What you need to know in 2008 about Bob Rae’s autobiography from 1996

19Nov08

Why did governing suck?
-had to fight a civil service that had become stagnant, incompetent and partisan under 42 years of one-party rule
-had to lead a caucus full of rookie legislators, a party that had no idea how to govern, and ideologues (both in the labour movement and the party) who weren’t willing to compromise and thought they could spend their way out of a recession

What did his government do right?
-their first budget was praised by John Kenneth Gailbraith
-negotiated lots of deals between unions and big companies during the recession
-eliminated 5,000 public servants, but spared further cuts via Rae Days
-Environmental Bill of Rights
-Crown Forest Sustainability Act
-fought the Toronto Police on race relations
-Waterfront Trail

What does he admit he did wrong?
-should have pushed for NDP cabinet ministers in the 1985 coalition government
-should have come up with a ‘compromise’ gay rights bill in 1994, instead of trying the more robust bil that got defeated in a free vote
-needs to ‘listen to people’ more instead of just waiting for his turn to talk

Negotiating Charlottetown
-appears to have taken aboriginal rights seriously and prioritized them
-very big on declaring Quebec a distinct society
-tried his darnedest to get Quebec back to the table
-not impressed with the ‘equal’ part of the triple-E Senate proposals
-disgusted that Trudeau got in bed with Manning et al. on killing the accord

Liberals
-really, really hated Trudeau’s approach to federalism
-really, really hated Trudeau’s personal style
-Chretien and Martin were jerks about financial negotiations, and their cuts left the provincial government holding the bag
-says Chretien was originally sceptical of the Team Canada trade missions
-describes Liberals in general as ’smug’

NDP

-the most negative language in the book is used in regard to Peter Kormos, who is now running for the ONDP leadership
-during the second half of the book, where the ONDP is governing, you really get the feeling Rae was facing a daily battle against the party
-Rae took a lot of heat from NDPers in other provinces for the 1985 coalition
-proud of the NDP’s defence of Japanese-Canadians during WWII
-takes pains to emphasize Tommy Douglas’ fiscal responsibility as a provincial premier, and how the same government waiting two decades before introducing Medicare, against the wishes of its base

-in the afterword, calls for the NDP to take the path of the British Labour party

Iggy
-Bob and Iggy lived together at 618A Bloor (but it’s unclear whether this is Bloor East or Bloor West)
-they travelled to France together in 1970

-their fathers went to high school together (Jarvis Collegiate) and worked in the Department of External Affairs together during the ‘Pearsonian’ era

-at Oxford, Bob was tutored by Isaiah Berlin, who Iggy later wrote a book about

Trivia
-international shout-outs go to former Soviet republics having their first elections in the early 1990s and the Israel-Arab peace process (Rae notes he urged free trade negotiations with Israel)
-on his list of U of T law professors Rae liked is Michael Trebilcock, who is still on the faculty

Political philosophy, summarized
“Social justice, economic efficiency and liberty always have to be balanced.”

Now, which party does that sound like?