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|Monday Dec.. 9, 2002 | BACK | NEXT
ROCK, THE DEFENCE
LAWYER If you have an opportunity to know Industry minister Allan Rock, personally, you can quickly appreciate his qualities. He’s funny, professional and personal, and much better in person than how he’s seen through the eyes of the media. But unfortunately, the blame for this difference has to be shouldered exclusively on the shoulders of Industry Minister Allan Rock. When I had my first lengthy meeting with him a few years ago I wasn’t sure how to handle it. He appeared to be a tough, stiff politician, who had a clear vision on every issue, no doubts, and not pre-disposed to an exchange of views different from his. I was wrong. During an hour-long conversation, Allan Rock was genuinely jovial, witty, friendly, and available to accept an open discussion on every issue touched upon. Then it was interview-time. "I hate this part," he said. "You shouldn’t’" I replied, “just be the Allan Rock of the last hour." Unfortunately, the warmth, the friendliness, the jovial Allan Rock, disappeared, just like it does today when he becomes Minister Rock. He becomes "official," or worse, he becomes Allan Rock, the lawyer. He becomes passionate in defending the role he is assigned to defend, regardless of the reality. A lawyer can be passionate in incriminating someone accused of stealing a few apples, and just as passionate in defending a serial killer. A lawyer can speak with the conviction of those who believe they are always right and with the passion of those convinced that they are never on the wrong side of an issue. Well, lawyers are the only professionals who, by statistics, are wrong 50 per cent of the time. In fact, for every lawyer who is right, there is another one who is wrong. Did you ever see two lawyers saying the same thing in the same room at the same time? Unfortunately Mr. Rock, during last week’s gun registry fiasco, was acting like a defence lawyer for himself. And that’s the most celebrated mistake that a lawyer can make. It is well-known that the Minister of Industry has leadership aspirations. He should know, though, that before becoming a candidate for the leadership, he should become a politician. Yes, he’s a minister, but the minister doesn’t make him necessarily a politician. In fact, in many countries they call in to the Cabinet the so-called "experts," people outside of Parliament to run ministries. Mr. Rock has not been "hired" by the government as a lawyer to defend whatever the government does, but he was elected and appointed to Cabinet to reflect the mood of the country within the ideological personal beliefs. During last week’s gun registry dispute, Mr. Rock made many mistakes, but not necessarily because he defended the initiative. Face it, in politics there are always people for and against you and both are subjectively right. The problem is not the gun registry program, but how it’s been implemented. Liberal MP Joe Comuzzi, might be a Paul Martin supporter, but still there is another billion reasons for him to ask for an inquiry about the implementation of the law. In fact, if there is a person who should ask for an inquiry, that person should be Allan Rock. Nobody is accusing him for misleading the Parliament when he said that the net expense for the implementation of the controversial gun registry program was $2-million. He was given those numbers by somebody. Who made the mistake? Who was trying to hide the truth? Or it was just incompetence? Blaming the provinces or Mr. Martin for the mishap is like blaming the meteorologist for the rain. The questions are very simple: did the bureaucrats purposely mislead the minister, or was it mere incompetence? Did the bureaucrats give the right information but the minister decided to mislead the Parliament? If the answer to the second question no, like I believe, why is Mr. Rock acting like the defence lawyer for himself? |