THE WEST BLOCK
Episode 18, Season 3
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Host: Tom Clark
Guest Interviews: Tom Mulcair, Graeme Smith, Jean-Marc Carisse
Location: Ottawa
***Please check against delivery
Tom Clark:
On this frigid snowy Sunday, the federal parties are still adding up the final donations of 2013, but the official Opposition is running a distant third. How will that affect the battleground ahead?
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is here to gaze out on the New Year and to talk about politics and money.
And the war in Afghanistan affected Canada deeply but did it change much in Afghanistan? Graeme Smith saw the war at ground level. He joins us with his verdict.
Plus, the photographer to the political stars takes us behind the lens and reveals the stories that brought us these iconic images.
It is Sunday, January the 5th, 2014. I’m Tom Clark and you are in the warm and cozy West Block, especially if you’re in Winnipeg where it is minus 51 with the wind-chill.
Well, as 2013 came to an end, all the federal parties gave one last fundraising push and while the final numbers aren’t in yet, all of the parties are trumpeting December as their most ambitious month to date. But where were the parties before their last fundraising drive? Here it is, your weekly West Block Primer:
When it comes to bringing in the cast, the Conservatives have been winning for years. In the first nine months of last year alone, they hit a whopping $12.76 million. The Liberals were far behind with little more than half that ($6.82 million). And what about the NDP, the official Opposition? Well the second place party comes in last at just about $4.48 million.
Well the numbers for the last quarter could see a big shift though in the totals with the Liberals saying that they raised another $2 million dollars in December alone. So what does all this mean to the third place NDP? Well joining me now from Montreal, NDP leader Tom Mulcair. Mr. Mulcair, first of all, Happy New Year and thanks for being here this morning.
Tom Mulcair:
All the best to you and your family Tom as well.
Tom Clark:
Thank you. Let’s talk about money for a minute. Do you have your final December numbers in yet?
Tom Mulcair:
Yes we were able to collect $800,000 online which for us is fantastic. We are going to be able to spend the full maximum amount in the next campaign; no problem at all but we’re going to keep talking to our base, which is very large across Canada but tends to deliver in bite-sized chunks, not the $1,000 donations that some other parties seem to favour. But we’ve got a lot more Canadians looking at the NDP now as the alternative to the Conservatives. They know we don’t have to go back to Liberal corruption after we get tired of Conservative corruption.
Tom Clark:
I should point out to everybody that $800,000 is above your target which was $750,000. But even having achieved that target, you’re well below what the Liberals and the Conservatives are raking in. Doesn’t this put you though at a severe disadvantage?
Tom Mulcair:
Not really because there’s a maximum amount that’s allowed to be spent on a Canadian federal election and we’ll be able to spend that full amount.
Tom Clark:
Well of course it’s not just for election spending though, it’s for the work of the party leading up to the election and you know the lifeblood of politics’ money.
Tom Mulcair:
We’re doing well Tom. We’re in a better position now than we’ve ever been in our history. Our numbers are good, our base is strong, our fundraising is the strongest that’s it’s ever been. And we’re the official Opposition for the first time so people are looking at us differently. They have a lot of expectations. Being told by the Conservatives that they have to accept less, they have to retire at 67 and not at 65, we can’t afford universal free public medical care. The Liberals are saying come back to us. We were corrupt the last time but we promise we’ll be good this time. We remember the cynicism of the Liberals; Eddie Goldenberg, Jean Chrétien’s chief of staff, admitting they signed Kyoto as a public relations stunt and then going on to have one of the worst records in history for greenhouse gas production. We know we deserve better. The NDP offers a clean alternative to alternating between Liberal corruption and Conservative corruption. Canadians are looking at us very differently this time. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and the next election and we’re not going to shy away from that work.
Tom Clark:
Let’s take a look at one issue that is going to be dominant, I think in 2014, and that’s the whole question of pipelines and whether it’s the White House deciding on whether Keystone XL is going to go ahead or the federal cabinet deciding on the Northern Gateway pipeline. Nevertheless, what’s happened in the last couple of weeks though as you well know is that there’s been yet another rail disaster involving oil, this time in North Dakota. Very much like the explosion in Lac-Mégantic earlier on. It’s pretty clear I think now, the dangers of shipping oil by rail but you oppose pipelines as well so I’m wondering then, how do we get Alberta oil to market? If rail is going to be dangerous and if pipelines are unacceptable, how do we get it out there?
Tom Mulcair:
I don’t think it’s a fair statement Tom to say that the NDP is opposed to pipelines. What we have said is that we should have the value added jobs here in Canada. So while the Liberals support the Keystone an XL pipeline that will export 40,000 middle class jobs to the US, the NDP is in favour of moving that petroleum product from west to east, getting it to tidewater in the east, that’s not a problem. Creating the jobs in Canada, that’s what this is all about. Northern Gateway is a non-starter because it would bring super tankers into the Douglas Channel, that’s just madness. The dangers there are incredible. I’ve read the so called 209 conditions but they don’t even take into account a massive disaster from the breakup of one of those tankers as happened with the Exxon Valdez. So we’re going to look at these on a case-by-case basis but we are in favour of moving Canadian products within Canada, creating the jobs here, so it’s not fair to say that the NDP is against pipelines.
Tom Clark:
Okay, let’s move on to one other thing. Even the parliamentary budget officer is saying that we are likely heading into surplus territory in the budget, perhaps as early as this year, but certainly by 2015, prior to the next election campaign, conveniently I suppose for the Conservatives. If there is a surplus and if the NDP gets into government, what are you going to do with that extra money?
Tom Mulcair:
Well don’t forget, every government comes in with its own priorities. You just evoked Lac-Mégantic and the disaster there and the recent one in the US. What the Conservatives have done is started dismantling the government. They allow food production companies to inspect themselves. We wind up with the biggest meat recall in Canadian history. We let railroads govern themselves, regulate themselves and we wind up with these mega disasters. So what we have to do is to get back to the basics of government. Why do governments exist? Well there’s nothing more important than ensuring that the food Canadians put on their table is safe. People have to be safe in their communities from a rail disaster. Those are the functions of government. We’re looking at the loss of free universal public medical care. Canadians know that the NDP was the first government in Saskatchewan to bring in medicare in Canada. They look at us as being able to defend that type of social program. Those would be our priorities in creating the next budget when we would form a government in 2015.
Tom Clark:
Okay but to be clear then, what are you saying? That you’re going to top up the existing programs, such as food inspectors and so on?
Tom Mulcair:
Thank you for that question, because a lot of people believe that when a new government comes in they have to do everything that the prior government was doing and anything new that they want to do has to be added on. The Conservatives have had their priorities. They’ve given $50 billion in tax reductions to Canada’s richest corporations for example. That’s not one of our priorities. All Canadians pay their fair share of taxes except for Canadian corporations. The NDP will change that. We’ll get back to something closer to the OECD average. We’ll get closer to the American combined state-federal average. Canadian corporate taxes are far too low right now. They’re freeloading, they’re not paying their fair share, and we’re going to change that.
Tom Clark:
Mr. Mulcair I’ve got less than a minute left but I want to give you the opportunity to identify for all of us, the one single greatest challenge that you’re going to have in 2014?
Tom Mulcair:
Show the team. I want Canadians to look at the NDP team to look at our proud history of good public administration. That’s not just a boast by us. That’s something that’s been evaluated objectively by the Canadian finance department. The best record of Canadian governments is NDP governments in the five provinces and the one territory where we’ve been in power. We want Canadians to look at the team that’s in the House, our front bench, our strength, the depth of experience there and realize that there is an alternative. There’s a positive way forward. We don’t have to alternate between Liberal corruption and Conservative corruption. There’s a better way. The NDP is not going to try and convince Canadians that they have to settle for less, that’s what the Conservatives are saying, we’re not going to tell Canadians that they have no choice, which is what the Liberals say.
Tom Clark;
Okay, I have a feeling we’ve just heard the opening campaign slogan for the NDP for 2015. Tom Mulcair thanks very much for joining us. I appreciate your time.
Tom Mulcair:
Thank you very much Tom. All the best. Bye-bye.
Tom Clark:
Well still to come on the show, one Canadian journalist’s love letter to Afghanistan. Why does he say that Canada failed in its war against the Taliban?
And later, what’s it like to be a fly on the wall in the corridors of power? We talk to the official photographer to three former prime ministers.
Break
Tom Clark:
Welcome back. Well in just three months from now, the last Canadian boots will leave Afghan soil, bringing to an end Canada’s first ground war of the 21st century. In the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, Canada refused to join the Americans in Iraq but did commit troops to Afghanistan, and it became a defining moment in our history. We lost 158 soldiers, a proportionately high number among the allies, but we were universally recognized for the bravery of our soldiers. As we leave, there is only one question left, was it worth it? Graeme Smith is a Canadian Journalist with a lot to say on this matter. He’s out with a new book called: The Dogs Are Eating Them Now.
Well joining me now from Toronto is Graeme Smith. Graeme welcome. Let’s deal with the toughest question. First off, the name of your book is, The Dogs Are Eating Them Now. Why that title? What does it mean?
GraemeSmith:
Well as long as no one out there is eating breakfast I’ll tell you. The Dogs Are Eating Them Now is a quote from a Canadian soldier who was describing to me a sort of failed tactic by the troops in September ‘06. It was Operation Medusa. You remember that big fight, south west of Kandahar City. And what happened was some Canadian soldiers thought it would be a good idea to drag some dead Taliban out into the middle of the field and mark them with glow sticks as a way of trying to catch other Taliban. To use them as bait essentially, these human bodies. And the Taliban were too smart. They didn’t take the bait and the dogs ate the bodies all night.
Tom Clark:
Wow, you know I want to go back to 2007. You and I were in Afghanistan at that point and I remember a conversation that you and I had, and we talked about the prosecution of the war, whether it was doing any good and ultimately whether this was a winnable war. And I remember you said at the time, that you thought that the intentions were good. You felt that at that time there were positive aspects about it and you felt ultimately that it was winnable. In your book you conclude that we lost the war and you said it broke your heart.
Graeme Smith:
That’s right. I mean there’s sort of this arc of disappointment through the book where I went into it you know as a wide-eyed 26-year-old reporter pretty enthusiastic about the whole idea of bringing peace and stability and all kinds of other good things to southern Afghanistan and now today, since you and I had that conversation all those years ago, it is so much more dangerous Tom than it was back then. There are just more security incidents every single day across the country and in the south where Canadians were fighting and dying. And the ability of NGO’s to reach the districts is actually less than it was.
Tom Clark:
So where did we fail then Graeme?
Graeme Smith:
You know there are so many points of departure. The book is kind of an angry lament and I actually say right up top in the introduction that I don’t have all the answers because I don’t think anyone does. And we’re just starting this process actually of having to just kind of emotionally come around to admitting that that okay, the huge surges of troops into southern Afghanistan didn’t actually help and we need to look back honestly and think about why that was. And try to figure out you know what we can do better because at the moment what’s happening is we’re just declaring victory and walking away which is just not honest. You know southern Afghanistan still needs a lot of help and, you know, so what could we have done better? I don’t know Tom. I’m now working with the International Crisis Group doing some more kind of rigorous analysis of the situation. The book is just kind of a description of everything I saw and heard.
Tom Clark:
Let me suggest this to you though because, and I want the audience to know this, that when I worked with you in Afghanistan, there was no other journalist who took as many risks as you did to understand, not only the war, not only the military but also the Afghan people and the power structure, especially in southern Afghanistan. You literally put your life on the line time and time again, much to my chagrin I can tell you. But is it that we as a country or as a western alliance didn’t understand Afghanistan the way that you attempted to on almost a daily basis?
Graeme Smith:
Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. Listen, I look back at some of those years and some of the crazy things I did you know, getting bombed, shot at, rocketed, mortared, RPG’d, chased through the streets, you know guys kicking down my door with guns; the office door. And I think boy was I stupid to be honest. I really try to avoid those kinds of risks these days in Afghanistan. But yeah, I think you’re absolutely right. The way we think about the war was a key problem. There was an inability for the foreigners to absorb what was going on and to learn from it in real time. Now it’s only years later that you know generals from the comfort of their living rooms are starting to say things like, oh you know what, you know maybe our whole idea about counter insurgency didn’t work out after all. And it’s infuriating because it’s too late. You know we need to be thinking more quickly in real time about what’s working, what’s not working.
Tom Clark:
Let me turn the focus briefly on ourselves and the work the journalists did over there. We were, for the most part imbedded, although both you and I managed to get outside the wire a fair amount; you more than anybody else. Did the profession of journalism in Canada do justice to the Canadian people in terms of what we reported?
Graeme Smith:
Yeah that’s a good point. The book in some ways is a criticism of myself, a criticism of my colleagues to a lesser extent. There’s a lot of regret in there about stuff that we missed. It was heartbreaking every single day to have to sort of do a triage you know to figure out what am I going to cover. We just didn’t have enough resources to keep track of everything that was going on and stuff floated by you. And you know the Canadians I think as a whole, the press corps did a decent job, especially considering the number of American troops down there, I was always astonished that there weren’t more American reporters you know full-time in the southern region. But you know we did our best. I know you sweated it out, hour after hour, day after day just like the rest of the Canadian reporters taking tremendous risks. And we put our hearts and souls into understanding what was going on, and the soldiers too. I mean don’t forget, obviously there were a lot of wounded, a lot of deaths amongst the Canadian troops and they put a lot of heart and soul into trying to make things better and so it’s hard for some of them. I mean some of the guys who have been reading my book now, the troops, some of them appreciate what I’m trying to do kind of intellectually saying okay look, this did not work, what can we do better next time? But some of them are pissed off at me you know. Some of them are not happy about you know admitting that ultimately this wasn’t a success.
Tom Clark:
Well, you know I seldom really endorse books or journalists but in this case, I just want everybody to know how Graeme Smith owned that war. You did more to report this war, not only from outside the wire but inside the wire. Any Canadian soldier who is upset with you should think again because you did a great service to this country. Graeme Smith: The Dogs Are Eating Them Now; a terrific read. Thanks very much for being here Graeme.
Graeme Smith:
Thank you sir, appreciate it.
Tom Clark:
Well coming up, politicians may twist the truth from time to time but the camera lens never lies. Back stage with the man who captured it all, right after this.
Break
Tom Clark:
Welcome back. Well perhaps the people with the most access to politicians, other than their families of course, are photographers. They’re invited behind closed doors to document the more private moments of political life, operating so quietly that their subjects often forget that they are there. One person who’s had that unique access is Jean-Marc Carisse. We caught up with him at his studio café here in Ottawa. Have a look.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
This is during a visit of President Bush to Library and Archives Canada.
Tom Clark:
As the official photographer to three Canadian prime ministers, Jean-Marc Carisse has had a front row seat to history. Shadowing Pierre Trudeau, John Turner and Jean Chrétien, Carisse travelled the world and in doing so, photographed every American president since Gerald Ford and countless other world leaders, dignitaries and celebrities.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
This is just prior to Dan Aykroyd receiving the Order of Canada. So he had lunch there with his family. He brought his family and they just sang a few songs.
Tom Clark:
Was Chrétien actually playing the trombone?
Jean-Marc Carisse:
Yes, oh yes.
Tom Clark:
He played the trombone?
Jean-Marc Carisse:
He played the trombone, yeah.
Tom Clark:
It’s given him some interesting insights into the personalities of our political leaders and their relationship with each other. As a photographer, all of a sudden you see Laureen Harper and Margaret Trudeau standing up to talk to one another and you know you’ve got one shot at it and one job to do, that is get the picture.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
Yeah, and to me they were glowing in the dark. I mean the photo is a play of contrasts. I mean with the colour of their hair, even though they’re the same style but they look…
Tom Clark:
One’s black, one’s white…
Jean-Marc Carisse:
That’s right, one’s Conservative, one’s Liberal; former Liberal. I’m not sure she’s still Liberal but anyway, yeah it’s a play of contrasts and I felt that I captured the essence in their beauty. You know I found it looking very elegant and charismatic.
Tom Clark;
Carisse credits his skill at capturing the private moments of politicians’ lives with his ability to disappear into the background.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
I’m a fly in the branches.
Tom Clark:
And one of his favourite examples of where it paid off…
Jean-Marc Carisse:
They had gone in a forest for a long walk rather than meeting in a small room. They came by, climbing and jumping little fences, you know I mean knee-high fences until they came to this area. They couldn’t find the stairs so they were walking. They went back and forth to the left. They came this way and they didn’t notice the stairs, so there, prime minister Chrétien said, ‘Bill I’ll race you to the top.’ And as Chrétien described it to me, it was about two metres high, so it’s over seven feet. So the president had difficulty climbing, and Chrétien… had stalled there. I guess looking over his shoulder…
Tom Clark:
…To enjoy the moment that he was beating Bill Clinton in climbing the wall…
Jean-Marc Carisse:
That’s right they’re very competitive…
Tom Clark:
Both of them are.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
Friends but competitive friends…
Tom Clark:
While the three prime ministers that he has photographed have all faded into the background, he’s also taken pictures of someone else who would like to become prime minister.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
Did you ever get the sense that this is what he’d end up doing?
Jean-Marc Carisse:
No way, no because he was a kid when I’d see him…usually it was at 24 Sussex or at the lake just horsing around like any other little boy. And the outcome, you know some may have thought that maybe Alexandre or Sacha would have been more prone to end up as a prime minister and it turned out the other way around.
Tom Clark:
Over the decades of watching other people chart their political careers, Carisse never caught the political bug himself.
Jean-Marc Carisse:
Oh it’s a tough life. You need thick skin. I mean I would never want to be a politician.
Tom Clark:
A final note, whether you’re snowbound in the East or stinging from the extreme cold in the West or ice in Central Canada, we are reminded today that we are indeed a Northern winter nation. It shapes who we are and how we see things. In times like this, we Canadians tend to drop our differences to deal with what really matters. Whether it’s a collective effort or an individual act of kindness, we somehow just know exactly what to do. Gathering around the community fire to dispel the cold and dark is what we have done for countless generations, and no one is ever turned away. Above all else, we Canadians may take winter seriously but we share a laugh about it, too. Our politics could use a bit of that winter right now. A bit of that shared sense of overcoming the challenge with grace and humour. A sense that whatever our views, we are in this together; a sense that we all have winter in our blood.
Well that is our show for this week. Stay tuned to Global National with Dawna Friesen throughout the week for all the latest stories. I’m Tom Clark. Have a great day. Have a great week ahead. We’ll see you back here next Sunday. Here’s a little bit of our winter in Ottawa.
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