If Mike and Tom Can Get Along, Why Can't Canada?

Head Table Guests

Robert Dechert, Partner, Gowling, Strathy & Henderson and a Director, The Empire Club of Canada; Nicholas Erb, Grade 11 Student, Oakwood Collegiate Institute; The Rev. Dr. John Niles, Minister, Victoria Park United Church; Joan Harting-Barham, Editor-in-Chief of Fashion, Toronto Life FASHION; David Edmison, Director, Martin Lucas & Seagram, Independent Investment Counsel and a Past President, The Empire Club of Canada; Catherine Charlton, Chair, Toronto Branch, Royal Commonwealth Society and a Past-President, The Empire Club of Canada; Noreen Clement, Adult Education Teacher, Danforth Tech and Lakeshore Collegiate Institute and Vice-Chairman, Royal, Commonwealth Society, Toronto Branch; Joan Hilborn, Fredrik D'Arcy Eaton, Assistant Chief Operating Officer, T. Eaton Company Limited; and MGen. Bruce J. Legge, C.M.M., C.M., Q.C., Partner, Legge & Legge, Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Member of the Order of Canada, Honorary Life Chairman, Royal Commonwealth Society and a Past President, The Empire Club of Canada.

Introduction by Gareth Seltzer

Your Honour, ladies and gentleman, my name is Gareth Seltzer and I am the President of the Empire Club of Canada. We are most fortunate to be joined by the Honorary Vice-President of the Empire Club of Canada and the Honorary Chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Her Honour, Hilary M. Weston, the Lieutenant-Governor of the province of Ontario. Your Honour, I have the privilege of introducing to you, the head table.

I will now ask Her Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor of the province of Ontario to bring greetings. Your Honour.

The Hon. Hilary M. Weston

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, it is a great honour for me to be here today for the first time as Ontario's Lieutenant-Governor. I am also delighted to be able to extend the tradition whereby the Lieutenant-Governor attends this Canada Day luncheon co-hosted by the Empire Club and the Royal Commonwealth Society.

While Canada's identity as a nation is fast changing, becoming increasingly special and unique (who would have imagined 20 years ago that an Irish-born fashion guru and mother of two would be chosen as Ontario's Lieutenant-Governor?) it is more important than ever to remember our history and the institutions and people that formed us.

Standing before you now, on the podium of one of Canada's oldest and largest speakers' forums, I am reminded of the many great minds that have stood here before me and I must confess it's rather daunting. I can feel the eyes upon me of one of this Club's most illustrious speakers: Sir Winston Churchill. I wonder if I can hear him whispering behind my back the same criticisms he had of a certain naval commander of which he said: He is one of those orators of whom it was well said: "Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said."

But regardless of what the ghosts are murmuring, I am very honoured to stand on this illustrious podium. This Club and its speakers have taken us from the time of train travel to the space age and beyond, through war time and peace time, through times of prosperity and of economic hardship.

It makes one realise, that in being here this afternoon, one is partaking in an ongoing and very active historical tradition and I look forward to hearing from Mr. Tom Clark and Mr. Mike Duffy, who will, I am sure, cast vivid light on the exciting and complex problems and delights of today's media world. As Her Majesty's Representative in the province I would like to thank you all for inviting me here today and I would like to commend the Empire Club of Canada and the Royal Commonwealth Society for continuing to provide such an excellent forum for great words, great minds, great ideas, and a very good lunch to boot! Thank you so much.

Gareth Seltzer

Thank you Your Honour and may I say again how pleased we are to see you today in your first visit with us as Lieutenant-Governor and how grateful we are for the fine example you set as one committed to service in our community.

I must admit that on this occasion, it was a challenge for me to decide in which direction to go. There are so many stories and lessons to be learned from and about our great nation. Having recently returned from Micronesia and the Philippines, it was so obvious to me the moment I was back on Canadian soil that this land, Canada, is an extraordinary country. Canada is full of entrepreneurial spirit, a sense of social justice, unparalleled personal safety and, to top it all off, relative to where I was, the roads aren't too bad. Eduard Manet said that "a country has charms only for those not obliged to stay there." Canada may sometimes seem less charmed but frankly is abundantly blessed. On the occasion of our Canada Day luncheon, you may ask why I invited two journalists--Tom Clark and Mike Duffy. G.K. Chesterton said that journalism consists largely of saying Lord Jones died to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive. But today journalists and journalism provide not only a flavour of the pains and spirit of a nation, but some journalists have an extraordinary knack for bringing news and issues to us in an especially talented manner. Mr. Clark and Mr. Duffy are two such journalists.

Tom Clark, in addition to his duties as National Editor for BBS, anchors a daily news package on Baton's 24 stations on national and international issues. He has reported from the Persian Gulf, Berlin, Beijing, Somalia, Bosnia and Russia. He has brought to our screens wonderful coverage of the D-Day reunion in France among many other projects. However, we most frequently see Tom in the BBS evening segment with this piece of work, Mike Duffy.

Which brings me to Mr. Duffy. When I was putting the agenda together, I decided that no one could talk better about our nationhood and our state of affairs than, as Chatelaine called him, one of the 10 sexiest men in Canada--Mike Duffy. The Duff, as he is affectionately referred to, is the Editor-in-Chief of Sunday Edition. The Duff is a regular on Rogers Broadcasting's Sunday Network Radio Magazine, and a variety of other programmes. He has covered six wars, including two tours of Vietnam and, drawn by political reporting, has been focused on Ottawa and the political scene for the past 25 years.

Duff is going to speak to us for about 10 or 15 minutes and then will be joined by Tom Clark to take questions from the floor. Ask them a few toughies! And, of course, while we are sensitive to the protocol of our guests and the dignity of these prestigious clubs, I am reminded that the Duff is a political journalist so I take no personal responsibility for the views expressed herein! Your Honour, ladies and gentleman, to start the address off--Mike Duffy.

Mike Duffy

Your Honour, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and old friends, it's quite a daunting task you have set out Mr. Chairman and I must say that my normal butterflies were exacerbated by Her Honour's reference to some of the previous speakers at this distinguished gathering. This is something new for Tom and me. We do our little bit every evening and that generally takes about an hour of talk time earlier in the day back and forth bantering about what's going on. I try out all of my lines and he says: "No, no that's far too ribald, we can't get into that," so this is something different and I hope it works. Normally on Canada Day or leading up to Canada Day I would be wearing my Canada Day Canadian flag tie. Unfortunately I'm out of them. Every time I wear it on TV I get a letter from a service club in some other part of Canada that says: "We want to auction the thing off," so I end up sending it off. I stopped at the tie place on the way through hoping it would have some but they are sold out too. When you have a good product called Canada, you just can't keep it in stock.

As I say it is indeed an honour to be here and I tell you it's wonderful to be listed as one of Canada's 10 sexiest men. My old pal Fotheringham says Chatelaine got it wrong. He says Duffy is not one of Canada's 10 sexiest. He is in fact two.

It is not easy being a sex symbol. I was coming from a Prince Edward Island charity event on the weekend through Halifax Airport and a lady came up to me. She said: "I recognise you. I'd know you anywhere. I see you on television." I said: "Yes Madam, nice to meet you." She said: "Yes, you're Lloyd Robertson." I haven't told Lloyd about this. That woman either needs a new television set or a new set of glasses. But Lloyd's fine and now he is doing so well the CBC has decided that they've got to take a run at him directly at eleven o'clock. We are not worried because we think that even with that kind of competition at the end of the day you'll discover that CTV still has Canada's most watched newscast. That is something we are proud of.

Canadians have a lot to be thankful for. We still have far too high a rate of unemployment in this country. The economy however is in an upturn despite the uncertainty in the province of Quebec. But even with all of the good news on the economic front, people are asking where are we going from here? And I have to tell them honestly that I don't have a clue. But being clueless I turn to the government and I ask people at the senior levels where do you see us going in the next little while? What I am going to impart to you in the next few minutes in the serious part of our discussion today is what they've said to me as what we in the business call background, deep background, or as they say in Newfoundland, deep trout.

What the government's people in finance and elsewhere tell me is that we are on the edge, the leading edge, of an economic boom, a boom that will rival what we saw in this country back in the 1980s. But it will be even better because, unlike then, this will be non-inflationary growth. We are beginning to see it reflected in the stock markets as the indexes hit new highs almost every week. It's being fueled by us--the baby boomers. It is hard to believe but every seven seconds in North America another boomer turns 50. I turned 50 last year, Cher turned 50 last year. It is amazing isn't it? Cher has the mind of a 50-year-old and the body of a 19-year-old and she has the receipts from the plastic surgeon to prove it.

But we boomers have mostly paid off our mortgages, except for a few single Dads I know. The kids are about to move out if they're not already on their own and for the first time in our lives we've got some serious disposable income. On top of all of this, our parents are getting on. They are getting to the age where they are about to pass on. All of this adds up to the biggest inter-generational transfer of wealth in the history of the world.

We are going to have money to invest in stocks, in cottages, in retirement homes, in vacations, even maybe in sports cars if they make them big enough. The retail economy is going to continue to grow and the stock market is going to continue to boom. There are exciting and prosperous times ahead once we get through this little bumpy patch.

Paul Martin over in Finance is the most powerful minister in the federal government and he remains determined to control federal spending. While we have made impressive progress on the deficit, Martin knows we can't stop now as we are not out of the woods by a long shot. He also knows Canadians, especially Liberals who will be delegates to the next Liberal Party leadership convention after the Prime Minister steps down, probably in the year 2000, don't like to hear talk about cutting and slashing. So Paul Martin will be buoyant and upbeat in public as he goes about the tough business of controlling spending in the corridors of power. His rewards should be the Liberal Party leadership after the Prime Minister steps down. Paul Martin has earned it.

Frankly far too few Canadians understand how an economy like ours operates and why tough urgent action was necessary. Far too often in the past our politicians have fallen over and given in to the loudest voices in the crowd. As long as we had credit at the bank politicians could give these pressure groups what they wanted and put the bill for it on the backs of our kids. But now as the baby boom generation gets set to retire, the financial pressures on the system are going to increase dramatically.

Today 12 per cent of Canadians are over the age of 65. They're retired, drawing out of the system pensions, medicare and so on. One-third of Canadians are baby boomers. They were born between 1946 and 1966. When the boomers start to retire in a few short years from now that number of retirees will expand dramatically from 12 per cent today until it is at its peak at close to 40 per cent. That's more than three times the current load on our pension plan, on our hospitals and on our medicare system.

It's why Paul Martin, despite the objections of other politicians, took the tough step of increasing Canada pension plan premiums so our CPP won't go bankrupt down the road. He sees what's hanging out there.

Now some people say it doesn't matter about the future because I'm not going to live that long. Nobody ever gets to that stage. I'd ask you to consider this. Since 1950 Canada's death rate has dropped by 23 per cent. I'll put it another way. In 1900 the average life span in North America was 47 years. Today it is 79 years and it is getting longer every day as medical science improves and we live, some of us anyway, healthier lifestyles. Get out there and jog and I'll watch.

Today for every retired person there are seven people in the work force. When we boomers are retired that number will drop dramatically till there are two people working in the labour force to support every retiree. So today there's 12-per-cent retired and for every retiree seven taxpayers out there. In 30 years' time, I'll only be 81. My mother's 80 today and she's still going strong, running all of PEI, not just the Duffy clan but the whole place. She's going gangbusters at 80 so there's no reason why we are not going to get there, but when we do get there, instead of being 12-per-cent retirees, it will be heading for 40 per cent. Instead of seven people paying taxes to keep us in the manner to which we are accustomed and entitled and will demand, there will only be two people. Our kids will be out there working and paying taxes and won't they be thrilled. If we think the tax rate at 54 per cent is high now it will be through the roof when we are retired at our peak and that'll make us very popular with our children.

So what we have got to do is get the deficit and the debt under control before we retire, so that we won't have that unfair burden on our kids. That's what Paul Martin and Jean Chretien understand and that's why they have been doing what they're doing. It's not because they are driven by some kind of right wing ideology that says we have got to take bread out of the mouths of children, not at all. It's because we have to preserve a country that we built to be great and prudence is the only way to do it. If we stick to the current plan, we're going to see a booming economy. We're going to see a resurgence in economic growth. We're going to see a decline in unemployment and we are going to do it without the return of inflation.

The one question mark hanging over our heads, as I wrap up today, is the question of national unity and I think there were some clues in the recent announcement of the new cabinet line-up where the Prime Minister talked about the cabinet committees. I think what we're about to see from the federal government, probably beginning in the fall, is a series of conferences to work out a new deal in the Canadian federation--a series of conferences to shape economic and social policy for what the experts are now referring to as the Canadian union. The idea is to reduce overlap and duplication in government and return to the provinces which want it (not everybody but just those that want to run their own shows) control over areas like education, social welfare and health which under the BNA Act were under provincial jurisdiction anyway. The final details have not been hammered out. Of course we are in a very preliminary stage here and they probably won't be hammered out before the next Quebec election which is the next big crisis on the Canadian historical road. But if this system of conferences comes into place, what we will be able to offer to Quebeckers is a mechanism by which they can both retain their presence in Canada and be "maitre chez nous" in their province as they will be in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and every other province which will get essentially identical powers if they want them from Ottawa.

As people who believe in Canada, I think we owe it to our kids to remain involved. Just because we have had a federal election doesn't mean the campaign is over. What we've got to have is what we see in this room today--continuing civic involvement by our young people. Not just those of us of mature years but the young people especially who seem so alienated and disinterested in what's going on.

Let me assure you politics is important. You know that. Politics is also fun and so I would urge you to urge your children, your neighbours, your friends to get involved in the political process. Pick your party, it doesn't matter. What we need in this country is continued political involvement.

I salute you all for all your commitment to Canada and Tom and I will be happy to try to answer your questions on this special Canada Day preview luncheon. Thank you for the invitation today. God bless you and God bless Canada, the number-one country in the whole world.

Tom Clark

When I was asked to join you today it was made clear to me that this was the Canada Day luncheon so I thought it was appropriate that we try and articulate a little something about this country. Journalists are often seen as people who tear down the country and I guess that's part of our job, but I think what we should be doing for the most part is joining in the crusade to make this a great country, because it really is.

A number of years ago I was pondering all of this. I went to Vimy Ridge. There wasn't any big ceremony going on. I just happened to be in the area and I dropped into the Great Memorial at Vimy Ridge. If you have never been you should go because it is truly one of the greatest memorials anywhere in the world. I was at the time doing an article on my grandfather who had written extensively during that period and his brother Greg Clark who was my uncle. I was buried with notes, but when I was in Vimy I came across a letter that young Jo had written to his father who at the time was the Editor-in-Chief of The Toronto Daily Star. He wrote this from a shell-hole during a battle in 1916 and this is what he said. "Dad, we never know when we may be taken. We never know over here when our hour has come. But it is better that way. There have been times when the whole world seems to be seen slipping and my tortured brain and soul were ready to burst their bands. But the hours rolled away and in time once again I smoked my cigarette, laughed with the next fellow and my previous thoughts remained behind the cloud of memory like some hideous nightmare best forgotten. But Dad should it be that all we who are out here now should not come back and that many who are on their way here should not return, thank heaven there is a generation from the bone of those great men who have fallen over here. Now too young to fight, but after the War has petered out old enough to take the tiller of management of Canada. With the memory of their dead fathers before them surely a wonderful nation will be made of Canada." That was written by a young man of 21 years old at the worst time of his life and he thought then of a vision of this country.

So I thought about this some years later particularly on a November day a couple of years ago. I wrote down these thoughts about this country and especially about the heritage of this country which is so often now the subject of attack. For some reason we have decided, or some people have decided, that heritage in this nation should be defined in a rather odd way. And too often it doesn't include history. But this country like any country is history and its people are history. It is what has made us. Here's just a thought that I wrote down a couple of years ago on a November day.

"He was out there again today; his watery eyes stinging in the sunlight in the sharp north wind, watering from the outside and the inside; from the years and the tears he remembers. He remembers the 19-year-old body that once contained his soul, laughing, randy, exulting in the physique and untapped promise of youth. He remembers the coarse itchy battle dress and the pride that it inspired when he walked down Brock Street on his first leave home. He remembers getting it dirty one day in Holland. When the ringing in his ears stopped he looked down at the battle dress. It was covered with mud and blood and a bit of his tibia was sticking through it. He didn't know it at that moment but that was the day that he became a veteran. He doesn't think his son really understands all of this. Oddly enough his grandson does. A good teacher and those same idealistic juices of youth help him to know what sent Grandad to war.

Tomorrow night he will be back at his table in the legion having a few beers too many. Charlie won't be there. The black humour that got them through Italy and Holland still helps. I hear Charlie quit smoking. Well that's the way he got the news about Charlie from his pals."

It's relatively easy for the rest of us to picture the young men who died but it's a lot harder to see them in the old men who wear their medals and berets once a year. And while we bow our heads for a minute as "The Last Post" plays for those who died for God's sake let us remember those who came back because they won't be with us for much longer. I think that when we put history into perspective what we come up with is a better nation and a better country.

The appreciation of the meeting was expressed by Catherine Chariton, Chair, Toronto Branch, Royal Commonwealth Society and a Past President, The Empire Club of Canada.