Financial Post
for May 1, 1998

Jack Webster was the finest political broadcaster of his time. A Scot whose brogue increased with every passing year, Jack held politicians' feet to the fire for 40 years. Two weeks ago in what can only be regarded as a minor medical miracle (abstemiousness was never a fault) Jack turned 80.

My favourite Webster story is a very personal one for in 1981 Jack got me out of the B.C. Cabinet into radio. Let me relate the end of that longish story.

A week before my debut with Jimmy Pattison's CJOR (as it then was) Jack took me to lunch. He gave me two bits of advice and a warning. "Don't try to imitate me, or anyone else", he said, "be yerrrrself! And, "when you interview anyone, even your mother, write their bluddy name down otherwise you'll draw a blank and forget."

His warning? "From now on we're enemies."

And we were - until he retired. And I well understood. The talk media in Vancouver is a grim battle for ratings and Jack competed every breath of his day. That's why he was the best.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien congratulated Jack and said that compared to him, Rafe Mair is a pussy cat. I thoroughly agree. But it made me wonder - why, then, is the Prime Minister afraid to come on my show?

It's extraordinary, really - Canada's number one politician avoids a pussy cat of a talk show host in faraway Vancouver like he had a wildly contagious disease.

It can't be my hours, for I'm on from 8:35-11:00AM weekdays. My studio is in downtown Vancouver a mere stone's throw from where the PM usually stays. We once served together on the committee of cabinet ministers set up by Pierre Trudeau in 1980 to find ways to patriate the constitution and our relations were friendly, if not cordial. What can the problem be?

It can't be that I'm rude. While I may occasionally give off a certain air of lese majeste, Webster was ruder. Maybe it's my audience - they have(italics) been known to ask rather forthright questions.

What would I ask Mr Chretien if I had the chance?

Questions which most British Columbians would want answered. They're loyal Canadians but they see the country through quite a different prism than does the Central Canada Establishment and are inclined to utterly reject the "Two Founding Nations" nonsense. They see all provinces as juridically equal - no special recognition or deals.

So I would ask questions such as "if Jean Charest is elected he must surely demand that Quebec be granted special status and a veto over all future constitutional change. How will you deal with that? Do you appreciate that a change in the amending formula requires unanimity, that B.C. law requires a referendum before any constitutional change is approved and that a Quebec veto would likely be rejected by a wide margin? Do you really think that any approval of the so-called Calgary Declaration by the B.C. Legislature, no matter what spin your government and the Toronto Globe & Mail put on it, will somehow bind B.C. voters?"

"But more important, Prime Minister, assuming that Jean Charest has bought Canada some time, how do you propose we use that time? Might we try something different - such as a constituent assembly where real people, not hand picked poodles, could seek solutions to our unity problems?"

Then I would, without intending it of course, be a tad offensive.

"We have, sir, a one man elected dictatorship, namely you. You appoint everyone who matters from the Ambassador to the United States, your nephew, and Supreme Court Judges through Senators down to people who serve on Federal Corporations, Boards and Commissions. The only thing wrong with Trudeau's statement that 50 yards off Parliament Hill MPs are nobodies is the geographical limitation. Government MPs are eunuchs who do what they're told in hopes of advancement or fear of demotion or, what's worse - your right to refuse to sign their nomination papers."

"50%+1 of the House of Commons has 100% of the power meaning that B.C. is shut out save a sprinkling of toadies in your cabinet, there only if they always do as they're told. I say this consolidation of all power in Central Canada is a greater threat to national unity than Quebec. The system stinks. What do you say?"

I've lots more questions but, I concede, mere meows all.

But our prime minister is, alas, evidently afraid of cats.