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Monday September 19, 2005 |
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ken dryden, The iceman and the
politician
An interview with Ken Dryden, minister of social development
by Angelo Persichilli
(Versione italiana)
THE HILL TIMES
TORONTO - I knew of him, but I only met him the first time at the beginning of
the last federal campaign. A common friend arranged for the meeting with the
former NHL star and a potential national political leader. Ken Dryden had
just left his cosy environment as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs and
decided to challenge himself with a new career in federal politics.
I tried to get him to do all the talking. I was trying to understand him
better and asked many questions. It ended up with me answering questions for
him. He, obviously, was trying to fill a vacuum in this sector and was
trying to learn things. Not that he had a lot to learn from me, but I was
impressed nonetheless.
Over a year-and-a-half went by from that early morning coffee meeting in a
College Street bar in Toronto and today Dryden is now Social Development
Dryden (York Centre, Ont.) and his name is one often mentioned along with
other potential candidates for a future leadership in the Liberal Party.
Recently, I caught up with Dryden to find out how heıs doing, how he feels
about his new role and whether heıs absorbed the after-shocks of federal
political life.
How do you feel now, as a politician and minister of a national federal
government?
"I guess I didnıt know what I was getting into, and probably, you know, as
much as you can, and you know some of the details of what itıs going to be
like, but you have no idea of how you are going to react to it."
And how did you react?
"You try to find a way of living in different places and what complicated
the last year, was that, because of the minority government, we had to be in
Ottawa essentially Monday through Friday and jet [home every Friday], at the
same time we still have obligations in the constituency and in the country.
So you have people that schedule you to be in different places and you end
up living all over the place."
Have you accepted that change?
"Iım used to travelling and I like to travel. The travel between here and
Ottawa is easy. Itıs the same flight, the same people each week and it
becomes so natural and so normal. Also, when you travel throughout the
country, it becomes one of the few times that you have private time: you can
read, you can think, you can sleep and you can be pretty quiet for two or
three hours."
Is it harder to please the hockey fan or the political fan?
"I believe it is pretty much the same. The hockey fans believe in their
team, citizens believe in their country and in their community. You deal
with people who feel hard and think hard and work hard. And thatıs difficult
but, at the same time, it is better to be with people who think and feel
hard than with people who donıt think at all and are just kind of cynical
about things. Even if the issues are different, the attitudes and the
approaches are clearly similar."
What about the journalists? Is it easier for you to deal with sports or
political journalists?
"In most ways it is pretty much the same. I believe the part that surprised
me this year was the angles of different newspapers. Some journalists and
some newspapers are inclined in one party direction than another and I guess
Iıve never believed that before. I assumed you are a journalist and youıve
got your eyes and ears opened: you take your stand then. The parties that
you might not be sort of inclined towards, they can do good things, the
parties you might be inclined towards could do bad things. Well, I didnıt
see a lot of that this year. I saw less than I would have thought."
Which is the accomplishment in the last 12 months that you are most proud
of?
"I think what we did best, as a government, was that, in spite of all the
turmoil and the noise, we still governed and it was not easy to do. What was
key to us was reminding ourselves that we were elected to govern and we have
a responsibility to govern. People have a huge impatience towards parties
that only function as parties, being only concerned to get ready for the
next election. We had to govern and I believe we did a pretty good job. What
I was really lucky about was that I had a big task, one that was easy to
keep an eye on and work towards. All that time that there was the noise and
the noise was getting louder and louder, we delivered some of our own noise
too."
Your name is one of the names tossed around as a potential candidate for the
future leadership of the Liberal Party. Any comment?
"No. This is somebody elseıs conversation, but nothing is going on. Itıs a
slow news day stuff."
Thatıs now, what about the future?
"When the times come, then it is a different time, [but] you donıt spend
your time looking at the horizon."
When do you expect an election?
"All I can say is we know what our own timetable is for an election. We know
itıs 30 days after the Gomery report. Beyond that I donıt know. It is
somebody elseıs decision. It depends on what the public mood is and what the
political parties will decide."
With the experience you have now, if you possibility to go back one year
what would you change?
"One thing I believe we can do better, and it is a simple phrase, but a hard
thing to do, is getting our message across better."
What do you mean?
"I believe it is a big message, not a little one. We have done a lot in a
year, especially under the circumstances. I believe that those things we
have done, in fact, have a collective angle to it, have a kind of common
thread to them. We have to find a way to get through the noise, a clear
understanding of that. I believe that things are pretty good in this country
and theyıre not just all right. Canada has always been and, for any kind of
foreseeable time ahead, we will be a very future-oriented country. Things
will be better. We have all the elements in place, in terms of resources,
institutions, stability, environment and history. I think that Canadians are
pretty confident and we deserve to be confident. And I believe that the more
we understand ourselves, the more interesting. Thatıs the message."
Last question: is hockey seriously injured?
"I donıt know. The interesting part is the hockey fans feel pretty good
these days. The question is beyond those who are the biggest fans, what they
feel. Did what happened last year change their habit? We are not going to
know until the season begins."
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