Bob Rae Blogger Call: A Summary

Bob Rae is a very smart man. He's concise, well informed, and experienced. He is without a doubt a talented and established politician. It is no wonder that Paul Martin and Jean Chretien both asked him to run as a Liberal candidate under their leadership.

I apologize for yanking my readers chains with my second-to-last post; I did not ask Mr. Rae a question. The call was very well attended, and Mr. Rae had a plane to catch. The questions that were asked, however, covered a wide area of topics and should give a good impression of how Mr. Rae intends to win support.

If anyone knows a good way to upload audio onto Blogger I'd be happy to share the entire interview. Barring that, you'll have to be satisfied with a brief summary - and no doubt similar posts from the other 25 or so souls on the call.

The first question was about the CP poll reported in the Globe and Mail and in a larger sense the "economic angle."

Mr. Rae said that he would deal with perceptions of him and his experience directly.

He also called it "the question that was leaked? I wouldn't call it a full blown poll. At best, it was a question that was part of another poll."

Further, he said "I think there's is an incredible amount of mythology about what happened and what didn't happen, and I think we've got a job to do to talk to people about what happened."

The second question concerned the party brand in Western Canada. "How do you plan to make the party relevant in the West?"

Mr. Rae said "It's a combination of two things." The first is a physical presence in 308 ridings to listen to people. The second is a meaningful policy process.

"There are aspects of growth in Western Canada that we have to champion... We're lucky in Canada to have a resource industry that's done well."

The third question was about political judgement. "Do you believe there were missed opportunities in the last parliamentary session, with respect to the position the party took on Afghanistan? Or with respect to the timing in bringing down the government?"

His answer here is very interesting, so I'll reproduce it verbatim without comment:

"I think the challenge for the Liberals, for us, has been that having been in government for a long time, I think, is that the transition into being in opposition is always difficult. I first saw this when I was in the NDP as the finance critic in the late 70's and early 80's when Joe Clark's government was elected. The NDP caucus was a much more effective opposition than the Liberal caucus was, because the Liberal caucus was, you know, were just recovering from being in government for a long time, didn't enjoy being in opposition, and frankly didn't know how to do it. So, I think that one of the skills I can bring to bear is to say 'Well, I've done both.' I've been in government and I've also been in Opposition. And I've brought down Tory governments; I've brought down two. So I know how to do that. I know how to make people think and focus on the political issue.

"I'm not sure, I mean, I think the Afghanistan issue was a difficult one for the Party. I think in fact what we did had real integrity to it. We did actually get the Conservatives to change their position, which for the point of view of the country was the right thing to do. The Conservatives were never, were not, interested in a fixed date or in changing the mission or in really engaging. And I think the fact that they had to change is significant. I don't think their heart's into change at the moment, but certainly we made some progress there.

"But as to the question of the timing of the election, when to bring the government down, that's always tricky in a minority parliament. I don't really feel like second guessing those decisions now. I do feel like saying to people, 'some of the political smarts and skills and judgement over the years have been pret-e-good, even thought they were criticized at the time..."

The next question was to do with party reform. Mr. Rae is in favour of giving part of the public per-vote financing from Elections Canada directly to riding associations. He said he is "strongly in favour of that," and that "we need a completely new approach to party financing..."

He also said that LPC membership should be free.

Dan Arnold then asked what the role of the leader should be in fundraising. Mr. Rae says the leader has to be "hands on" in satisfying everyone that our party is the best. He is also critical of how the NDP does fundraising, getting lists from trade unions.

Mr. Rae was then dropped from the call. When this happened, all the participants became unmuted, and I could hear someone playing "London Calling" in the background. Mr. Rae did return shortly to answer the question fully. He wants to bring the party closer together, caucus, the party, LRB, etc., to communicate directly with contributors; furthermore, the leader has to be directly involved in that.

The next question was which issue the last LPC platform overlooked. Mr. Rae responded with catastrophic drugs costs in Eastern Canada and health care generally. The economy is issue number one, he says.

Scott Tribe then asked two questions. I'm sure he'll report on them fully, but basically he asked if the environment was still a priority post Green Shift and if the party needed to be more engaged. The answers were Yes and Yes. Mr. Rae also said that he is a reader of Scott's blog.

The next question was whether Mr. Rae supports One Member One Vote. Mr Rae said "I'm in favour of it. I'm strongly, very strongly in favour of it."

Next question was a follow up on the environment. Mr. Rae said we have to respect the view of the electorate taken in the last election on a carbon tax, but the green sustainable economy is still the goal.

The final question was about government ownership of the big 3 car companies. Mr. Rae said, "Um, no, I don't think so..." and proceeded to give a very good analysis of the causes of the current economic crisis.

Mr. Rae said much that I haven't reproduced word-for-word. The call lasted just longer than half an hour, and I don't get paid enough to type that all out; but hopefully I've given you a good sense of what he said and what he was asked. No doubt other bloggers will also report on this call and add to the complete picture of Mr. Rae's presentation.

I won't editorialize or give my impressions of what he said, if for no other reason than I've got a birthday party to get to. In cases like this, I think Mr. Rae's comments really do speak for themselves.

In closing, Mr. Rae said "Thank you; I'm sure your viewss will be extraordinarily fair, balanced, and thoughtful - as always. As always, nice to talk to you."

Thanks everyone, goodnight!