It was disappointing to not be at the Ontario liberal party’s meeting in Hamilton this past weekend. It promised to be an interesting event. It was also an opportunity for renewal of the party.
My introduction to liberalism was 60-years-ago through the then Toronto and District Liberal Association. I was working at the Globe and Mail and I got a call from one of my more conservative brothers. He had some ideas that he thought might help Charles Templeton become leader of the Ontario liberals. I doubted it but answered that he could call Mr. Templeton at the Toronto Star and talk to him about it. As he usually did, he convinced me to call Charles for him.
To his surprise, and mine, the call to the Toronto Star resulted in an invitation for the two of us to the Templeton home that weekend. That was when I first met Chuck’s wife, singer Sylvia Murphy, in a very skimpy bathing suit, at their pool. I think the woman hated me because she always blamed me for getting Chuck involved in politics. The truth was that he asked me to help and I think I gave the poor guy some very bad advice.
But it was a gateway into liberal politics. I liked Lester Pearson and I quickly moved from communications chair of the Toronto and district liberals to head of communications for both federal and provincial liberals in Ontario. I considered liberalism something of an intellectual experience. I enjoyed the experience of making lawyers and law professors sound like humans. I was thrilled by the opportunity to deal in the progressive issues of the day. I was fighting right-wing laggards in the party over Medicare.
The first time I met Pierre Trudeau, the two of us got into a shouting match. There were a number of vulgarities exchanged. I will never know why but he finally agreed to an interview by a reporter I suggested. It was the interview that launched him on the front page of the Globe and Mail on his journey to becoming Prime Minister of Canada. We always laughed about that first meeting.
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