Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 25, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Csc a Manitoba it Wiki x to to Hwi met my to cum Hwy a Sam Mirtoni Wotton editor Jim Carr. 697-7292 sunday free press Vej n d y y sunday free press Winnipeg May 25, 1997 by by Paul Samyn election reporter a life itself m has a Cycle of victories and defeats ont real the assembled Herd enters a Plush suite on the 34th floor of the downtown Marriott and looks for a spot to Graze. Some Camp out on the floor but most crowd onto the King sized bed and wait for Jean Charest. The to cameras Are set up. Tape recorders readied. Notebooks out. The politician that few have been interested in since the tory defeat of 1993 is suddenly big news and a dozen reporters Are hanging on his every word. So even an interview in French via satellite Hookup with a local to station a where Only his answers but not the interviewers questions can be heard a is deemed worthy of attention. As Charest basks in the after glow of his debating performance no utterance is to go a witnessed. A reporters make strange bedfellows a Charest quips As he finally arrives to take his seat adjusts the microphone and settles into the spotlight. Lonely journey its been a Long and often lonely journey for Charest since oct. 25, 1993, to get to the Point where he is Able to make headlines daily. On that fateful night the tory tailspin ended with a resounding thud. It was the worst defeat in Canadian electoral history. The once mighty progressive conservative party had been vanquished and Charest was suddenly just a bit player on the political landscape. But As Charest a Bright Blue Campaign bus earlier Rolls through the Nova Scotia night past Peggy a Cove and on its Way Back to Halifax he Isnit afraid to talk about that crushing defeat. In fact it is that defeat that helps explain How Charest is now Able to catch the attention of reporters in a Montreal hotel room a and the voters of a nation. A it was a lesson a hard Learned lesson a Charest said Between sips of Mineral water As bumps in the Road gently rocked him Back and Forth in his swivel chair. A you know i was asked what was the first thing i would talk about in my first Cabinet meeting. A after giving it a Little bit of thought it was Clear to me that i would talk about the election campaigns of 1993, not 1997. That is where i would Start. I would never allow those around that table to forget where we were where we Are and what happened in Between and How important it is to remember those for Charest this is the last interview of the Day a Day that began at 7 . And has seen him Scurry from speech to speech. But perhaps still buoyed by the reception he received from 700 tories at an evening rally in Bridgewater Charest has the Energy to Wax philosophical. A life itself has a Cycle of victories and defeats and it Isnit so much whether that is going to happen its what you Are going to do with them that determines your character. A so we chose to learn a lot from that experience of 1993. That defeat will very much Mark my style the things i will do and How i will do being reduced to Rump status is a Good Way to learn to be Humble again. So is spending almost four a Canada needs Jean Charest years in the wilderness visiting Small town Canada with Little fanfare and no Quick payoffs. But after that soul searching tories insist the party under Charest is far different than the one led by Brian Mulroney. Tom Goodman is Charest a Campaign chairman in Manitoba but for the past two years helped him rebuild what he insists is a new team with a new approach. A the is simply a different person the party is a lot different a Goodman said. A it is More democratic and a lot More responsive. It is very much a Bottom up former agriculture minister Charlie Mayer used to sit around the Mulroney Cabinet table with Charest whom he remembers As not a having a lot of whiskers when he first became a minister at the tender age of 28. But Mayer is impressed with How Charest has managed to do so much after having so Little to work with. A the big difference would be that when Mulroney took Over the party he had too seats and an apparatus in place a Mayer said. A but in Charest Scase he did no to have any of that. So he had to rebuild the party by making everyone but exactly what kind of party has the curly haired Charest built at first glance it would seem that the pc is More important than the pc. Certainly his name takes top Billing Over that of the party a. A similar name game is used in his platform. A let the future begin reads the first Page of the Campaign blueprint. In the next sentence we read not about the tory party but instead a Jean Charest a plan for Canadas next you can to really blame the tories for wanting to focus on the future Given their recent past. It seems to make sense to play up your Young dynamic a even slimmed Down Leader a to help people forget about the other Guy who used to be at the Helm. Talk to tories and they soon swoon Over the Man they now have in charge. A i think Canada needs Jean Charest a says Manitoba health minister Darren Praznik who supported his 1993 tory leadership bid when most of the Filmon Cabinet jumped on the rim Campbell bandwagon. As Good in English As he is in Francais Charest is an accomplished off the cuff speaker. What a More the polls seem to suggest that canadians like him even going so far As to say Charest would be the Best Leader to represent Canada in the next Quebec referendum. A this election is about leadership has become Charest a mantra on the stump. But where exactly is this 38-year-old lawyer from Sherbrooke leading the party of John a. Macdonald. Last August Charest and the progressive conservatives were a party at the Crossroads in Winnipeg. The tory policy convention was about to Chart a course for this Campaign and the moderate Charest was staring at a minefield. Led by the party a vocal and Radical youth Wing some were trying to push it further to the right in an attempt to attract voters in Mike Harris a Ontario and Ralph Klein Salberta. They wanted big tax cuts. They wanted capital punishment. And granting distinct society to Quebec seemed to be a non starter. Continued please see Charest/b4earn up to 7% interest with Assiniboine a 3 year escalator rate 3�/eassiniboinh Cli Curko reunion year 1 sit Back and watch your Money grow with Assiniboine a new escalator rate gics your interest rates go up no matter what happens to Market rates. 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