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The Hill Times
| Monday Oct 16, 2000 | BACK | NEXT
Tobin expected to resign Monday
Dubbed
"Captain Canada," Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin is expected to resign as premier today
to join the Liberals in the next
federal election as a "star" candidate to help the party
pick up Grit votes in the Atlantic
provinces.
But
a Liberal strategist told The Hill Times last week that there was no draft movement to
recruit Mr. Tobin, contrary to media
reports in the National Post.
"There
is no draft movement to bring him back to Ottawa," said a Liberal strategist close to
the Prime Minister's Office, who
did not want to be identified. "Of course, everybody will be
happy to have Brian back in
the federal politics but there is no draft movement to have him back."
Declared
the strategist: "It is fair to say that Brian wants to be back, but wants to create the
perception that there is a draft
movement to have him back."
In
other words, Mr. Tobin is not running away from the Voisey Bay deal but running towards bigger
projects.
Last
week, the National Post wrote, "Brian Tobin, the Newfoundland premier and potential
successor to Jean Chrétien, is
facing heavy pressure from the Prime Minister and senior
Liberal officials to run for
the party in the upcoming federal election campaign, senior Liberal insiders say."
"The
news of a movement to draft Brian Tobin back to the federal politics is grossly
exaggerated," said another source close to the PMO.
Moreover,
some government MPs say they're not all that eager to have Mr. Tobin back in the
House. One Ontario Liberal MP told The Hill Times that, "if Brian Tobin comes back to
federal politics, people will
always question whether he was courted to came back or was he running away from some of
the challenges he faces in
Newfoundland."
There
is no question that much political capital has been invested in the Voisey Bay issue.
Some Liberals believe Mr. Tobin, a
federal Liberal leadership contender, should stay in
Newfoundland until he has
settled the province's dispute with Inco over the huge Voisey Bay nickel project. A
departure from Newfoundland would
clearly signal failure on the part of the premier to resolve
this very important issue.
"A
leader who runs away from challenges in a province like Newfoundland leaves great doubts as
to his ability to govern the
nation," said one Toronto Liberal MP.
A
year ago Mr. Tobin called an early election. His critics were accusing him of political
opportunism saying that he was trying
to get the provincial election out of his way in case of a federal leadership opportunity. Mr. Tobin,
however, said he was seeking a
stronger mandate to deal with issues like Churchill falls and
Voisey Bay.
In
the Feb. 22, 1999 issue of Maclean's, after the provincial election victory, magazine wrote:
"The premier has raised high hopes among the people of Newfoundland for a positive
resolution of the Voisey Bay
resolution. Most of all, though, he seems to be counting on resource megaprojects to give
his province real economic fizz. By
making Voisey's Bay and Churchill Falls election issues, Tobin
tied his own future to the
negotiations. Last week, with his electoral majority intact and some potential break-throughs
looming in those two areas,
that approach looked like a winner. But negotiations have a habit of falling apart, and Tobin
still faces the challenge of
delivering to Newfoundlanders what he promised on the campaign
trail."
Mr.
Tobin will likely now back to Ottawa, and those promises still need to be addressed.
If
elected, Liberals say Mr. Tobin would be named Industry Minister and
they're talking about a Senate appointment for George Baker (Gander-Grand
Falls, Nfld). Royal Bank economist John McCallum, who is expected to run
for the Liberals in Markham, Ont., would get Jim Peterson's (Willowdale,
Ont.) job as the junior minister for Financial Institutions.
Suggestions
that he has been drafted back to Ottawa to upstage future Finance Minister Paul Martin's
(LaSalle-Émard, Que.)
aspiration for leadership are flatly denied. Transportation Minister David Collenette (Don Valley East,
Ont.) told The Hill Times that,
"if Brian Tobin comes back into federal politics, I believe it
will be great because he is a
very accomplished politician and would make a great contribution because he feels that he can best
serve the people of
Newfoundland through the federal House than remaining as premier. I do not think that
anybody should read more into that."
Scott
Reid also discount rumours of division amongst Liberals: "Whenever the election is called you are
going to see a strong and
united Liberal Party, waging more against Alliance and winning. We will win a majority
government and it's going to be a
product of a strong and united team and there will be no qualifications to that. Any kind
whatsoever," Mr. Reid told The Hill Times.
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