The campaign to pick a new MP for Toronto Centre continues, with Bob Rae having to explain at every turn why he changed allegiances from the NDP to the Liberal Party — and Mark Warner watching from the sidelines because Stephen Harper didn’t think the 43-year-old lawyer deserved to call himself Conservative.
“I’m wondering if Harper didn’t make his decision after consulting a Farmer’s Almanac,” says Warner. “Maybe he knew it was going to be a rough winter, and wanted to spare me the frustration of dealing with the snow. I’d already been out there canvassing during the hottest days of summer, so he gave me a break.”
Sarcasm aside — and he’s got plenty to spare — Warner had different plans when he was acclaimed just over a year ago to run for the Conservative Party in the riding after Bill Graham retired from his role as a Liberal MP, making the by-election inevitable.
Warner was on the trail from spring through fall, before he was jilted just in time for Halloween for going off the Conservative’s national campaign message. The rationale was that he was giving too much play to the urban and social issues that downtown Toronto talks about, instead of the modern Tory talking points.
“What they wanted was a turnip,” says Warner. “Harper believes that the entire country deserves the same kind of cookie-cutter campaign approved by focus groups in Landmark, Manitoba: 1,500 Mennonites and no visible minorities. Doug Finley, national campaign manager for the Tories, actually spelled this out to me in his Scottish brogue: ‘They don’t care who you are … and they don’t care what you’ve done.’”
Yet, one of the things Warner had been doing was studying, practising and teaching law around the world, putting his University of Toronto economics and Osgoode Hall law degrees to use. The evolution of the federal Conservative Party brand was something he watched from a distance, figuring it merited a customized spin in Toronto Centre — a Progressive Conservative stronghold for ex-mayor David Crombie, and then David MacDonald, from 1978 through 1993.
“Back in university, I was an anti-apartheid activist, and big supporter of the free-trade agreement,” says Warner. “Brian Mulroney was the person who earned my support on both those counts — for all the mythology surrounding Pierre Trudeau, he never took any real action against South Africa.
“Bill Graham got in when all the Conservatives were thrown out in 1993, but he was easily the most conservative candidate in that race — a Rosedale patrician aligned with John Turner and Paul Martin. David MacDonald was much more easygoing, and had support all across the riding.
“Toronto Centre traditionally voted with whomever was in power. Graham got creamed the first time he tried running back in 1984, and it was still safe for the Conservatives in 1988. I didn’t see it as a Liberal lock.”
Warner might’ve had more faith in this logical possibility than Harper himself.
“It’s like something out of a Saturday Night Live skit,” says Warner. “I spend a year talking about how the best way to win the riding is to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and then they replace me with a black Pentacostal minister. Maybe that was their micromanagement tactic to help deflect the racism angle.”
Don Meredith, a Richmond Hill resident who is the chair of the GTA Faith Alliance, hasn’t had an easy time in his maiden political bid — learning the difference between being a blustery preacher and a blustery politician. Bob Rae assailed the campaign literature that depicts Stephane Dion as being SOFT ON CRIME, compared to TOUGH ON CRIME guy Harper. Meredith has also visibly grappled with the idiosyncrasies of the economically diverse riding — he responded to a question at last week’s St. James Town debate concerning bedbugs with the suggestion that the complainant practise better hygiene.
Is this really what Harper thinks can play in the downtown core of the city in which he was born? “I think it all stems from a girlfriend who dumped him when he was growing up in Leaside,” jokes Warner.
“I grew up in Pickering and Oshawa, and I remember what it felt like when I would have to take the GO Train to get back home from downtown. That should explain why I try and avoid the GO Train today.”
Rather, his experience living in Cabbagetown led Warner to intersect with urban-minded events like the 2006 International AIDS conference in Toronto, which the Conservatives didn’t want mentioned in the campaign literature.
The national council president who called off this candidacy, however, signed a termination letter that stated that “no information as to unethical, dishonest, illegal or criminal conduct” contributed to Warner’s sacking. He was also reminded to abide by a non-existent confidentiality agreement.
“I only met Stephen Harper for a couple of minutes,” he says. “They were taking pictures with candidates, and I was instructed not to engage him in conversation, but he made out like he wished he had more time to talk to me.
“The public execution simply backfired on him. You have to think that they’re not stupid — everything they do is telegraphed. The only thing I can conclude is that they wanted that reaction, to get a message out to other candidates about staying on message. Plus, it was a chance to toss some raw meat out there for the base voters — only I happened to be the raw meat.
“And, if that’s not what they wanted to have happen, then that’s even scarier.”
Warner is mostly disappointed that his replacement doesn’t have what it takes to effectively campaign against Rae — and that 26-year-old Green Party candidate Chris Tindal isn’t making a real effort to lure disillusioned Conservatives. Part of what motivated Warner to seek the nomination in the first place was the inability of 2006 Conservative candidate Lewis Reford to criticize Bill Graham’s policies during stints as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense.
“Reford showed up to a St. James Town debate wearing a $2,000 Armani suit,” says Warner. “When he was asked about academic accreditation for new immigrants he responded about how his nanny had a PhD. or something. There was no actual debate about Afghanistan or Maher Arar.”
When it became apparent that Bob Rae would seek his Parliament Hill comeback in Liberal colours, Warner initially figured he’d run against Jack Layton in Toronto-Danforth – and the next federal election would find another federal Liberal leadership hopeful like Gerard Kennedy or Martha Hall Findlay seeking the Toronto Centre seat. Then Graham retired, and Rae stepped into the race.
And now Warner wonders why the NDP didn’t field a better-known candidate than immigration lawyer El-Farouk Khaki to chip away at their turncoat Premier Rae. “Those old ladies around St. Lawrence Market who spend all day knitting and support Amnesty International, they’ve always voted NDP, but I wonder how they react to El-Farouk with all of his rings and earrings.”
Then again, a flamboyantly devout Muslim candidate fits right into this by-election where nothing is what it once might’ve seemed — including Rae’s bid for Liberal legitimacy. Warner was also courted to run for the party, but has turned down a chance to pursue a Liberal nomination, at least for now.
“This may sound really, really trite,” says Warner, “but I have developed a lot of respect for Bob Rae — at the risk of it sounding like a backhanded compliment.”
NDP CANDIDATE FINDS REASON TO RAIL AGAINST RAE
Rebounding from a mishap that found his left arm interfacing with a plate glass window, NDP candidate El-Farouk Khaki will be sporting a cast until at least two days after the March 17 by-election.
The 44-year-old immigration and refugee lawyer missed a couple of debates last week — Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow filled in for him for the first and his chair was unoccupied for the second — but got back in the game at the Cabbagetown Youth Centre last Sunday afternoon.
Given how the party he’s running for isn’t a fringe platform in the downtown core, Khaki faces the challenge of defending the party that Bob Rae considers passé.
“Bob needs to figure out where he’s coming from and what he wants out of this,” says Khaki. “He’s been happy to ride on the coattails of his past success — but when he’s criticized for something he did as Premier, he goes on and on about how it wasn’t his fault. You can’t just slough the blame off on someone else just because it doesn’t support your position today.”
Khaki worked at Queen’s Park during those early-'90s Rae days, and it didn’t take long for him to join the chorus of those party faithful who were disillusioned with the NDP government’s approach to not dealing with employment equity, spousal rights to same-sex couples, tuition fees, etc.
“A new government is always going to be burdened with the problems they inherited from the previous one,” says Khaki. “Rae wouldn’t take responsibility for what he had to deal with directly and move forward.”
Then why not support the Liberal effort to fend off a Conservative majority in the next federal election? Khaki, who grew up in Vancouver after his family escaped political persecution in Tanzania, feels that he’s seen that script play out before.
“Whatever the alternatives in British Columbia to the NDP were called — Social Credit, Reform, Liberal — they were all the same thing,” he says. “Personally, I have always been the most passionate about grassroots organization, standard human decency for all citizens and community projects.
“Since I moved to Toronto in 1989, my work has always been about bridging communities — diversity isn’t something to be afraid of. I’ve always interacted with those who are Muslim and non-Muslim, straight and queer, white and non-white.”
And the question he’s asked most? “People want to know where I live, because they want to be represented by someone who understands the entire riding,” he says. “Kids have gotten excited when I knock on their door, because they see a face that they can relate to, not to mention my name.”
The riding stretches north to Rosedale, though, where there are relatively few people named El-Farouk. He’s trying to bridge that, too.
“A woman told me the other day she can’t support the NDP on principle because she’s a small businessperson,” he says. “Well, the thing is, so am I. There isn’t a trust fund or silver spoon for me, either — this campaign has been mostly full-tilt since July 2.” And, among those Khaki has spent time talking politics with is his aforementioned rejected Conservative rival, Mark Warner.
But can Khaki imagine doing this all over again during the next full-fledged federal vote, looming in the immediate aftermath of this by-election, perhaps?
“The universe is full of 'perhaps'.”
Previously on Scrolling Eye: Bob Rae Redux
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