January 20, 2003
Politicians who drink too much and then blame their behaviour on the demon rum seem to have reached epidemic proportions. And as everyone knows epidemic in Canada means "at least three". First there was Ralph Klein. The Alberta preem caused a ruckus in a homeless shelter when he went to visit the boys after a night of imbibing. Later he said he was going to quit drinking.
Next there was Defense Minister John McCallum. After a quiet dinner with mommy, McCallum showed up at the airport to catch a flight to Ottawa and was not allowed to board the plane because he appeared to be too intoxicated. Later he said he was going to quit drinking.
Last, and hardly least, was British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell, who held a tearful press conference about "How I spent my Hawaiian vacation in a drunk tank". Campbell was stopped by the police on the island of Maui and charged with YES, or as the French say, OUI--operation of a vehicle under the influence (Note to the Toronto Star--Gordo’s a white guy). Later he said that he was going to quit drinking.
We’re starting to see a trend here. One by one Canadian politicians are encountering alcoholic-fueled difficulties and then promising to quit drinking. They could save us all a lot of time by all promising to stop drinking now. Of course not all politicians would stop drinking. If Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham drinks he wouldn’t say he would stop--he’d just say that drinking is inappropriate and continue on. Since they’re not likely to stop on their own, we need a group to combat drinking and governing. Let’s call it MAPP (Mothers Against Pissed Politicians). Watch for a local chapter opening up in an electoral district near you. After all, more and more politicians are revealing that they have drinking problems. But do they?
Ralph Klein did have a problem with alcohol and his drinking bouts were legendary in Alberta long before the incident in the homeless shelter. The Alberta premier told the media that drinking affected his work, that he had trouble making it into the office some days and that he even considered resigning because the affect that his drinking was having on him. But as regards McCallum and Campbell, if they have, or had, genuine drinking problems as opposed to just having gotten into embarrassing, and in Campbell’s case, illegal, situations from a night of drinking to excess, they haven’t told us. And their drinking, unlike Klein’s, wasn’t noticeable to the pubic, under whose eye they constantly appeared. It seems like the classic "addiction" defense that is now trendy to use to avoid personal responsibility. People now claim addictions to alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, and any other conduct that can occasionally have adverse consequences.
We can have some sympathy for John McCallum. McCallum, who doesn’t know his Vimy from his Vichy on a good day when he’s sober, might have appeared to be more drunk than he actually was. It was probably a learning experience for the minister, allowing him to more closely identify with his troops who have places to go and no aircraft to board. If anyone has a good reason to down a couple, it should be the Canadian Minister of Defense. Trying to figure out complex matters, such as Canada’s policy on Iraq which is we will only go to war if the United Nations passes a resolution authorizing it unless we do go to war without a U.N. mandate if the U.S. decides to go it alone, but we probably won’t. It’s enough to drive anyone to drink.
But Gordon Campbell is another matter because it involved the commission of a criminal act. Lacking the clear headedness of an aging rock star (I was just doing research on how blood/alcohol levels affect the operation of SUVs in warm climates and how such levels impact carbon emissions under the Kyoto protocol), Campbell merely appeared before the cameras and, combining the best of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Swaggart, blubbered and said it had nothing to do with his job. No matter how many of British Columbia’s social programs Gordon Campbell cut, he is still a small "l" liberal. He set high standards for the conduct of politicians and then cries that they don’t apply to him. At the same time he tries to narrow the circumstances in which this proper conduct applies, claiming that his drinking and driving occurred on private time and didn’t pertain to the duties of his office. Would Campbell have thought that was an appropriate excuse if another member of the legislature was caught downloading child porn on "his own time"? Not likely.
Opinion seems to be divided on whether or not Campbell should resign. It is difficult to see how he can govern effectively when he will be met with protesters on the lawn of the legislature wearing t-shirts that are boldly emblazoned with Gordo’s Maui mug shots.
He may resign or he may not. In the mean time, let’s get out there and support MAPP.