Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 5, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free june 1979 f focus Flora Heads the Parade Richard Gwyn Ottawa almost to the month 22 years a Ginger haired Young woman from Cape Breton came to Ottawa to try to make it in the big town As a Secretary at the department of external she never took the because a political party came through with a better offer for a Steno Flora Macdonald is Secre tary of state for external prob its the Best Job in the Swearingin of prime minister Joe Clarks Cabinet had about it this Flora almost floated in a euphoria that she so made it so so in different Yukner Erik Nielsen and newfound Lander Jim Mcgrath both have spent 22 years in the futility of the Bac benches both almost quit both stayed in one last and by staying won the to magnify the Pierre tru Deau staged for those who were taking Over from his Best ill show you on his Way to hand in his Resigna Trudeau roared up to Rideau Hall in his Cream Grey Mercedes twice circled a bed of geraniums in the Middle of the and then an hour impeccable in trim Grey Stripe and Bright red Trudeau started his Mer cedes with a single turn of the ignition and roared after Trudeau David Crombie he got out of his car wearing a Short sleeved then As the cameras that he want properly spiffy for the behind him came Lincoln the first Black to become a minister since con and Penin Grin the youngest at 29 years and three since who is that reporters asked each other As Quebec senator martial Asselin went in the government House summoned one by one by their full names Sinclair Mcknight Ste Allan Frederick the 28 men and one woman stepped Forward to be transformed by the magic phrase i solemnly and sincerely Promise and it is that they swear to do their into the members of the first conservative Cabinet in 16 none of the two Quebec Sena tors excepted and even they Only Brief have Ever been inside a Cabinet their is the youngest Ever Leader of the just a half hour after each had shaken the governor generals hand and the official group photograph had been the time for disbelief was All now were real Cabinet some used the Opportunity to Send out David a kind of minister of All Good things women deliberately praised As High powered profession als two top Pierre Juneau and Bernard against whose names some party members had put loyalty question finance minister John Crosbie sent out even stronger i will do nothing to imperil the financial and economic stability of the he said when asked How soon he would enact the tax Cut even the Mort Gage tax deductibility said does not have to be implemented in its entirety right can Bay abide a satirical Newfie Ottawa some 30 years ago three boys dressed in the uniform of a private school stood on a table of their dining tears streaming Down their As they Sang defiantly the Newfoundland National it was the posh Andrews private school outside where sons of the Canadian establishment were sent to mix with other heirs and it was the Day in 1948 when Joey Smallwood announced that the funny Rock of screech and cod officially had joined the three boys were Frank who has just finished his reign As newfoundlands Premier Frank another rollicking son of Newfoundland wealth and John who As of yesterday became the finance minister of of All these striking things of Joe Clarks first Cabinet the most striking is that the poorest province of All has provided the new Money Man who once in his Youthful passion didst want to have any part of born to wealth but with Allan Fotheringham the shambling exterior of a Down Home Butcher is probably the most interesting of the 29 new faces that Clark has plucked to run the he wanted to be Liberal Premier of Newfoundland but clashed with the stubborn Joey and switched to the conservative benches before venturing on to a slow moving 48yearold who has been known to take a drink or he is guaranteed to Shock the presbyterian conscience of a country of savings Deposit holders who Are accustomed to the Prim neatness of a Doug an Edgar a Walter even the carefully suited and Safe John Turner and Don while the vast majority of his new conscious of their response donned sombre blues and Greys for the first televised Swearingin of our nations top Crosbie was one of the three Secretary of state David Macdonald and Public works minister Erik Neilsen the others who dared to Wear non tory Crosbie in his delicious new Fie Irish lilt i didst Campaign for the i didst want no one is going to push me he projects As All humorists do a continual morose As if Despon Dent he sees of if they dont like what they see in my first he then they can get themselves another finance for a Man who has been in the suicidal Post for Little More than an its refreshing can Bay Street abide a Newfie who can cry and can drink and can dispense Broad satire does Joe Clark know what Hes done to us who believe that human beings can be politicians and vice versa the Crosbie difficulty in suppressing a droll thought was greatly appreciated on the Day when the master actor of them Pierre Trudeau displayed the gift that got him selected and eventually Defeated him How could a Defeated and discredited prime minister possibly upstage the youngest prime minister in Canadas who was to be sworn in this sunny june afternoon just a Day before his 40th birthday Trudeau after his aides had slipped the word to certain reporters came speeding up the magnificent treeline sweep leading to Rideau Hall in his rakish Mercedes 300 top Down that had so infatuated the press when he took office in roaring up to the front door and breaking bearly missing this reporters astonished he zoomed off again around the Flower supposedly seeking a parking aware All the time that it allowed the slavering to cameras More foot the but Resolute Clark knows he cant compete in that he concentrated on the emphasis that there is no link with the last tory government that died under Diefenbaker in a terribly frail looking John Diefenbaker wandered around at the recep Tion eager for muttering his usual witty displeasure at the overlooking of his old Clark can survive that the Only question is whether he can survive the Irish fatalism of Crosbie who says in answer to Why he took a Post he didst want know enough to know that you dont argue with prime you answer yes sir and no he sighed the sigh of the damned at the thought of the finance 1 have no future political in ready for the in my Grandfather was prime minister of finance in Newfoundland with a budget of i was minister of finance in Newfoundland with a deficit of now in minister of finance of Canada with a deficit of it makes a Man the difference that counts wont be in till be in Persona Crombie in his even though Hes now minister of health and fitness minister Steve Paproski mugging for photog a Crosbie replying to a reporter who asked As finance minis he planned to Stop being funny in my next incarnation i plan to become a Toronto corporation get it John style difference shows the cabinets character mirrors that of maybe it was just the excite ment of opening but its members seem less More More if less than their the in a Between Clarks Chev Impala and Trudeau the cabinets political style reflects Clarks even More its Point of balance rests where Clarks does in but with a hint of a tilt to the progressive Side of the party formal title of progressive conserva All the so called red tories the two Ron Atkey made it both and High so did pinkish like John As Clark has put lots of Blue tories about him Bob de Ron Mike All in economic con Clark excluded All the really deep Blue like Eldon Otto Jelinek and Bob and As Well the quartet of veterans of the Diefenbaker Las Tat for increased to exposure whenever a govern ment Bac Bencher gets to his feet during question it is either because he is about to ask a minister a question he wants to be asked will the minister please confirm the wide popu Larity of his program to Aid widget keepers or it is a sure sign of a wide and dangerous division within the government caucus but particularly in Mani has put new desire in the hearts of the government backbench ers to be seen by their and to be seen to be this desire has apparently overcome one parliamentary tradition that of question period being primarily an Opportunity for opposition questions and has substituted a television exposure contest Fred Cleverley while members of the opposition Are Likely to complain about the prac they must take some responsibility for the the Straw that broke the conservative caucus and brought about the change in was when the opposition finance Crit Saul asked eleven ques one after on a single at that the tory caucus caught How could any members explain to a constituent who watched the question period on the Subtle practices of the parliamentary constituents simply would not accept the explanation that questions Najiy Bac Bencher May have Are always settled in the secrecy of the caucus Why should it appear that Only members of the opposition were anxious to discover the details of government policies As far As the general Public was con the questioners were and those who remained silent were being the backbench ers assembled their a search of rules in other Legislatures across and throughout North America turned up not a single Case where a government caucus had imposed upon itself a Rule of silence during the question there was also the argument that by remaining the backbench ers gave the appearance of doing nothing to earn their the latter argument really Hurt those members who had lost recent disagreements with their constituents about the value of i caucus there was the argument that the situation could be remedied if the speaker simply limited the number of questions allowed any single opposition but the conservatives were anxious to avoid the same criticism they levelled against Peter the last nip who steered a narrow course on the number of questions and the phrasing that was from the time that Harry Graham took he has allowed a much Freer question although he from time to note that a particular member May be asking his or eighth question on a single this gentle Rebuff worked but More recently the member being admonished is Likely to simply thank the speaker for keeping it is a Clear Case of if the speaker allows the they will be if he then he is stifling the Public right to the real Point at is television since the Cable companies have adopted the practice of televising the entire provincial ques Tion period at the same time As the National conservative Back benches have had to Swallow both the news clips that Are invariably taken from this period and the situation in on the opposition members get the equivalent of 45 minutes of to exposure a the gods of the Antenna have made their presence Felt in the Manitoba opposition members will now have to compete with government backbench ers for the speakers and if the Normal television pattern ambitious backbench ers May clamor for attention with probing ques rather than accommodating this should prove to be a test of the if the questions become too will the no questions Rule be Reir posed Cabinet ministers expect rockets to be fired at them from the not from behind their ;