& ~ Friday, Juno 4, 1993 - North Shore News Crusa Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES MY NEIGHBORS in Greater Tiddlycove are ex- cited about the federal Conservative party leadersh- ip convention — almost as excited as they are about their annual Community Day tomorrow. I know — that’s a pretty bold statement. Many readers may argue that I’m exaggerating the importance of the leadership con- vention. Community Day, with its wonderful parade, is of pretty cosmic importance hereabouts. Still, the choice of Conservative leader and prime minister of the country can't be dismissed out of hand as too trivial for our atten- tion. So today I'll provide aa little guidance to Greater Tiddlycovers regarding which leadership can- didate best reflects their interests. I'd say — no, not Kim Camp- bell. Or Jean Charest. Garth Turner. [ have a soft spot for Mr. Turner, who isn't fikely to win, Media cynics, he said a while ago in Vancouver, keep telling hins that. Turner said he fires back: “Yeah, so what? So tell me some- thing | don’t know, Winning isn't what it’s all about, ... Even more important is standing up for what we believe in.” Turner can talk that way to the media fearlessly, He was one of them. I suppose E should say: One of us, } being one of them whether | (or you) like it or not. He's been a fairly hot-shot businessman, at age 25 starting up a weekly newspaper with his wife Dorothy — who travels with him on his campaign — and hatehing five more of them. By age 40 he was a inillionaire. Along the route to riches he served as a columnist for the Toronto Sun for 10 years. The ironies are plain. Turner makes wry comments about them, “As a crusading daily tabloid newspaper columnist | took on the federal government, and was a vociferous critic of (then-finance minister) Michacl Wilson for not cutting spending enough,’' Turner recalled with a “Tn viewed as a little different in Ottawa, having been a journal- ist. | mean, I did give Michael Wilson 30,000 letters saying he was a bum after he delivered his first budget.” When interest rates hit 22%, the crusading Turner ‘took 2,000 readers to Ottawa and got turned away by the RCMP and the riot police.” After years of this sort of hi- jinks, Turner asked himself: “What's changed?’’ Nothing. So in 1988, with no political experience or even previous party membership, he announced in his ” SHARE YOUR FAMILY? ‘ BCJ Services Canada Inc. together with our parent company BCJ (Japan) invite you and your Canadian family to enjoy the unique experience of sharing your home with a Japanese student of high school to university age. 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Whar really happened was that the crusader arrived in Ottawa and found it both worse and bet- ter than he thought, Worse: The MP back~bencher feels almost as powerless as the voters who sent him there, That's why Turner is hot for parliamentary reform, free votes, and — his big number — legislated balanced budgets. Better: He discovered Ottawa contained far more intelligent, committed and capable people than the current mythology — created in part by media people like himself in his former life — would have you believe. And the nicest, most capable, and certainly the most forgiving turned out to be Michael Wilson himself, who became friend and mentor: “That great, grey rock of a man hits good lessons for an un- derstudy short on patience and long on opinion,” Turner wrote in hisbook Garth! Just What the Hell is Going On in Ottawa? The book was published this year, weeks before Brian Mulroney announced his retire- ment as prime minister — and its royalties after production costs are being donated to the federal debt servicing and reduction account. Buy it, and you'll help pay off your share of the national debr. Our massive close-out is underway. lng Garth a real head Turner His approach to balancing the budget: **No more rhetoric. Law! Just do it — bang!" He's been running his own campaign on such principles, No paid help. No poll-taking. No delegate-tracking. No borrowing — ‘if we run out of gas, we stop and callect more money.’ Listening to Turner and reading his book, and also in the televised leadership debates. you get a pret- ty fair idea of a genuine pro- gressive Conservative, zealous for more participatory democracy and a sincere pay-as-you-go advocate, { have only one serious criticism of him, At least twice in his book he uses the phrase '‘of Dorothy and 1."° Goad Lord, Didn't they teach him any grammar at the Toronto Sun? Men's, Women’s & Children’s Fashions, Housewares, Linen & Much More. All Polo by Ralph Lauren sportswear, including shirts, jackets, pants aT, All Mexx sportswear in SOR Hh Law outs spply to the lawest nc heted pricey on at-stink merchandise, wlile quantities Lis Doe tit icdoue Cosnenes, Fragrances Levr's deramy soenisand watts Hantery, nen) underwear infant furtuture and store conc esuons, Selection ail] vary by store, all sakes ate fenat, Personal sbeatping only please. 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