Sunday, March 8, 1992 — North Shore News - 2 | The amazing Vir. Manning: he thinks; he writes; he debates! “A traditional political party may ... ‘die’ in terms of democratic sup- port, but this does not mean that the corpse cannot be trotted out at election time, dressed up in election finery, displayed in lifelike poses on television, and presented to the electorate as a vital and living being."’ — Preston Manning MANNING WAS addressirg the dying days of the Trudeau/Turner Liberal government. The remarks could equaily apply to the last year of Social Credit in British Columbia or the current status of the Mulroney Conszr- vatives. All evidence indicates that the government is a corpse, delaying the moment when voters will give ita decent burial. Yet the prime minister and his cabinet control all patronage, af! appointments, all boards and agencies and the entire arsenal made available ty unrestricted access to public funds. The cadaver appears to live. Moments ago, | faced a typical columnist’s decision. It had been a routine day: interviews with Dorethy Dobbie about her con- stitutional report, and dissenting committee member Ian Waddell; we chatted with the office of Joe Clazk (he was very busy doing very important things and, we were assured, it would be very much the same in the forseeable future.) This was to be the column. We stared at the Beaudoin-Dobbic report and the tons of media hype it generated. On the other side of the desk, three books were hap- hazardly arranged, the residue from yet another Preston Mann- ing visit. One of these was controversial last fall. The other two are cur- rently climbing to the top of the national best-seller list. What was most important: the Save Canada report or these three books? It was no contest. We think the noble effort of the parliamentarians will fade into ir- relevant obscurity. What is represented by these books will not fade. Preston Manning and the Reform Party (James Lorimer & Company, Toronto) by self- professed leftist Prof. Murray Dobbin came out Jast fail. Dobbin gets rather frantic in his text, alleging a past CIA connec- tion in Manning's business travels and Ku Klux sympathies among some current supporters: “While Preston Manning and party officials in every province where reform is active have per- sistently denied that the Reform party is right wing, these groups have just as persistently declared the party is the best hope for the right wing.’ The Regina academic described the national mood: “People rightly sense that what they have built is being destroyed. But ‘leaders’ arriving out of nowhere, claiming to be ‘dif- ferent,’ with master plans for our future, should not be embraced as saviors. “They should be seen for what they are: 2 warning sign that something is very, very wrong and that we must make an exceptional effort to set it right again.’ One of the two current best- sellers is equally critical, but less hysterical. Storming Babylon, Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party (Key Porter Books, Gary Bannerman OPEN LINES Don Braid, is a journalistic view of a phenomenon. They correctly see in Manning the same populism that spawned the Progressive party, Social Credit, the Cooperative Com- monwealth Federation and other grass-roots explosions that have altered the course of history. The authors report: ‘‘Preston Manning reflects every thought of Ernest Manning's so precisely that his public voice sounds almost identical to his father’s, and very much like Aberhart’s, even though the great man died when he was less than a year old,”" This is the theme — a shaky one — of the Sharpe/Braid part- nership. Their book suffers from an obsession; an attempt to place a messiah complex upon the am- bitions of its subject. Neither William ‘‘Bible Bill" Aberhart nor Ernest C. Manning, whether as radio evangelists or grass-roots premiers, would be comfortable with the formal studies and the philosophical de- liberations of this protege. The concluding argument of Storming Babylon is worthy of note: ‘Manning and his party provide simplistic reactions to the com- plexity of modern Canada. This is both their appeal and their failure, for their goals could only be achieved if Canada itself were suddenly simpler — stripped of ethnic loyalties, ferninist hopes, Quebecois dreams, and all the other collective aspirations that define the country today... “This populist pilgrim will con- tinue to storm the ramparts of Babylen, always hoping to con- vince his unbelievers that his way is the best one, not only for their country, but for their very souls.’’ When I read Preston Manaing’s ewn book, The New Canada (Macmillan, Toronto), { kept ask- ing myself: could Brian Mulroney write a book? Joe Clark? Jean Chretien? Any of these so called federal leaders? My guess is that none of these overblown egos could write a grocery list without help. This is the contrast with Preston Manning. He thinks. He writes. He philosophizes. He debates. He has meticulously researched the cause he and his supporters have nurtured from infancy. I doubt if three books about . one politician have simultaneously been on the best-seller list of any country since Kennedy's profound liberalism, Kennedy’s assassina- tion and Nixon’s disgrace. In a Canadian context, Preston Manning has become that impor- tant. He epitomizes a national cry of despair. My guess js that Manning’s book will be so successful that the Prime Minister's office will have a brain wave: Brian should write a book (was that Joe Clark who just said ... ‘me too?’’). Is it true they have a new team song: Ghost Writers in the Sky? Rene Levesque, Pierre Trudeau and Robert Bourassa have ali written their own thoughtful works. { would pay a hefty sum to witness the Prime Minister peck- ing away at a word processor try- ing to prove his critics wrong: “‘Deep, deep down, Brian Mulroney is a very shallow man.”’ Instead, we will conclude with a quote from Preston Manning’s book, this one attributed to American anthropologist Ashley Montagu: “The only measure of what you believe is what you do. If you want to know what people believe, don't read what they write, don’t ask them what they believe, just observe what they do."’ Sailor honored for service in Persian Gulf conflict FORMER NORTH Vancouver resident Dave Black was recently presented with the Ca- nadian Forces’ Gulf and Kuwait medal by Rear-Admiral Peter Cairns, the commander of the Canadian Maritime Forces in the Pacific region. The medal, which was awarded to all Canadian Forces personnel who served in the Persian Gulf, was given to Black in recognition of his ser- vice aboard Her Maiesty’s Ca- nadian ship Huron during the ccisis. Black, a seaman, has been a sailor for two years and is presently serving aboard Her Majesty’s Canadian ship An- napolis based in Victoria. -VALU O| AN ALL CANADIAN COMPANY. KEERING GOLLARS IN, CANADA” cle “Limited . “Edition ~ . containing vie | COUPON. | ; Look forithe® “Peppi's. pull: out’ section in thé. “center. of this. issue ‘for: ‘important: information’, NEW. MENU! s: “CALENDAR. OF “EVENTS | "192 CRUISE” “ SHIP SCHEDULE. oe ee ~ plus: historical articles ©. “4 : Plus much more * : "QUALITY. a. It’s not just a ‘Buzz’ word at TRU-VALU OPTICAL, it is what you get. The Best Quality lenses and frames at the best prices! SINGLE VISIONS Glass or Plastic Lenses “NEED 2 PAIRS! 2 ASK! - SAVE EVEN *- | MORE'S$S iEatras Excluded) Glass or Plastic Lenses Reg. 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