Likable, liked not the same in politics

It is certainly a tough time to be a politician.

Former NDP MP Bill Blaikie, who is running in a provincial byelection for the NDP, has been pummelled for drawing a lucrative MP's pension, earned for nearly three decades in the House of Commons, while he seeks a seat in the Manitoba legislature and another taxpayer-supported salary.

At the same time, we're witnessing the annual spring barbecue of Manitoba Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard. The affable but electorally challenged physician-turned-politician narrowly escaped a leadership challenge last weekend. The reward for this feat is another year of having political watchers wonder aloud about how much longer the Grits will allow him to take them on the road to nowhere.

Blaikie and Gerrard are from different parties, and different political generations. However, what they have in common is that they are the targets-du-jour for our contempt of politics and politicians. How did otherwise dedicated public servants become so contemptible? The answer may say as much about us as it does about them. In Blaikie's case, the venerable parliamentarian has been deemed public enemy No. 1 by the howling class for his decision to run for provincial office while drawing a federal pension that together could add up to more than $200,000 a year. That could approach a quarter of a million dollars if he is promoted to cabinet.

Some are concerned that Blaikie is simply receiving too much pension. The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation leads the charge in attacking politician pensions for being too rich. But the CTF and others in the howling class also accuse Blaikie of double dipping.

This is, perhaps, an opportunistic criticism. Although double-dipping does refer to the process of drawing a government pension while receiving a government salary, it is not normally used to describe someone who is drawing a pension from one level of government and a salary from another.

Blaikie's main crime is that he made a career out of something the public attaches very little value to. Given the low opinion most of us hold of politicians, it's unlikely that any retirement allowance would be acceptable. Give a politician a generous pension, and now you're asking for trouble.

Gerrard might look upon Blaikie's current predicament and see what the future holds for him. Gerrard has become the great enigma of Manitoba politics. He is a thoughtful and intelligent man who often earns praise from the media for his policies. He has had a private member's bill adopted by the legislature and he is as hard-working as any politician in the province.

And yet, almost no one believes he will lead the Grits to government. His party's prospects are so dismal, in fact, that no one really wants his job.

But if Gerrard has anything, it's determination to see a job through. Many will blame him for the Grits' failures at the polls, but history tells us that even a more dynamic leader needs a profound shift in the political economy of Manitoba to make gains.

Former Liberal leader Sharon Carstairs was certainly more popular than Gerrard, but her ascension to leadership of the official Opposition in 1988 was due more to the implosion of the NDP under former Premier Howard Pawley. Had the NDP not dipped into the very low single digits of support before the 1988 election, it is unlikely Carstairs would have been Carstairs. Such is the cruelty of politics.

Many voters see politicians as opportunists and power mongers who care more about public profile than public service. And while there is something to that stereotype, Blaikie and Gerrard represent a much different political animal. Neither has tasted power in any large dose and have literally toiled in the background of the political system. Blaikie's reward for 30 years of dedication to public service is a campaign to discredit him for accepting a pension while seeking to continue his career in politics. Perhaps he could have deferred his pension. Or perhaps he could have just retired and gone on to find a hobby job to keep him occupied. He did neither, and he will suffer the consequences of that decision, perhaps as early Tuesday's byelection.

And Gerrard can be assured that regardless of what he accomplishes, or doesn't accomplish, he is likely to experience the same naked contempt when he finally decides to retire.

Voters may wish that better men than Blaikie and Gerrard entered political life. But the treatment afforded these politicians is unlikely to convince anyone of greater potential to look upon this as a career.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 24, 2009 B2