megram - Index

megram - 55Ottawa - Index

yes. I also think he understood that
by coming back — remember I didn’t
have a seat in the House at that
time and was a brand new leader —
he would not only help us win an
important seat in Ottawa Centre,
which he did, but he would send a
message across the country that Jack
and this NDP caucus had the support
of the wisdom and experience that a
former leader can bring. I was also
lucky to have the other former
leader, Alexa McDonough, as well as
Ed.”
A number of other factors
prompted Ed’s comeback.“Right out
of the blue, Jack Layton asked me,”
says the grandfather of four.“I hadn’t
been thinking about it at all.”
The request came at an opportune
moment because Ed disagreed
with much that he saw on the political
scene.
“At that time, I was quite
annoyed with the Chrétien government
— soon to become the Martin
government,” he says.
(The Liberal Party under Jean
Chrétien held power from 1990 to
2003. His finance minister, Paul
Martin, took over from 2003 to 2006,
following a bitter dispute between
the Chrétien and Martin factions.)
“After they had dealt with the
deficit in the 1990s — they had to
deal with the deficit — and slashed
billions out of social programs in
every category, they started to build
May 2008 • 14 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
up surpluses in the billions of dollars,”
Ed points out. “Instead of putting a
major part of that money back into
social programs, they gave it away in
tax cuts or paying down the deficit.”
“I’m not saying that there should
have been no tax cuts,” he adds, “but
some of those billions of dollars should
have gone to youth programs, senior
programs, housing, you name it.”
He says that,as a previous housing
critic for his party, he was particularly
concerned about the housing issue.
“The problem of housing across
the country is massive,not just for the
poorest people but also for all those
with incomes in the bottom 30 per
cent. There is just no housing available.
In the mid-1990s, the government
abolished the national housing
program. I was there when we started
it. In 1972, the minority Trudeau government
put in a housing policy that
came to be seen as one of the best in
the world. I could remember what it
once was.”
In general,the political realities of
the time disturbed him enough that
the call to action — especially as it
came from the man he had supported
to become leader of the NDP — could
not be ignored.“I felt that if I could do
something about it in a small way, I
had to be part of it,”says Ed.“My wife,
Lucille, was strongly supportive. I live
in Ottawa Centre, so I could walk to
work and make a difference too. All
these things came together, so I said
yes to Jack Layton.”
The NDP leader still considers
himself fortunate that Ed came back.
“Here is a man who personifies the
idea that you can live joyfully and passionately
well beyond 55,”he says.“He
came into a milieu of party workers in
their 20s and 30s and fitted so well
with the young people because of his
enthusiasm and his energy. He is an
inspiration to them.”
Then 68, Ed won the Ottawa seat
handily to return to the House of
Commons in 2004, but, the following
year, announced that he would not