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|Monday October 13, 2003 |
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SCHWARTZ, MARTIN'S GENERAL IN TORONTO
TORONTO – Canada’s power couple Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman will be
influential players when Paul Martin becomes Prime Minister. Mr. Schwartz,
president of Onex Corporation, and the top corporate fundraiser for Paul
Martin’s successful leadership campaign, has helped raise an estimated and
whopping $11-million by the Nov. 15 leadership convention.
Mr. Schwartz’s wife, Ms. Reisman, is head of Chapters Books. “Except for
Sheila Martin, Gerry and his wife are the people who have more influence on
Martin than anybody,” a top Liberal strategist told The Hill Times. Mr.
Schwartz’s American Farm Inc. donated $75,000 and Onex Corp. donated another
$75,000 to Mr. Martin’s leadership campaign. Mr. Schwartz and Ms. Reisman will
also host a fundraiser dinner on Dec. 10 in Toronto. The dinner is expected to
raise $2.4-million in one night and could pay off the Liberal Party’s
$1.5-million debt.
In
last week’s issue of The Hill Times, I prodded into the fascinating world of
the people who do not necessarily sit in Cabinet and, in fact, most of them
don’t, but are the people to whom the leader turns and will turn to for advice
on important issues. I purposely left out the people who make up the powerful
Greater Toronto Area and who will get the ear of the next Prime Minister of
Canada.
“With the possible exception by Webster, they do not talk to the media or seek
publicity,” the source told The Hill Times.
“Webster,” of course, is the prominent Toronto lawyer and Liberal strategist
John Webster, president of Maple Trust, and the person who will be responsible
for Paul Martin’s troops on the ground (Instead of ‘organization when he
becomes Prime Minister’) Mr. Webster was John Turner’s campaign director, and
is respected in Liberal quarters.
A
big role will also be played by another prominent Toronto lawyer, John A.
Campion, who is a senior partner of the law firm Fasken&Martineau and was
involved in Mr. Martin’s 1990 campaign. Mr. Campion could seek a seat in the
Toronto riding of Rosedale, but will wait to see what Mr. Martin’s executive
assistant Tim Murphy or Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham will do first.
Morevoer, three prominent members of the group are Barry Campbell, former MP
and also former Parliamentary Secretary to Paul Martin; wealthy businessman
and Liberal activist Al Pace; and influential strategist and author John
Duffy. Toronto lawyer Jeff G. Cowan, of Weir Foulds, who is also Martin’s
brother in law, will play a prominent role along with Toronto consultant Paul
Pelligrini, president of the Sussex Strategy Group. Of course, all will be
working closely with Gerry Schwartz: “He doesn’t want anything in return,”
said the source, “but he is a person that Paul Martin will have a lot of time
for.”
Mr. Shwartz, aside from the friendship, “is the No. 1 fundraiser.” The source
said the dinner will “the biggest fundraiser in terms of people present in
Canadian history. Gerry is aiming a 3,500 people present and a table of 10
will cost $7,000.” Indeed, outgoing Liberal Party President Stephen LeDrew
last week told the National Post’s Bob Fife: “It will be biggest dinner [in
the party’s history]. I have no doubt the debt will be paid off before the end
of the year.” The dinner will be called, the Leader’s Dinner, not to be
confused with the traditional Confederation Dinner, whose guest of honour was
supposed to be Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. But that dinner was cancelled
because they were not able to sell more the 300 tickets.
Meanwhile, what sort of role will Toronto Liberal Sen. David Smith, the point
man in Toronto for the Chrétien administration, play in the next government?
One Liberal source said: “I see David’s role as the crucial bridge between the
two factions. David will play the role between the Chrétien group and
Martin’s. Don’t forget that David was the chairperson of the Confederation
Dinner that was cancelled. Most people see him as the bridge. He might play a
role but he is not the insider.”
Of
course, the role played by those people will not be relegated to Toronto: Said
the Grit source: “Shwartz will definitely have a national impact; furthermore,
he and Campbell, will have an input on who is going to be in the Cabinet.” The
insider said that “Gerry is definitely interested in being involved in
economic and fiscal issues, as well as Campbell.”
Then there is the business of forming the next government. “In fact, we are
talking about two governments: one to win the elections, the second to run the
country,” said the Liberal. In the first one “we will not see people easily
identifiable with the past and Jean Chrétien’s government,” said the Grit
insider. Of course, there will always be places for people like Ralph Goodale,
Anne McLellan, Maurizio Bevilacqua and others who have been with Mr. Martin
from Adam and are still now.
As
for Bill Graham in Toronto, a lot depends on what Tim Murphy, Martin’s chief
of staff, will do. Some see Mr. Graham headed for a plum appointment abroad.
Mr. Martin will definitely bring new faces from Toronto. “This is a very
confused and sensitive area especially because Martin’s style is very quiet,
confidential and people are very disciplined. Then you have very talented and
volatile Italian-Canadians...” The insider said he believe that “three junior
people to be in Cabinet will be Carolyn Bennett, Albina Guarnieri and Joe
Volpe.” Those are, however, only the first indications of a very complicated,
sensitive, difficult and painful process and it’s a process that will be also
taking care of important issues Mr. Martin is very concerned about: “It’s not
that he takes Ontario for granted but he believes that the West, Quebec and
the relationship with the United States are extremely important.” This,
however, will be the subject of a future story. |
