December 2000
by Barry Stagg
Was there ever any doubt about where and to whom Brian Tobin owes loyalty and allegiance? His oleaginous resignation as premier and instant anointment as Liberal cabinet minister for Atlantic pork removed any vestige of uncertainty. His loyalty is to his face in the mirror and to his Liberal partners in his adopted Ottawa home.
The smarmy talk about Tobin continuing to work on "files" left behind in Newfoundland is as nauseating as it is contemptible. How dare Tobin and Chretien talk about Voisey's Bay and Churchill Falls as "files". This bureaucratic babble is indicative of how they treat essential Newfoundland quandaries as procedural matters best worked on like a dispute about a blocked culvert. It confirms that Tobin's scurrying to Ottawa is the prodigal return of the ambitious office boy from Liberal branch plant to Liberal head office.
The "pension file", from the continuing personnel record of Brian Tobin, career politician, seems to have been well worked by Tobin. Federal and provincial pensions have been accumulated by this Ottawa boy. Perhaps as he returns to his old Ottawa neighbourhood, the voters of Bonavista- Trinity-Conception will let him get a very early start on collecting those pensions from the public purse. A solid vote for Conservative opponent Jim Morgan would put parachutist Tobin into that inanimate state known as "retirement on the Rideau".
The old political adage about not taking the voting public to be fools is being tested by both Tobin and Chretien. Voters are being asked to revert to the black hat days of the Smallwood regime and to vote in the slieveen with the best grasp on the public purse strings. Smallwood had a lot in common with his contemporary Maurice Duplessis, Quebec tyrant and reactionary premier. Tobin has everything in common with Chretien, his Quebecois mentor. Ambition, ego, and lack of real production are traits shared by these two warhorses fronting an arrogant and over-confident Liberal Party.
Where are the agreements on Churchill Falls and Voisey's Bay promised by Tobin? Where are the benefits to Newfoundland of having a premier with a direct line to the prime minister? There are no agreements and the benefits of the direct link between those two is personal, selfish and wholly limited to their own agendas and private prospects. The benefit to Newfoundland is in having a chance to boot both out of political office at the same time on November 27.
This is a federal election where Liberals vainly hope to split the opposition vote between three parties. They forget, of course, that competent incumbents are hard to beat, no matter what the statistics tell the pollsters. Conservative MPs Loyola Hearn and Norman Doyle are strong constituency men in St. John's West and St. John's East. Voters appreciate these things when they go into the polling booths.
Voters who voted against the Liberals in 1997 may ask themselves this question: What reason have Chretien and Tobin given me to switch to the Liberals in 2000? There are few reasons to reward Tobin the opportunistic quitter and Chretien the fading emperor. There are many reasons to honour good representation from opposition members and to vote for candidates who are in the "ABAL" category. That acronym may be used side by side with the more specific "ABC" exhortation. Use ABAL-Anybody But A Liberal- to help at the riding level while ABC-Anybody But Chretien- is useful when taking in the national scene. This is particularly handy in deciding whether to politically expel such notorious Liberal candidates as Quitter Tobin and Turncoat Bill Matthews in Burin-Burgeo.
One critical point that Newfoundlanders have in their favour in voting for Conservative candidates is that they will be electing Members of Parliament who, in tandem with the large caucus of Alliance members, will be positioned to form the next federal government. Tobin and Chretien are sadly deluded dreamers if they think that the artificial division between Alliance and Conservative parties will last any longer than the time it takes Stockwell Day to put together a cabinet. There will be one party and Newfoundland's Conservative MPs will be on the government side.
Tobin and Chretien seem to have adopted these pithy words of George Eliot in running the Liberal campaign:
"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry."