t

gees or

Dinner long overdue

chance to honor N. Shore’s Davis

TOM SCALLEN, who once owned the Vancouver Canucks en route to the jailhouse, was recently boasting about the historic exploits of the Harlem Globetrotters,

which he now promotes.

He advised that they have prac- tically never lost a game (it helps that they travel with a cast of stooges who perform as the op- posing team).

A chap I know was on a basketball team that once beat Abe Saperstein’s Globetrotters. Just prior to the First World War, the Harlem group took on Canada’s national championship team from the University of Brit- ish Columbia. They lost.

My friend has done quite a few other things in his life as well.

He is the guest of honor this coming Thursday night at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Black tie, et.

Jack Davis will be in the spotlight.

it has always been difficult to accept that Jack Davis was born in 1916.

By 1950 he had achieved enough to create an acceptable biography: student council presi- dent, engineer, part of a McGill University scientific tear that discovered the most explosive compound created by man prior to the advent of nuclear techno- logy, and a Rhodes Scholar.

Through the 1950s he worked at the side of the omnipotent C.D. Howe, an energy tutelage that would ultimately lead him back to the west coast.

He created the ‘“‘downstream benefit’? strategy so enthusiastical- ty and brilliantly adopted by W.A.C. Bennett in harnessing energy resources. Jack Davis was at the B.C. Electric Co. when Bennett took it over.

Elected as a Liberal to the fed- eral Parliament in 1962, he became a special assistant to Prime Minister Lester Pearson be- fore rising, himself, to cabinet rank.

After a 1972 defeat in Capilano, he realized that Trudeau’s Liberals had marched far to the left of him.

His focus turned to the provin- cial scene. And that chapter has contained the same kind of twists and turns that have been the hallmark of a fascinating and cre- ative life.

The kind of dinner they are holding for Davis this week is not usual in political circles. It’s a fundraiser for his North Van- couver-Seymour constituency.

Gary Bannerman .

OPEN LINES

But everyone in the back cor- ridors of power knows it is much more than that. It is a long over- due opportunity to thank Jack for

.. well... for simply being Jack Davis.

He has been ill. His determined struggle shows on his usually ageless face and bearing. But he is as private and relentless about that as he has been about everything else he has ever faced.

But he’s looking forward to the dinner.

“One of the risks you run when you have one of these dinners,”” he told me this week, ‘‘is that it is a signal to a lot of people who think, ‘well, he’s on the way out. He’s going and going gracefully.’’’

. **Well I don’t intend to go,’ he added.

Despite his countless achieve- ments in life, the period of Davis’ career that impressed me most may well be his most uncomfort- able memory. After his go-round in court over airline expenses, ig- nominiously dumped from Bill Bennett’s cabinet, Davis was banished to a Jonely backbench.

He became neither a radical nor a supplicant. He asked no favors of Bill Bennett and has assiduous- ly avoided imposing himself on colleagues who might have been able to positively influence the premier.

Through Legislature debates, letters-to-the-editor and whatever media was available to him, he made his contribution to public life.

He was frequently critical of

government policy, but in such a detailed and thoughtful way that no one could accuse him of being spiteful or self-aggrandizing.

Whatever purgatory he deserved went on far too long. It was almost embarrassing to see this monumental talent wasted, while several loyal dunderheads held down prime Bennett cabinet posts.

When Bill Vander Zalm an- nounced that he would seek the leadership in 1986, only two MLAs rallied behind him: Rita Johnston and Jack Davis.

The Davis decision was surpris- ing to some. The highly intellec- tual and formally educated Davis seemed a mismatch for the grass- roots populist.

At first, other front-running candidates scoffed at Vander Zalm’s inability to attract anyone other than the eager-beaver Surrey colleague and the disgraced former minister.

Johnston and Davis would soon overwhelm the high-priced schemers who worked for other candidates.

Premier Vander Zalm will be among the speakers at the dinner Thursday night. His government is clearly in trouble. His true friend- ships are, however, intact. And one of them is the guest of honor.

eee

If ego is the ‘uel of politics, the word ‘‘loyalty’’ is the vehicle without which there can be no progress. Just like in banana republics, if you mount a coup, you must win. The alternative is rather unattractive.

It’s less brutal here, but a pres- ent reality. Nicole Parton, flinging around her INTEGRITY like a tear-stained blouse, took a swan dive into an empty pool.

But Marilyn Baker surprised me. Her remark about the Premier’s decision not to stand down while the conflict investiga- tion proceeds, was too mild to be considered disfoyal.

She may even be right. It begs a question, however: why say it? What is gained?

Candidates — particularly those who have served well in public of- fice — are not expected to be blind, deaf or mute. When they

-display intelligence, it can be quite

encouraging. When they utter platitudes best left to the oppo- nents, one truly wonders what reverberates between their ears.

Could it be that Ms. Baker is in the most losable North Vancouver seat?

Maybe the Honorable Member for North Vancouver-Seymour can give her a hand.

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