Part Four Manley Profile

pwells@nationalpost.com; Part four of a four-part series.

Once an earnest novice, the Finance Minister has become a Liberal party curmudgeon

The National Post concludes its series on John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister and federal Finance Minister, in the wake of his first budget and the lead-up to his possible bid for the Liberal leadership. Today, Paul Wells traces the three distinct phases of Mr. Manley's public personality.

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In one of Monty Python's finest television sketches, Terry Jones plays an amateur athlete who hopes to long-jump 26 miles across the English Channel. "Provided I get a good lift off and maybe a gust of breeze over the French coast, I shall be jumping into the centre of Calais itself," he tells an interviewer.

Of course, success is not assured. "What is the furthest distance that you've jumped so far?" he is asked.

"Oh, 11-foot-6 inches at Motspur Park on July 22nd. But I have done nearly 12 feet unofficially."

The genius of the sketch is that until Mr. Jones lands barely a yard and a half from his takeoff point, you find yourself hoping he will make it. I remembered that feeling as I read yesterday's article about John Manley's plans to become leader of the Liberal party.

He has already jumped quite far in competition: elected to Parliament four times from Ottawa South. He has gone even further unofficially -- Deputy Prime Minister, one-budget Finance Minister, media darling for several weeks after 9/11.

And provided he electrifies Liberals as they have not been electrified since the heyday of Trudeaumania, he shall be jumping right over the Strait of Paul Martin, a gulf that has already swallowed the bodies of Brian Tobin, Allan Rock and Jean Chretien.

The prudent course would be to abstain from prejudging the outcome of this enterprise. In the past, Mr. Manley has proved himself capable of exceeding expectations. But as he takes a vacation with his wife to ponder his future -- the same scenario, ominously, that put paid to the Tobin and Rock campaigns -- Mr. Manley may wonder whether his friends have miscast him as resoundingly as the Pythons miscast their long jumper.

The model for the Manley campaign is Pierre Trudeau's 1968 assault on the Liberal leadership. A romantic and an intellectual, Trudeau arrived, as most of the country saw it, from nowhere: Three years earlier, he had been a Montreal law professor whose only notable talents were for getting under the skins of Quebec nationalists and under the skirts of their daughters.

But Trudeau rose at a moment of global intellectual ferment. Students were taking to the streets in protests from Paris to Berkeley. Dashing and cavalier, Trudeau became his party's way to rebut a platoon of interchangeable leadership candidates in horn- rimmed glasses and sack suits.

The message of the times was "Tune in, turn on, drop out." The message from the Liberal establishment candidates was, "Eat your vegetables." They never knew what hit them.

Let's recap.

(a) The Trudeau lesson is that you can overcome seemingly insurmountable advantages of organization and name recognition by electrifying the nation with a magnetic personality.

(b) The guy trying to do this is John Manley.

At a moment when ambition and agenda seem so radically mismatched, it becomes difficult to take the measure of a man's public life. Yet Mr. Manley has travelled a great distance since he arrived in Ottawa South in 1988 after a lifetime in, er, southern Ottawa.

His contribution to Jean Chretien's government has outweighed that of all but a few other ministers. As Industry Minister, he sacrificed a disproportionate share of his department to the belt- tightening that eliminated the budget deficit between 1995 and 1997. He masterminded the immense investments into research and technology that have characterized almost every Liberal budget. As foreign affairs minister, he made sure Canada kept enough credibility as a security-conscious northern neighbour after 9/11 that the Americans refrained from shutting down the border.

Through it all, he evolved rapidly as a political performer. It is most accurate to describe three distinct phases in his public personality.

The first face of John Manley was that of Beaker, the helpless lab assistant from The Muppet Show. Earnest and clumsy, Beaker served as industry minister without complaint until stepping aside, without complaint, when Brian Tobin demanded his job just before the 2000 election. Unlike the Muppet Show character, Beaker Manley did important work well. If he was not a star of the early Chretien cabinet, it was partly because interviewing him was like dipping your arms into liquid nitrogen.

As a reporter for The Gazette in Montreal, I chatted with Mr. Manley several years ago at his Queen Street ministerial office suite about connectivity and broadband and licensing structures and wired classrooms. When it was over, my notebook looked like a VCR instruction manual. When he left the department, though, Canada was one of the most Internet-connected countries in the world. Whatever the hell he was talking about, it seems to have worked.

For years, Beaker offered only occasional hints of a livelier intelligence and a more active imagination. The first was when he was handed the file that nearly sunk him, the mandate to consider whether Ottawa should bail out ailing professional hockey teams. What few people remember is that Jean Chretien handed him that particular tar baby, an order Mr. Manley could not countermand, and that as he spoke to reporters about it during the closing days of 1999, he was invariably in a vile mood.

In retrospect, this showed great insight. What people also forget is that three provincial governments and a bunch of hockey-industry spokespeople were urging Mr. Manley to fork over our tax dollars to millionaire players and billionaire owners. Yet Mr. Manley knew the only thing worse than inaction would be action.

So there was something perfectly charming about the minister who withdrew his $20-million bailout plan only days after he offered it. You were never too crazy about helping hockey, were you?

He cut in: "I was never too crazy? That may be debatable."

Ottawa can be a lovely town. There are days when even the most cynical reporter feels privileged to be patrolling the halls of Parliament. But straight talk and self-deprecating humour are so rare around here they are greeted with almost absurd gratitude when they show up. With increasing frequency through 2000 and 2001, John Manley morphed into Straight-Talking Guy. You never knew what would pop out of his mouth. It was as though he had a low-grade and relatively benign form of Tourette's syndrome.

In one of his first interviews as foreign minister, he cheerfully wrote off his predecessor, a secular Liberal saint: "You may want to poll [United States] congressmen and see how many of them can tell you who Lloyd Axworthy is." In a later interview, he told me Canada would lose whatever clout it still had in the world if it stayed in the habit of preaching at the G8 and other global councils, then heading for the lavatory when the bill came due.

Mr. Manley's most memorable appearance in his Straight-Talking Guy persona came days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some observers, including Liberal MPs, were calling on the government to keep out of an Afghanistan invasion because it might get dangerous.

Mr. Manley had no time for the sentiment. "Canada has soldiers that are buried all over Europe because we fought in defence of liberty. And we're not about to back away from a challenge now because we think that somebody might get hurt."

He did serious policy work during that dark autumn too, but it may be fair to say that one sound bite made him Time magazine's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year for 2001.

And it may also be fair to point out, as Mr. Manley builds his leadership strategy on the hope that Paul Martin has peaked early, that Mr. Manley became Time's Newsmaker a year before Mr. Martin did.

It hasn't been all downhill since then. Mr. Manley remains an almost uniquely clear-eyed and frank presence amid the grey legions of Liberal ministers with their talking points and their fading Xeroxed personalities. He has taken on more responsibility than any half-dozen of his colleagues and managed to avoid serious error.

The rollout of his budget earlier this month was a little raggedy- assed, with most observers unable to remember even a few days later what Mr. Manley had spent his considerable revenue windfall on. But the late Martin budgets weren't classics either. Measured against the ministerial field, Mr. Manley remains a strong performer.

But the romance with Straight-Talking Guy is over, thanks largely to a further evolution of Mr. Manley's public persona.

Too often he has sabotaged whatever advantage his gift for audacity would confer.

Either he refuses to follow through or he displays an unbecoming chippiness.

More and more frequently, journalists have had to learn that the day after the latest bold declaration from Straight-Talking Guy, the Minister will appear in his guise as a grumpy old cuss to chew the scribes or his fellow Liberals out.

Uh-oh. Here comes Old Man Manley.

First, Straight-Talking Guy's on the front page of the paper saying something courageous about Canada-U.S. relations or the Prime Minister's ethics-related scandals. Then the next day, instead of basking in it, Old Man Manley comes chasing after the scribes with his garden rake.

"Hey, you pesky kids!" he shouts. "Get away from that quotation about underpaying at the G-8! What are ya trying to do, get me in trouble? Tarnation!"

Straight-Talking Guy celebrates the arrival of the Queen on Canadian soil by saying that, nice lady though she is, he hopes she's the last British royal to impose her royalty on Canadians. Then Old Man Manley trots out a few days later to take it all back.

Old Man Manley turns up at the Liberal party's internal organizational meetings, saying Liberals can't be trusted to pick a Liberal leader. "Bring in Elections Canada," Old Man Manley says. "Pesky kids! Can't leave you alone for two minutes!"

Old Man Manley doles out billions of dollars in new spending on the only budget he may ever deliver, then gives a speech two days later to complain taxes are too high. "Land o' Goshen! Who's responsible for these taxes? What do you mean, I am? Pesky kids."

These are human flaws and frailties. As I have written at Proustian length over the past nine months, Paul Martin ain't perfect either. Especially in the heat of a leadership campaign, the vagaries of press coverage and Liberal party idiosyncrasies can be hard to bear. Mr. Manley's emerging weaknesses do not cancel out his established strengths; they simply make it harder to get carried away with the guy than it used to be.

But his strategy is precisely to hope Liberals get carried away with him. If he and Paul Martin were starting from the same place, with the same CV and the same organizations, appealing to Canadians who did not know either man better than the other, I would like Mr. Manley's chances very much.

But Paul Martin has already dug a trench 26 miles wide. Mr. Manley is limbering up on the shores. Running will take a leap of faith. He must pray for that gust of breeze.

Second Part of National Post Profile

Part three of a four-part series.; adawson@nationalpost.com

Draw from Copps camp: Second ballot might become coalition for 'Anyone but Martin'

OTTAWA - The campaign strategy of the John Manley team is to prevent Paul Martin, the front-runner in the race to become Prime Minister, from winning more than 45% on the first ballot of the leadership vote.

The strategy counts on building an "Anybody But Martin" coalition in order to beat him on the second ballot.

Herb Metcalfe, senior partner in the Capital Hill Group lobby firm and chairman of Mr. Manley's unofficial leadership campaign, said early forecasts indicate Mr. Manley will garner enough delegate votes, probably about 30%, to finish second. He expects Sheila Copps, the Heritage Minister, to come in third with about 25% of the votes.

"Paul's got a substantial lead and you'd be crazy not to believe that. We'll definitely come second [on the first ballot vote] and first depends on how well our campaign goes over," Mr. Metcalfe said.

"The trick in all of this is hopefully to have Paul below 45%. If you can keep him below 45% ... you then go to the second ballot."

About 5,000 delegates are expected to attend the November leadership vote in Toronto.

Delegates supporting Ms. Copps, mostly left-leaning Liberals supportive of social issues and minority rights, are unlikely to support Mr. Martin, Mr. Metcalfe says, adding they would be more comfortable moving to Mr. Manley.

"I don't want it to be 'anybody but Paul'. That's not what it's about," he said, adding the movement may well emerge anyway.

Joe Thornley, campaign strategist for Ms. Copps, was taken aback when told of the Manley strategy and said the Heritage Minister has no intention of joining forces with anyone to beat Mr. Martin.

"Sheila is running to win. When we get to the second ballot, I hope that a number of Liberals will be moving toward her," Mr. Thornley said. He added: "We are not thinking about ballot strategies at this stage. We're focused on the next four months, during which time our focus will be on recruitment of new members."

Mr. Metcalfe revealed Mr. Manley's campaign is "close to halfway" in reaching its goal of raising between $3.5-million and $4.5- million. He hopes to file Mr. Manley's nomination papers and pay the first half of the $75,000 entry fee -- which is non-refundable -- by mid-week next week, before Mr. Manley returns from his decision- making Caribbean cruise.

He admits it is risky considering no final decision will have been made by then, but he said he's fairly confident Mr. Manley will enter the race. Besides, he said, he needs all the time he can get to conduct a mass membership drive. Access to bulk membership forms is only possible once a candidate has formally entered the race.

Part three of a four-part series.; Tomorrow: Paul Wells on John Manley's enduring strengths and emerging weaknesses.; adawson@nationalpost.com
The National Post continues its series on John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister and federal Finance Minister, in the wake of his first budget and the lead-up to his possible bid for the Liberal leadership. Today, Anne Dawson profiles the men and women who make up Mr. Manley's inner circle.

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OTTAWA - Of the burgeoning number of supporters and back-room operatives lining up behind John Manley, few have inspired him more in his political career than a long-time colleague and family friend.

Tom McDougall still remembers the day almost three decades ago that he met the bespectacled young man who had finished first in his law class at the University of Ottawa. Mr. Manley had just completed the most sought-after clerking position in the country -- legal assistant to Chief Justice Bora Laskin, of the Supreme Court of Canada -- and was now angling for a position with the prestigious Ottawa law firm Perley-Robertson Hill & McDougall.

"We hired him almost immediately. To meet him is to be impressed with him," Mr. McDougall, 60, recalls.

The firm was small and tight-knit, and, within a short time, the two lawyers introduced their wives to each other. At the time, both women were pregnant -- Judith Manley with her first child, Rebecca, and Suzanne McDougall with her third, Simon. The Manleys would add two more to their clan and, before long, all six children and their parents were spending ski weekends together -- as they do still, at the McDougall chalet, north of the Ottawa River in Quebec.

Mr. McDougall, however, is quick to dismiss any suggestion he acted as a mentor to Mr. Manley. Within a couple years of being hired, he points out, Mr. Manley was made an equal partner in the firm. But he concedes he encouraged Mr. Manley in every step of his political career, believing his friend uniquely suited to public life.

"He is a completely honest and ethical person," Mr. McDougall says. "If you want a compass to approach an issue and to try to do the right thing ... nobody is more honest and straightforward than John."

It was Mr. McDougall and his wife who hosted Mr. Manley's first fundraiser, in 1988 -- a cocktail party at their New Edinburgh home - - when Mr. Manley ran for the nomination in middle-class Ottawa South. And now it is Mr. McDougall who has the task of fundraising should Mr. Manley run for the Liberal leadership.

But that's where "family" ends, and the inner circle widens. In the past few years, Mr. Manley has assembled a group of volunteers who have been acting under the umbrella of "Friends of John Manley." Spearheading the unofficial campaign is Herb Metcalfe, founder of Capital Hill Group, the largest public-relations and lobby firm in the country.

Another supporter is Doug Kirkpatrick. A long-time Liberal politico with his own consulting firm, Heydon Strategies, and an affiliation with the high-powered Sussex Group, another Ottawa consulting firm, Mr. Kirkpatrick has spent 20 years shuttling back and forth between Queen's Park and Parliament Hill on behalf of successive Liberal regimes, including those of John Turner and David Peterson.

Alfred Apps, a Bay Street corporate lawyer who is organizing in Toronto on Mr. Manley's behalf, met Mr. Manley only 18 months ago. He says he is promoting the 53-year-old leadership aspirant because it is time for a "new generation" of Liberals -- an obvious slight to the 64-year-old front-runner in this race, Paul Martin, the former finance minister.

Also on board are Marie Poulin, a Liberal Senator from Sudbury, and Susan Smith, a public-relations executive with Thornley Fallis, an Ottawa media firm, both slated to do communications for the Manley team.

Noticeably absent from the inner circle, at least for now, are Tony Macerollo, Mr. Manley's executive assistant, who after 14 years of working with him is a close friend, and Jennifer Sloan, Mr. Manley's former director of communications, and one of his fiercest defenders.

The latter left the job that saw her at Mr. Manley's side almost daily for five years, from his meteoric rise from Industry Minister to Deputy Prime Minister, to take up another position with Susan Whelan, Minister of the Canadian International Development Agency. Insiders say she is still involved, but in a minor role, at least for the time being.

To date, only three MPs have publicly declared their support for Mr. Manley: Peter Adams, Bob Wood and Alex Shepherd, all from Ontario. Martin Cauchon, the Justice Minister, and Jane Stewart, the Minister of Human Resources, are hopefuls, but not yet decided. Manley officials say they expect to win the backing of 15 MPs out of the 170-member Liberal caucus; this compared to 115 for Mr. Martin.

There are two common themes shared by the Manley campaign team. The first is they are not supporters of Mr. Martin, the overwhelming favourite. The second is they all believe it is time for a "generational shift" in the Liberal party. But essentially that theme is just an extension of the first: John Manley should be leader because he is not Paul Martin.

Despite Mr. Manley's insistence he is not running against Mr. Martin, his campaign strategy suggests otherwise. It is focused on the 103 Ontario Liberal seats, most of which are already committed to Mr. Martin. Ontario is the battleground, and that explains why the top four men running the Manley campaign are Ontario experts.

Mr. Martin, backed by one of Ottawa's most powerful lobbyist/ consulting firms, the Earnscliffe Strategy Group, has been working on his leadership campaign for more than a decade. In that time, he has put together an impressive national organization that has already crushed both Brian Tobin, the former industry minister, and his successor, Allan Rock, who was considered to have had the best leadership organization after Mr. Martin's.

So why would long-time political veterans take such a long-shot risk on an unlikely giant-killer? One senior Liberal insider, who is not working for any campaign, says it is a clear case of opportunity knocking.

"It's been 12 years since the last federal leadership contest. They don't come along very often, and if you do government business in this town, you have no choice but to be a player in this leadership race," the insider says. "Everybody thinks that Martin is going to win and win big. So it's a great opportunity. If you ever pull it off, if you win, if you ever beat expectations, you're a genius. Your stock goes up in this trade."

The insider, who travels in elite Liberal circles, points to another powerful attraction -- money. "Behind Martin is Earnscliffe. They compete for the same clients that Herb Metcalfe competes for out of Capital Hill Group. And who competes with him? Doug Kirkpatrick -- out of Sussex Group. They all compete for the same clients, and they all compete on the basis of who's got the best political judgment and the best contacts to measure."

Mr. Kirkpatrick is second-in-command of the whole Manley organization and makes no bones about his decision to work for Mr. Manley. He considered working for the Martin team, but realized he would not be part of the inner circle. "Part of the attraction to John's campaign was there was more to do," he says.

Mr. Metcalfe, 52, had known Mr. Manley casually for years, but said it was not until 1999, when the then industry minister "cold- called" him for a game of golf that they began a professional relationship. Mr. Metcalfe advised Mr. Manley to "test the waters" to see if there was an appetite for another candidate in the race. That is when Mr. Manley took Mr. McDougall up on his offer to run the fundraising portion of the campaign.

Mr. Manley's political opponents and many in the media have dismissed him as a viable contender because there are few signs of a legitimate organization in place. Mr. Manley's organization has consisted, until recently, of only the assurances of his supporters. It was more of a virtual team than a real one.

But this week, the virtual appears to be turning kinetic. A campaign office opened in Toronto, with two more slated for Ottawa and Montreal. Campaign workers hold weekly teleconference calls on Monday nights, while Toronto-based volunteers meet on Sundays at a restaurant in the Greek district. And this weekend, in Toronto, Mr. Manley will address 1,000 volunteers at a "campaign college" designed to teach them how to be riding captains, delegates and canvassers.

Even Mrs. Manley has stepped into the limelight in recent weeks, posing with her husband skating the Rideau Canal, and, two weeks ago, flying to Toronto to thank volunteers.

Mr. Manley's officials say they expect Mrs. Manley will hit the campaign trail with her husband if he decides to run. That decision is expected some time after the second week of March, when the couple slip off on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.

So far, publicity generated by the Manley campaign has been minimal, and what there has been has not been particularly favourable. Last month, Mr. Manley scrambled to explain why his team was exploiting his public office by using the cross-country budget consultations as a platform to raise leadership funds. Last year, he was forced to distance himself from a fundraising letter, written by an overzealous "Friend of John Manley," suggesting businesses could write off campaign donations as a corporate expense.

Although Mr. Manley has categorically denied it, campaign officials have openly conceded he hopes to use the budget as a springboard for his campaign. What he hears from Canadians in the next two weeks as he conducts a post-budget tour is likely to affect his final decision.

National Post all about Manley

Lifted from the post 2003


OTTAWA - As a former tax lawyer, head of the Ottawa Board of Trade and a strong advocate of moving the Liberal party from profligacy to prudence, John Manley has long been viewed as a right- wing, business-oriented Liberal, often at odds with his colleagues on economic and political issues.

As holder of such senior portfolios as Finance, Foreign Affairs and Industry, he has focused on systems, rules and outcomes that have often pushed the party in a direction it was reluctant to go.


"It's interesting that John Manley thinks in terms of policy while Paul Martin, almost instinctually, thinks in terms of how policy impacts on people," one party insider says. "It makes a difference, in the sense that Martin is more political and less definitive than Manley [on issues]."

But some supporters believe the full mettle of Mr. Manley has yet to be seen, and the race for the Liberal leadership, should he decide to run, will bring out dimensions that have so far been submerged.

"This is a guy with an intense social conscience -- that's why he is in the Liberal party and not the Reform party," says Bill Milliken, a former political aide to Mr. Manley and now a consultant with Temple Scott Associates Inc.

Tony Macerollo, Mr. Manley's long-serving executive assistant, recalls that when he first joined Mr. Manley in 1989, the initial project he worked on was a hunger-awareness program in Mr. Manley's Ottawa riding.

"He's very much a mainstream Liberal," Mr. Macerollo says, but one guided in equal parts by strong Christian values and recognition of the need for prudent fiscal management.

"A fiscally responsible approach is one that places us safely on the balanced-budget side, but at the same time says we don't exist as a government to just tally the books," Mr. Macerollo says.
The recent federal budget -- Mr. Manley's first as Finance Minister -- is a clear demonstration of this social dimension, Mr. Macerollo says, with its funding for health care, poor families and other initiatives.

This leaning was evident from the start. When the Liberals were in opposition in the 1980s, Mr. Manley often seemed uncomfortable with the stances taken by colleagues on such issues as deficit reduction and trade policy with the United States.

But, with the prospect of power in 1993, Mr. Manley -- often in alliance with leadership rival Mr. Martin -- pushed the Liberal party to take a more traditionally conservative view on economic and business issues.

"He was a major influence in the preparation of the economic- policy sections that went into the original Red Book [the Liberal Party's 1993 election platform]," Mr. Milliken says.

Appointed Industry Minister by Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, Mr. Manley went to work to turn his ideas and convictions into policy. Immediately he was confronted by the amalgamation into his portfolio of several separate departments, among them Tourism, Consumer and Corporate Affairs and Science and Technology. As the Liberals embarked on eliminating the deficit, Industry lost nearly 50% of its budget.

"It was a department with conflicting corporate cultures because of the amalgamations," Mr. Milliken says. "It lost half its budget and over one-third of the employees were let go as part of downsizing."

Despite these challenges, Mr. Manley set about making profound policy changes.

"It was a fundamental shift away from the Department of Industry being the department of grants and contributions [to business] and regional economic development into a department that provided strategic intelligence, better, more streamlined regulations and getting business-framework legislation to work faster and better," Mr. Milliken says.

With Mr. Martin guiding fiscal policy, Mr. Manley concentrated on upgrading Canada's economic performance to become a more innovative economy. The strategy rested on creating knowledge, bringing it quickly to market, having skilled and trained people to implement it and rules and regulations that promoted rather than impeded business.

Some critics, however, believe Mr. Manley still represents a core Liberal impulse to control and direct the economy.

"I think he comes to government from a pro-business point of view and is a believer in wealth creation," says Walter Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which opposes corporate financial support. "But that being said, he sees government's role very much as an enabler, a partner, which shows up in support for Technology Partnerships [a program of industrial assistance] for the aerospace sector and for the pharmaceutical industry."
Financial support for big, successful industries such as aerospace is a bad use of taxpayers' money, Mr. Robinson says. But he concedes Mr. Manley has pushed issues such as productivity, the brain drain and matching the economic performance of the United States, even when his party did not want to deal with those subjects.

"Mr. Manley has usually been on the right side of tax policy, of having a more competitive personal and business tax environment.... If he can translate some of those issues into a leadership platform, he may have an audience," Mr. Robinson says.

But Mr. Manley has also shown himself as the kind of politician who can advocate taxpayers' dollars for professional hockey teams. His proposed scheme to help stabilize Canadian teams by protecting them against fluctuations in the dollar caused an intense public backlash.

"It was not his own proposal. He was pushed to do that ... by the PMO [Prime Minister's Office].... He was told to make a deal," Mr. Milliken says. "Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec all agreed it was a good idea. The day he announced it and the ... hit the fan, they all hung him out to dry and he was left to take all the pies and tomatoes that were being thrown at him," Mr. Milliken says.

One of the policies of which Mr. Manley is most proud, Mr. Macerollo says, is getting the government to link Canadians together through Internet connections at every school and library in Canada.

Another key policy has been to promote university-based research and development -- a cornerstone in Mr. Manley's vision of Canada as a so-called Northern Tiger. The creation of special university chairs, a boost in grants and funding and support for building world- class laboratories will transform Canada into a knowledge-based economy, Mr. Manley believes -- though he admits the payoff for these investments will take time to realize.

"These are not short-term political kinds of things. They are long-term," he said in a recent interview on the budget. "We've been consistently at it since 1996, year after year ... building infrastructure, building on the research chairs, which give us a big boost in trying to attract talent."

The strategy is already bearing fruit, he says. Canada has posted the fastest economic growth among the G7 industrial countries, with improvement in private-sector R&D spending and a boost in the number of workers devoted to research.

Mr. Manley has also advocated an expanded role for small business and entrepreneurs in the Canadian economy, arguing Canada relies too much on a handful of large enterprises for its export trade. As industry minister, Mr. Manley provided small business with improved financial assistance, market information and regulatory measures that helped spur growth in the sector, says Garth Whyte, senior policy advisor with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

His approach to these issues, particularly the nature of the relationship between Canada and the United States, has carried over to his other portfolios. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in his handling of border and security issues after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"John Manley deserves a lot of credit. He's been the point man on that whole file," Mr. Whyte says. "Quietly, things have been getting done on customs, at the border, and Mr. Manley deserves a lot of credit in that area."

Nancy Hughes Anthony, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says business is thankful that among the Liberal Cabinet, Mr. Manley is a strong advocate of a comprehensive and strategic relationship with the United States at a time when the nations' ties have been under strain. Mr. Manley has criticized colleagues and Canadians for an unjustified, knee-jerk form of anti-American sentiment.

"He's been very proactive in trying to advise his Cabinet colleagues of the importance of the relationship, and when your biggest trading partner is down, you don't kick sand in their face. And that doesn't mean giving up on your sovereignty," Ms. Hughes Anthony says. "Some of the other members of the caucus I don't think understand the economic realities the way he does."
Mr. Manley's willingness to play up Canada-U.S. relations before a reluctant Liberal party is extremely important, Ms. Hughes Anthony says.

"I think that some people, after Sept. 11, think that with the 30- point border plan [a joint Canada-U.S. agreement on managing the border], that's all there is. In my view, [the border plan] is only the beginning, and we need somebody who is going to continuously work on that relationship and on the bigger issues [such as defence and trade]."

The nature of that relationship is part of Mr. Manley's larger sense of Canada as a mature, confident country on the international stage, Mr. Macerollo says.

"I think he would say that managing the Canada-U.S. relationship is about managing your sovereignty ... and part of that is you have to pay attention to not only your neighbour, but your largest trading partner, and it's not something you take for granted."

Canadian sovereignty is also one of the reasons Mr. Manley wants to replace the British monarch as Canada's head of state. His comments on the monarchy during the Queen's visit last summer raised a lot of ire. But cutting the apron strings is something Mr. Manley believes Canada must do as part of its evolution as a nation.

"He views Canada as a country moving from a position of strength and a country that is grown up," Mr. Macerollo says. "He certainly means no disrespect to the Queen and holds her in high regard."

Part two of a four-part series.; Tomorrow: Anne Dawson unveils the brain trust behind John Manley's campaign to wrest the Liberal leadership away from front-runner Paul Martin.; ; Profile of John Manley.
The National Post continues its series on John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister and federal Finance Minister, in the wake of his first budget and the lead-up to his possible bid for the Liberal leadership. Today, Alan Toulin looks at Mr. Manley's approach to policy, and his determination to combine fiscal prudence with a social conscience.
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If anyone can find part one of this series, please leave a comment

John Manley Visits Vic One

John Manley recently visited U of T's prestigious Vic One (Victoria College One - an elite first year social science undergraduate group) raising support and his profile among young professionals. Here are some pictures:

Manley visits Vic One

*photos from Victoria College

John Manley Supports Harder Line Trade Policy

John Manley, in support of the trade moves of the current government, asserting Canada's place in the world. Our true northern tiger status must be the guiding vision of our foreign policy.

Being the new Phoenicians, we[Canada] must protect our trade interests as much as possible; using whichever leverage we have, against our large trading partners.

As quoted in the Globe and Mail:

"I think we needed to get the attention of the U.S. government at the highest levels, to the degree of frustration that exists in Canada about this," Mr. Manley said, "and that many of us who believe that improved relations are important, can't stand by and say this doesn't matter, because it does."

John Manley, who headed the Canada-U.S. file during his time as deputy prime minister in Jean Chrétien's government, strongly supports the Prime Minister's New York foray.

Our foreign policy must come out of the woodwork, into a coherent policy implemented in a systematic way. Only John Manley can bring that sort of focus to our government.

Even Canadian Wild editor Dave endorses John Manley

by Dave originally posted at http://www.canadianwild.ca/pm.htm

John Manley For PM
For the Canada That The World Needs

"In my vision of 21st century Canada - which I summarize as: Intelligent, Innovative, Inclusive and International - Canada reaches out to the world. We exercise influence. We punch above our weight class."

1. Improved Canada-US Trade Relations

To put it simply a John Manley government would heal relations with the US. He has formed a strong personal relationship with Tom Ridge and Colin Powell. He will heal relations with the US by clearly stating our beliefs not the Alliance way of allowing the US to drag us around by a leash. Also his statesman skills have been used to criticize the US and get us what we want.

2. Stronger Multilateral Presence

Unlike Paul Martin Jr, John Manley wants to continue in the multilateral tradition established by Lester Pearson and Paul Martin Sr. Manley disagrees with Martin's proposal to try to form international ad-hoc councils outside the UN with limited membership. John Manley wants to use the UN as the primary international diplomatic vehicle.

3. Lower University Tuition

John Manley has made lower university tuition one of his key platforms. He believes that we should not limit our growth potential and make university more accessible.

4. Improved Municipalities

Like Martin, Manley realizes that cities are in dire straits. He doesn't want to ignore cities and wants them to help them become greater centers for economic prosperity and human development.

5. Public Accountability

Unlike Martin, John Manley doesn't own a steamship line. Manley believes that Canadians should know who is donating to his election campaign and doesn't believe in secrecy. Also Manley continues to serve as a cabinet minister, and didn't quit his job because the title of finance minister wasn't good enough for him.

6. Able To Lead in an Emergency

Without a doubt John Manley performed better than any other Canadian cabinet minister after 9/11. He said the right things, did the right things, and Canadians were able to return to normality very quickly. He was rewarded for his superior performance with the new title as deputy prime minister of Canada.

7. A Leader Who Will Say the Right Thing

A key reason for his outstanding 9/11 performance is his ability to say the right things at the right thing. Following the catastrophe he addressed parliament by stating that 9/11 was not a random act but a well orchestrated attack that needs multilateral measures to fight this new horror.

8. Eliminate Traffic Gridlocks

Part of his emphasis on municipalities is more funding for transportation. With new funding traffic times will be cut as roads and public service will be improved.

9. Reduce CO2 Emissions

As a member of parliament that voted for the Kyoto accord John Manley views global warming as a serious problem. He wishes to reduce CO2 emissions by targeting fuel emissions and doesn't want to put all the weight on industry.

10. Strong Leadership

Most of all Canadians need a strong leader to lead us into the 21st century. Not a leader that is running to put his name in the history textbook and will retire in three years. John Manley is running for a purpose not for his ego.

John Manley should be Canadian's choice for the next PM

Finance Minister John Manley in the House of Commons in October 2003. (CP/Fred Chartrand)

Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, on Friday March 21st 2003 said the images of bombs striking Iraq were 'chilling' and urged Washington to help rebuild the country properly to avoid a backlash.
~Another prediction from Manley that was TRUE! If only we had made him leader then, maybe Bush would have listened to him.

John Manley thinking:'Why I am not Prime Minister, I feel so out of place here'

MEDT Minister Joseph Cordiano with John Manley former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Virginia Bauer, New Jersey Commerce Secretary at the Canada Day in New Jersey celebrations. (they were also signing a Memorandum of Understanding, hardle valid work for one of Canada's great visionairies)

Hon. John manley — Heir to the Throne?



First elected to Parliament in 1988, representing Ottawa South, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley is a lawyer, bilingual technocrat and politician who has become the CEO of the country under Board Chairman Jean Chrétien. Manley runs 10 k marathons, likes hi-tech gadgets and is known as a center-right Liberal in the Pearsonian tradition. He has a self-deprecating sense of humour and a straightforward manner. Manley enjoyed a golden year. He is well-liked and has gone from being the also ran candidate for the Liberal leadership to the dark horse racer. He will have a lot of the Chrétien people with him. Manley is a strong second choice for many of the Paul Martin’s people (if they could get over only winning 90% of the leadership vote). So you do the math. It’s very possible that Manley could be the next Prime Minister. Did we mention that Manley was TIME Canada’s Man of the Year (2001)?

Manley begins building for leadership run

John Manley has begun testing the waters for a new leadership run.

In finding them a bit brackish Manley said, "When you make a decision
as a minister, all kinds of forces line up to make it happen, whereas
now when I make a decision in my new life I have to actually implement
it.". Which is true, leading him to call up his old organizational
partners of Andrew Kania, the Ontario co-chair of his 2003 leadership
campaign.

On Saturday the 17th of September, Mr. Manley, the former deputy prime
minister, attended a barbecue for about 300 people at the home of the
Brampton lawyer who was the the Ontario co-chair of his 2003
leadership campaign.

Mr. Kania said that most guests were from Ontario, but some flew in
from across the country. Mr. Manley gave a speech that left many
believing he plans to seek the leadership, he suggested.

"John Manley did not commit to running, but it is anticipated by all
that he will be a candidate next time," Mr. Kania said. "We're not
organizing to defeat Martin. We're going to help him in the next
election.

"Most people are realistic. Most people anticipate there will be a
minority government next time. If there's a minority government, most
senior Liberals that I speak with agree that Martin has to go fast."

Mr. Manley has indicated that he could seek the leadership next time,
with many urging a more active campaign on his part.

Mentioned as recently as October 2nd in the Toronto star as the only
serious contender to Frank McKenna (who is conveniently out of the
country - and unable to organize); Manley is seen to need to only
begin organizing to draw the vast numbers of individuals needed for a
leadership race under the new Canada Elections Act.