Promises made, broken and kept

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/12/2006 (7061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PROMISES, PROMISES . . . I chanced to run into CanWest Global CEO Leonard Asper in Hy’s cocktail lounge several weeks ago, where he promptly made a point of giving me a dig.

Back in the summer, when he confirmed that he was moving to Toronto and then sold his Wellington Crescent mansion, Leonard made two promises.

He and his family would return here to live once he got urgent business matters straightened out.

And, in the interim — by way of showing he meant it — Leonard told me he would buy another home in Winnipeg.

Oh, yeah, there was a third promise.

He volunteered — I didn’t ask him — to call me when he bought his new Winnipeg residence.

Which brings us back to Hy’s, where Leonard — seated at a table with some buddies — asked why I hadn’t reported that he’d purchased a condo in Winnipeg.

To which I reminded Leonard of something.

“You promised to call.”

Welcome home, Leonard.

PROMISE BROKEN… Oops! Last spring I promised myself that come October I would remind the voters of the River East Transcona School Division which trustees refused to rename Wayota School in honour of former pupil, Terry Fox.

The trustees, you might remember, made national headlines by rejecting the idea. Even after they ordered a survey that overwhelming supported the name change.

Unfortunately I didn’t keep my promise. But only because I was on leave from the paper during the civic election.

Nevertheless two were defeated and one retired.

The sweetest outcome was the boot given to board chair Wayne Ritcher, the most vocal of the trustees on the Fox issue.

His departure was made all the sweeter because of the way he tried to finesse his way through the issue.

“Staunch supporter of naming a new school honouring Canadian hero Terry Fox,” Ritcher’s brochure bragged.

Notice that little word “new”.

There may now be enough “new” trustees on board to carry the name change, but one wonders if there’s really any will left.

In any event, the Terry Fox snub was an issue during the election. And this time Wayne Ritcher, for one, had no choice but to listen.

PROMISE KEPT… I arrived back to work this week to find an e-mail reminding me of another promise I made about this time last year.

“Remember that group of ladies that included Joey Brazeau last year that wanted to make a “Calendar Girls” calendar for charity?,” wrote Jeff Jones. “I never did see one come out. Did they go through with it?

As a matter of fact the limited edition Art of Aging Gracefully calendar — which is in support of the Mature Women’s Health Clinic at Victoria Hospital — went on sale this week at various locations, including the Free Press and Vita Health stores. It costs $20 — taxes included — and it features 12 beautiful women aged 50 and over. All of them discretely posed in the almost altogether. And, yes, Joey Brazeau is Ms. January.

Promise kept.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca