Steve Paikin

The Final Program of our Third Season

Fri, 26 Jun 09 18:22:32 GMT

Last September, when The Agenda signed on for its third season, we brought in six politicians to report to us on the state of the economy in their particular part of the province. Almost no one at that time knew that the world economy was, one month later, about to tank.

Tonight, we reconvene three of those politicians to give us their sense of how things have changed in the intervening nine months. Two other economists will join them.

Meantime, please enjoy some of the web-exclusive video below:

Philip Smucker joined us this past season to talk about the possibility of building a ring road in Afghanistan.

Nikolas Gvosdev teaches at a military academy in the United States. We wondered who his students were:

Dan Ariely teaches behavioural economics at Duke University. Watch this video to see how logical he is, and how illogical my mind is.

And finally, George Friedman is the head of the international geo-strategic consulting firm Stratfor. He wrote a book about the next 100 years of world history. I asked him:

“Given that you are comparing centuries, if you had the option of living in Texas from 1900-2000 or from 2000-2100, which would you choose?”

His answer might surprise you.

I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from blogging as the program goes on its summer hiatus. The Agenda will rebroadcast some of our better (we hope) programs from the past year over the summer (see The Agenda's 2009 summer schedule here).

Enjoy... and see you again on air and on line very soon...

McGuinty Shuffles Again

Thu, 25 Jun 09 04:19:42 GMT

It's interesting how sometimes, the conventional wisdom can be so far off the mark.

There's been a ton of chatter around Queen's Park over the past few weeks that suggested Premier Dalton McGuinty was going to have to fire his health minister, because of the spending scandals at e-Health.

When the executive director of e-Health was fired, the opposition claimed one victim. When the premier's point man on the file next quit, the opposition said "strike two." The obvious inference was, the minister is next --- strike three and they're all out.

Except that the premier unveiled a relatively major shuffle to his cabinet Wednesday morning, and not only was David Caplan not turfed from cabinet, but McGuinty went out of his way to confirm his support for Caplan.

McGuinty said the shuffle was all about sharpening his government's focus on the economy. "It's all about jobs, it's all about jobs for our kids," he said.

With Michael Bryant's departure for a job with the city of Toronto, Windsor's Sandra Pupatello now takes on a beefed up ministry of economic development and trade, including responsibility for small business. It's three former ministries in one.

John Wilkinson from Stratford, recognized as one of the rising stars of the cabinet, loses research and innovation to take on the ministry of revenue. That's normally a quiet job in cabinet but not this time.

It'll be Wilkinson's job to sell the new harmonized federal and provincial sales tax to Ontarians. The tax doesn't go into effect for another year, but already, at least one poll shows the public is queasy about it.

While the framework agreement with the federal government is in place, the actual legislation to bring in the tax hasn't been agreed to or passed yet. That'll be Wilkinson's job to negotiate with the feds.

The government points out 130 countries and four other provinces already have a harmonized federal and provincial sales tax in place. In fact, McGuinty says, no country can get into the European Union without one.

"And no country has ever turned it back," the premier says. "It's the single most important thing you can do to improve the economy.

"We weren't hired to do what is easy but what is right," McGuinty added.

Wilkinson, a certified financial planner for 25 years and son of a chartered accountant, seems to have the background and temperament to sell this tax. We'll see if Ontarians are in a listening mood once they start paying 13% extra for haircuts and piano lessons, items that previously weren't subjected to the provincial portion of the tax.

Wilkinson will no doubt also be reminding Ontarians that their incomes taxes and business taxes will be reduced to ease the burden of the new blended tax.

"Implement and communicate," Wilkinson said simply, when asked what his job was.

Other moves:

Harinder Takhar from Mississauga becomes minister of government services. Flamborough's Ted McMeekin takes on business and consumer services. Kitchener's John Milloy adds research and innovation to his current portfolio, training, colleges, and universities.

Thunder Bay's Michael Gravelle adds responsibility for forestry to his northern development and mines job. Forestry was formerly in the natural resources portfolio.

And David Caplan? The premier took the unusual step of confirming he will be the health minister when the legislature reconvenes in the fall.

Premiers don't usually do that. But McGuinty could hardly have shown more confidence in his minister by doing not only that, but also accepting the blame for the problems at e-Health at a major news conference a week ago.

David Caplan's not going anywhere except back to work to fix the mess at e-Health.

Politics, Ontario-Style

Tue, 23 Jun 09 22:07:44 GMT

Joseph Peters was recently on The Agenda talking about a study he did on E-politics --- the influence of social networking media on the political process.

Do you think Facebook or MySpace or Twitter are just fads? Click on the box below and listen to how social networking actually changed government policy in a significant way.

Amy Ball recently went to Kazakhstan to observe the electoral process there. As she looked at other countries around the world, she became increasingly embarrassed about the fact that the Canadian and Ontario legislatures have a much smaller percentage of women politicians than in some developing countries.

How to change that situation?

Ball has decided to create a leadership academy for women interested in politics. It starts from the premise that being a woman and getting elected is harder than it is for a man. That may not be politically correct to say, but in my experience, watching politics for almost 30 years, it's true.

Click on the box below to see what Amy Ball has in mind to level the playing field.

And one more thing...

How many of us were saddened to wake up this morning to learn of Ed McMahon's death? I know I was. As a kid, Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon were a part of my night time routine almost every night.

Several years ago for Studio 2, I had a chance to interview McMahon about his autobiography. I brought with me a souvenir mug, the same kind Carson had on is desk during his shows, with Johnny's autograph on it. (I'd purchased it at a charity auction).

I told McMahon I was sure there were other mugs like this in the world, even others with Johnny's autograph on them. I brought it to show him, in hopes of establishing a bit of a connection with him that might help make the interview better.

McMahon admitted, yes, there are other mugs out there like the one I had, even with Johnny's autograph.

"But," he added, "you'll now have the only one in the world that has both our autographs on it."

And with that, unasked, he took out his magic marker and added his signature.

I still have that wonderful keepsake with both Carson's and McMahon's signatures. It serves as a constant reminder of what a mensch Ed McMahon was, how much I loved watching The Tonight Show, and how much I enjoyed interviewing the greatest sidekick in television history.

Rest in peace Ed McMahon.....hi-ohhhhhhhhhh.....

Those Two Questions about Spouses

Mon, 22 Jun 09 18:42:03 GMT

Hope you were able to join us for last Thursday's debate among the four leadership candidates for the Ontario PC Party.

If you missed it, you can check it out here:

Most of the questions in the debate were fairly straight ahead. Would the candidates bail out General Motors and Chrysler? What did they think of Charles Pascal's early childhood education report that had just come out earlier in the week? Why did they think they were best suited to lead the party?

But two questions in particular seemed to raise a bit of fuss --- the questions about two of the candidates' spouses.

Normally, I believe that family is off limits when candidates' are questioned as to their fitness for office. You may have a bit of leeway if a candidate uses his or her family members in an overt fashion, in order to enhance their chances of victory.

But with Christine Elliott, the MPP for Whitby-Ajax, and Tim Hudak, the MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, Progressive Conservatives have two candidates whose spouses are anything but ordinary in the annals of Canadian political history.

Elliott's husband is, of course, the current finance minister, Jim Flaherty. Numerous times during the campaign, people have raised the issue with me as to whether Elliott could really be effective as Ontario Tory leader, given that she'd have to, on occasion, get into some serious fights with her federal counterparts, one of whom she's married to.

It seems to be a legitimate question to me. And Elliott's answer seemed perfectly acceptable too: this is 2009, not 1909, and husbands and wives can have independent points of view and do their jobs perfectly well.

The other candidate's spouse is a trickier situation. Tim Hudak is married to Debbie Hutton. Today, Hutton's main role, we're told, is to be a supportive spouse to her husband, and full-time mother to the couple's 20-month old daughter.

But a decade ago, Hutton was chief of staff to former Ontario premier Mike Harris. Chief of staff, as I mentioned during the debate, is a hard job. It's a job designed to make enemies because often you're doing the boss's dirty work. And Hutton did make plenty of enemies when she had the job.

Those enemies, and no doubt some others too, have expressed their discomfort to me at having Hutton that close to yet another PC party leader. That may not be fair, but it's a reality. And so I asked Hudak about that during the latter stages of last Thursday's debate.

Hudak didn't seem thrilled with the question. However, in his "twitter" feed after the debate, he called the questions I posed "tough but fair."

Some of the newspaper reporters who covered the debate at TVO also picked up on the spouses' question.

Was it fair to ask those two questions? Funnily enough, after the debate was over, Randy Hillier, one of the other leadership candidates joked with me, "I'm disappointed you didn't ask about my wife! She's going to feel left out."

I'd be interested in your feedback on this question. Obviously, I thought given the unusual connection the two spouses had to politics, the questions were fair ball. If you disagree, let me know.

Extra Note:

We've got Ramesh Thakur on the program tonight, talking about what's perhaps the most destabilized country in the world today, Pakistan.

For some web-exclusive video on what Thakur thinks about President Barack Obama's recent speech to the Muslim world, watch below:

What Makes Ontario Liberals Very Nervous

Wed, 17 Jun 09 03:11:38 GMT

So here's the situation:

We're in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression. The province has just announced it will run an $18 billion deficit this fiscal year --- the highest number ever, by a mile. Jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate.

And yet, Dalton McGuinty's Liberals have a 16-point lead over the opposition Progressive Conservatives, who are leaderless. The NDP, even with new leader Andrea Horwath, remain mired in the high teens.

McGuinty sits atop a majority government, so there are certainly no worries of political brinksmanship --- unlike in Ottawa --- that the government could fall at any moment.

On balance, you'd have to conclude the public seems to trust McGuinty to get us through this fiscal mess.

And yet...

Some Ontario Liberals are nervous. And here's why.

With former cabinet minister Michael Bryant's departure to a job with the City of Toronto, there will be a by-election in his former St. Paul's riding sometime in the next several months.

St. Paul's has been a loyal Liberal seat for 10 years. So it's a no-brainer that the Liberals would retain it, right?

Not so fast.

Conventional wisdom held that former PC leader John Tory could run in a by-election in the supposedly safe Conservative seat of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. Except it wasn't safe. And the Liberals stole it, ending Tory's political career (for now).

With unease over the economy mounting, with displeasure over the province's new harmonized sales tax apparently gaining steam, is it possible the Liberals could lose St. Paul's?

Some Liberals fear yes. After all, if the Tories could lose H-KL-B, why couldn't the Liberals lose St. Paul's? The seat has frequently bounced back and forth between Liberals and Tories. (Bryant won it from former Tory cabinet minister and TVO chair & CEO Isabel Bassett).

With the political news seeming to be all quiet on the Ontario front, what a kick in the gut (and a shot in the arm for the new Tory leader) it would be if St. Paul's went blue.

That's why some Ontario Liberals are nervous.

Extra Note:

Paul Martin's former chief of staff, Tim Murphy, has apparently bowed out of the St. Paul's sweepstakes. Murphy was kicking the tires, considering a run, but has decided now is not the time. He was once MPP for St. George-St. David in the early 1990's, but only for a couple of years, and only on the opposition benches.

Having run the PMO, been an Ontario Liberal party president, and been elected, the one thing missing from Murphy's CV is a stint as a cabinet minister. That will have to await another day.

Rob Newman, president of the federal St. Paul's riding association, has also taken himself out of the race. He's just taken a new job with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Other potential candidates are still awaiting a signal from the premier's office, to see whether "the centre" has a favoured candidate in mind. Until McGuinty tips his hand, no one seems prepared to dive in.

The Most Profound Thing Bill Davis Ever Said To Me

Thu, 11 Jun 09 18:22:20 GMT

It was 1986.

William Davis, the longest serving premier of Ontario in the 20th century, had been out of public life for a year, and was granting me an interview to discuss post-political life.

I was trying to understand whether life after politics could really be all that grand for a man who redefined political success, having won four consecutive elections.

I found Mr. Davis nicely ensconced in his new law offices (appropriately named Tory Tory DesLauriers and Binnington --- today, just Torys). He was obviously making a lot more money than he ever made as premier.

He was on more than a dozen boards of directors as well, flying all over the place and apparently enjoying his new corporate life.

He also mentioned that he was seeing more of his grand children than he ever saw of his own kids. He didn't have to worry about the government falling at the end of the day, as he did during six consecutive years of minority government.

So I said to him after the interview ended, "this must be the best time of your life and the best job, eh?"

And then it happened. The man who'd made a living being as sphinx-like as possible, talking around reporters' questions ad nauseum, trying hard never to make news, said something I've never forgotten:

"Steven let me tell you something. This job of corporate lawyer on the most fascinating day, can't touch being Premier of Ontario on the dullest."

It was only at that moment that I truly began to understand the lure of public life for so many people. (And parenthetically, that one statement begat three books on politics I'd come to write, all exploring the highs and lows of a political life).

Fifty years ago today, Bill Davis won his first election. He was a backbench MPP in Leslie Frost's government. Fifty years later, we'll interview the man himself about that launch into politics, and follow up with a discussion of his legacy to Ontario.

Should be memorable. It always is with Ontario's 18th premier, who will turn 80 next month.

Extra Notes:

This time line represents the major events in the life of Ontario's 18th premier, William G. Davis. Mr. Davis was premier from 1971-1985. He was elected for the first time on June 11, 1959. He was the longest-serving premier of Ontario in the 20th century.

WILLIAM GRENVILLE DAVIS on Dipity.

Giants of Journalism

Wed, 10 Jun 09 16:54:25 GMT

They both appear to have lots of Canada in their bones, although their relationship with the country is very different.

Last night, the Canadian Journalism Foundation honoured two of the legends of our business: Morley Safer, who's spent more than 40 years pumping out excellent documentaries on "60 Minutes," and Joe Schlesinger, the superb former foreign correspondent for CBC News.

Schlesinger came to Canada later in his life, having escaped the ravages of war-torn Czechoslovakia. Like many reporters of his day, he ended up in journalism almost accidentally, and worked his way up to the best jobs at CBC News, having reported from Vietnam, Berlin, and Hong Kong.

And best of all, Schlesinger said last night, "The CBC paid me to do it."

Safer's night began with a video from a "60 Minutes" executive producer, who said "Morley has always felt superior to the rest of us because of his Canadian background."

While Safer is best known for his association with CBS News, he actually began his journalistic career at places such as The Woodstock Sentinel and The Oxford Mail. He joked about working his way up to being "the number two man in the Sarnia bureau for the London Free Press."

In 1964, CBS News called and the rest is history. Safer moved to "60 Minutes" in 1968 and has been there ever since.

"I've had an infectious enthusiasm that's stayed with me for five decades," Safer says.

The CBS icon also pointed out that CBC television introduced a show just like "60 Minutes" a few years before, called Newsmagazine.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of television," he joked.

Safer saved his most pointed comments for those who think it's just fine that conventional journalism seems to be in the process of being replaced by the blogosphere.

"The blogosphere is no alternative to journalism," he insists. "Every nut with a keyboard is no substitute to journalism which is structured. It implies responsibility. Everyone needs an editor.
I'd trust citizen journalism as much as I'd trust a citizen surgeon."

Needless to say, in a roomful of journalists, that line brought the house down.

And in case you thought that Safer, who's 77 years old, is thinking of retiring --- forget it.

"I've spent 60 years witnessing the mischief men do," he says. "This isn't a swan song. I have no intention of giving up the best job in the world."

John Turner @ 80

Fri, 05 Jun 09 18:41:55 GMT

They called themselves The 195 Club.

When Pierre Trudeau and Robert Winters duked it out on the fourth and final ballot at the 1968 Liberal leadership convention, there was one more candidate still on the ballot.

His name was John Turner, and 195 hardy loyalists stuck with him on that final ballot, even though he had no chance at all to win.

John Turner celebrates his 80th birthday as organizer and former aide Marc Kealey looks on.

Last night, some of the surviving members of that 195 Club gathered at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa to celebrate Turner's 80th birthday, which actually takes place June 7th.

Turner, as he does every year, offered up an impassioned plea for more young people to enter public life. He himself was just 32 years old when he became an MP for the first time in 1962.

CTV's Lloyd Robertson was the keynote, and spoke with genuine affection for a man he's known for more than 40 years. Robertson handed off to his former CTV colleague, now Senator Mike Duffy (pictured, right), who was moved to tears when telling a story of one of Turner's acts of kindness.

Michael Ignatieff, who was at a Liberal fundraiser in Montreal, and Premier Dalton McGuinty sent video greetings.

Offered for sale was a collection of Turner speeches and documents from 40 years ago, Politics of Purpose.

There was a ton of affection in the room for a man who was once a world class sprinter, a finance minister who resigned over a disagreement with his prime minister, prime minister himself for a few months in 1984, and finally, the opposition leader who led the anti-free trade forces in the 1988 election, but was twice bested at the polls by Brian Mulroney.

The Rookies

Wed, 03 Jun 09 15:34:54 GMT

One of the more interesting things to watch on both Parliament Hill and at the Ontario Legislature is what happens to rookie politicians in their first year in office.

Some of them say it takes a year to find the bathrooms, so convoluted, complicated, and convulsive are their new lives.

Back in October 2007, just after Dalton McGuinty's Liberals won their re-election, we convened a gathering of two newly-minted MPP's and picked their brains on what their hopes and aspirations might be, heading into their first term as politicians.

Federally, the last election was in October 2008. So those rookies haven't even had a year on the job to figure out how to do what they do. And, of course, with all the election talk in the air, some of them might not make it to their first anniversary before being out of work.

It got us wondering what the highs and lows of being a rookie in politics must be like in these days of troubled economic times, vicious partisan politics, and hyper-sensitivity around issues of accountability and transparency.

So later this month, we'll convene another gathering of six politicians: 3 MPP's from Ontario, 3 MP's from Parliament Hill, to explore issues around their first term in public life.

If you have any questions you'd like answered, by all means send them to me. One thing I've found is that rookies enter public life all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but it doesn't take long before the realities of brass knuckles politics turns them into grizzled veterans and takes much of the shine off of what they thought the job would be like.

We'll explore all of that and more later this month. Meantime, drop me a note below and tell me what you'd like to know...

Doors Open

Thu, 28 May 09 22:28:14 GMT

One of the most remarkable things Ontario's capital city does every year is convince dozens and dozens of local institutions to open their doors to the public to let 'em see what happens behind those normally closed doors.

It's called "Doors Open" and if you want to understand how popular it is, consider that hundreds of people waited in line for three to four hours just to get a final tour of the city's oldest prison, The Don Jail. It's being converted to a hospital in the fall.

I drove by numerous places that are normally closed to the public but couldn't get in because the lines were too long, eg. the Albany Club (Sir John A. Macdonald's haunt, and that of thousands of Tories ever since).

One of the city's jewels I did mange to get into was Mackenzie House, where Toronto's first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie (the grandfather of Prime Minister WLM King) lived out his final days.

The house seems relatively intact from 150 years ago when Mackenzie lived there, complete with a working ink press, on which Mackenzie printed his controversial Colonial Advocate.

There are proclamations on the wall from the lieutenant-governor of the day, urging citizens to turn in Mackenzie, who was on the lam for helping to lead a revolt against the Family Compact near present day Yonge and Eglinton. (The revolt fizzled).

There's also a beautiful frieze outside the house I'd never seen before.

This is, of course, the point of Doors Open --- to have an excuse to explore the capital and see it in a way you've never seen it before, even if you live here.

Enjoy the pictures below from Mackenzie House.

Extra notes:

Social media consultant Will Pate joins us on the program tonight. In the web-exclusive video below, Will talks about the concept of 'visible government' -- using technology to increase transparency between citizens and government.