Trudeau's go-to Albertan, Anne McLellan, on old-time politics and giving Jagmeet Singh his due
When McLellan looks back to her days in politics, there’s more than a touch of nostalgia for the way things used to be
This is a conversation series by Donna Kennedy-Glans, a writer and former Alberta cabinet minister, featuring newsmakers and intriguing personalities.
Anne McLellan has prevailed as the rarest of birds — a prominent Liberal in an overwhelmingly conservative prairie landscape.
Best known nationally as Paul Martin’s deputy prime minister, she still has a voice at national policy tables and think-tanks, and she’s been influential on the boards of several large western Canadian resource companies — Nexen (energy), Nutrien (potash) and Cameco (uranium). Currently, she’s vice-chair of Invest Alberta, an Alberta Crown agency set up by former premier Jason Kenney to emulate Quebec’s success in attracting foreign direct investment to the province.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, like his father before him, seems unable to grasp the aspirations of Canadians on the prairie; he requires navigators. McLellan has been his go-to woman on some tough files.
While we don’t see eye-to-eye on the attributes of the current prime minister, I’m curious to understand how “Landslide Annie” (as she was often called due to her razor-thin margins of victory in Edmonton) continues to cast such a long shadow. When she connects virtually from her office in Edmonton, her vibe is best described as forthright and earnest.
In 2016, she chaired the Liberal government’s task force on cannabis legalization. In the midst of the 2019 SNC-Lavalin scandal, McLellan was tapped to research the question of whether or not the Government of Canada should separate the roles of Solicitor General and Justice, as is the practice in the U.K. (recall that Jody Wilson-Raybould was ejected from the Liberal caucus in April that same year). Following the October 2019 election, McLellan, together with Isabelle Hudon of Quebec (a former Canadian ambassador to France), interviewed prospective cabinet ministers as part of Trudeau’s transition team.
These kinds of tasks require someone who is qualified, experienced in the political saddle, and loyal. McLellan ticks all three boxes. Before her election in 1993, she taught constitutional law at the University of Alberta’s law school. She’s led several government ministries (Natural Resources, Justice, Health). And as Deputy PM in Paul Martin’s government (from 2003-2006), she was lead on Canada-U.S. relations, set up and ran a public safety and emergency preparedness ministry, and took care of the day-to-day running of the government and Parliament.
Because it was a minority government, McLellan shares, “you stayed in Ottawa a lot because you never knew when the votes were coming.” That’s something her present-day counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, doesn’t have to worry about, McLellan continues. “Because of the agreement with the New Democrats, they don’t have to worry about every vote in the House.”
Perhaps it’s her role as Deputy PM in a minority government that helps to explain McLellan’s soft spot for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. After watching a tight two-party race this spring in Alberta — with the third party, the Alberta Party, kicked to the curb by voters — I ask if we should expect something similar to manifest in the next federal election.
“Singh will be able to say that he helped provide stability through some difficult and crucial times in the sense that nobody had to worry, day in and day out, about the fall of government,” McLellan responds. Plus, she observes, Singh’s likeable. She admits to sounding a tad naive, but says she would like to think, “after everything we’ve been through with the polarization and nastiness, Canadians would say, there’s some benefit to being likeable, to being kind and trying to work with others to create a better country for everyone…. I do believe Mr. Singh should be rewarded for that.”
I intervene for a reality check: Didn’t strategic voting get you elected? Yes, she admits, that true. This is how the strategy worked for her: “You can vote New Democrat in my riding, but it’s not going to help you have the voice you would like to have in the Liberal government of Mr. Chrétien or Mr. Martin.”
But McLellan isn’t a particularly partisan politico. Presently, she’s collaborating with Tory Lisa Raitt on a cross-partisanship initiative called the Coalition for a Better Future. She speaks of Tories Jason Kenney, Rahim Jaffer, James Rajotte and Peter MacKay as friends. And when she harkens back to her days in politics, there’s more than a touch of nostalgia for the way things used to be: “How many times did I sit beside Diane Ablonczy (a Conservative) on the plane when you went to Calgary and then from Calgary to Edmonton from Ottawa?”
Would it be the same now? “I’d like to think so,” McLellan reflects, “but I’m afraid not.” She places some of the blame for a different political culture on the social media effect. When she left politics in 2006, Facebook was a novelty and Twitter brand-new. McLellan recalls the day in cabinet when John Manley, then minister of industry, put a “black square thing” in front of the prime minister and said, “Prime Minister, this is going to change the world.” It was an early prototype of the BlackBerry phone.
But McLellan recognizes the inevitably of change, and the need to adapt. She has been busy stepping down from her positions on for-profit boards, recognizing the value of change. “As a matter of good governance, I argue quite strongly that boards should have age limits,” the 72-year-old says.
So how does she respond to calls for Trudeau to take his own leave, to understand his political situation and boldly say to his party: “I’ve done what I was called to do; now it’s time to open the doors to fresh leadership.” History may even treat him more kindly if he did, I add.
“Mr. Trudeau has said he’s fighting the next election,” McLellan responds, firmly, “And I take him at his word.”
Donna Kennedy-Glans is active in the energy business and a multi-generational family farm. Her latest book is Teaching the Dinosaur to Dance: Moving Beyond Business as Usual (2022).
Fundy Royal campaign targets middle class with focus on jobs
Fundy Royal voters have elected Conservatives all but 1 time in 28 elections over 101 years
The Conservatives have strong roots in the southern New Brunswick riding — this area has given its support to the Conservatives in every election for the past century, save for 1993, when Liberal Paul Zed won office.
In 2011, Conservative incumbent Rob Moore captured nearly 60 per cent of the vote.
Moore said he hopes the party's record, with its focus on the economy and direct benefits to people, will earn him another term in office.
- AUDIO: Green candidate: Stephanie Coburn
- AUDIO: Liberal candidate Alaina Lockhart
- AUDIO: NDP candidate Jennifer McKenzie
- AUDIO: Conservative candidate Rob Moore
The Tory incumbent pointed to programs, such as the Universal Childcare Benefit, as well as family income splitting and pension income splitting, that has left more money in the pockets of Canadians.
But, he said, he has also delivered on bringing federal cash to his ridinng.
Moore says the biggest question he's heard at the door is how the next government will move the regions's economy forward.
He says the answer lies in TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Energy East pipeline.
"The [Irving Oil] refinery is employing many people in our region, there's a lot of spinoff benefits, and if we can bring that resource from Alberta to New Brunswick to be refined and sold from our port, that is a great economic opportunity," said Moore.
Liberals focus on seniors, middle class
Liberal
Leader Justin Trudeau campaigned in Sussex earlier in the campaign. The
Liberals are hoping to knock off the Tories for only the second time in
a century. (Courtesy Alaina Lockhart/Facebook)Liberal candidate Alaina Lockhart said she is trying to appeal her campaign to the middle class.
"That's the majority of Fundy Royal," said Lockhart, who has owned Lockhart's Weddings and Special Occasions Inc. since 2004.
"People working everyday to make ends meet and the fact that we have a national campaign focused on strengthening the middle class to put more money in their pockets to then stimulate the economy, I'm encouraged by that," she said.
Lockhart says her party's focus on seniors through initiatives like affordable housing, strengthening the Canada Pension Plan and guaranteed income supplement would benefit the region.
"They worked hard their whole lives and we need to make sure they have secure retirements," she said.
Hopeful for change
NDP candidate Jennifer McKenzie says she's sensing an eagerness for change in the large riding.
McKenzie, an electrical engineer living in St. Martins, threw her name in after becoming "discouraged and disillusioned by the current government."
People want our youth back, we want to have reasons to stay here.
- NDP candidate Jennifer McKenzie
The region has lost a lot of its youth because of the Harper government's lack of focus on the economy, she said.
" be part of the economy and have jobs," she asid.
"The current government's focus on the prairie provinces in the oil and gas industry left New Brunswick and the Atlantic provinces neglected, and we actually had a three year recession here."
McKenzie says the NDP's focus on small business would better serve the area's economy.
"Our agricultural industry should be flourishing, we have to make sure we protect the family farm, there's fishing, forestry, I'm proud of our tourism initiatives, so much is a good fit to the NDP," she said.
Lost youth
The
proposed Energy East pipeline could add new jobs to the communities
inside Fundy Royal, according to Conservative MP Rob Moore. (Dan Riedlhuber/Reuters)Stephanie Coburn, the Green Party candidate for Fundy Royal, says the promise of 14,000 direct and indirect full-time jobs across Canada is "hugely exaggerated."
"The pipeline is a bad idea for people locally and we heard about the pipeline spills in northern Alberta and Michigan, and that ... oil they hope to bring in through the pipeline is impossible to cleanup," Coburn said.
"It's a bad idea nationally because it's all going to be exported … And it's going to contribute so much to the greenhouse gases we're trying to avoid to the globe, and exacerbate global warming terribly."
Coburn says she has heard encouragement for her party at the door, a big turnaround from when she first stepped into the political arena in 2010.
"Now I feel I'm finally not talking into the wind as I have been a long time about environmental issues," said Coburn.
"People are aware of the environmental problems we experience, and we're going to experience if we don't make some changes. That's a positive change from when I first ran."
Fundy Royal contains parts of the counties of Albert, Kings, Queens, Saint John and Westmorland and includes St. Martins, Salisbury, Sussex and Petitcodiac, as well as part of Quispamsis.
Jacques Poitras | CBC News | Posted: Thursday, September 16th, 2021 5:22 PM
Image | O'Toole in Saint John
Caption: Erin O'Toole bumps elbows with a former New Brunswick MP Rodney Weston as Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore looks on at a campaign stop in Saint John on Thursday. (Christian Patry/CBC)
One day after Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau dropped in on Fredericton, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole made a last-minute stop in Saint John in a final scramble for votes ahead of Monday's federal election.
O'Toole appeared with five of his New Brunswick candidates, including Saint John-Rothesay's Mel Norton, in the iceless ice shed of a local curling club.
He sent a clear signal to supporters of the People's Party of Canada that they should be supporting him instead.
"There is only one leader that can replace Justin Trudeau," he said.
"Channel that frustration to replace Mr. Trudeau. We hear you. We know you're frustrated, which is why we have a plan to get our country back on its feet."
O'Toole avoided several questions from reporters on decisions by Premier Blaine Higgs and his Alberta counterpart Jason Kenney to reimpose public-health restrictions in the face of rising COVID-19 case numbers.
O'Toole would not say what he thinks of Higgs's announcement Wednesday that proof of vaccination will be required to enter non-essential businesses and facilities starting next week.
"I will always work with the provinces on their decisions related to proof of vaccination, QR codes, vaccine passports," he said.
People's Party supporters oppose such requirements and O'Toole dodged a question over whether he is happy people with such opinions are not part of his Conservative Party.
Moore held the riding from 2004 until 2015 when he was defeated by Lockhart as part of the red wave that swept over Atlantic Canada that election.
Moore told Global News that he welcomed the chance to once again represent the people of the riding.
“I’m honoured to have been given a mandate of representing the people of Fundy Royal,” he said. “It’s not something I take lightly and I’m looking forward to it.”
Moore said he felt that the policies of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government did not sit well with the residents of the rural New Brunswick riding.
“Issues like the carbon tax have not gone over well here,” he said. “Affordability is a big issue and our platform and our record addressed that concern.”
With the exception of Lockhart’s win, the riding has long been considered a reliable Conservative district for the past 100 years.
Only Liberal Paul Zed’s win in 1993 interrupted the Tories’ dominance in the riding.
New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs was on-hand to congratulate Moore’s win and said he was overjoyed to see Fundy Royal return to a Conservative riding.
“If you go back in history, you see this riding was pretty traditional as a PC riding, so I think it’s coming back to its roots and Rob was certainly a representative that’s worthy of support, and only got stalled last time around because of that wave coming through,” said Higgs."