better angels. If an election were held today, the Conservatives would likely win another majority because even while Ford’s base might fret about his tone from time to time, they sure support what he’s doing.