OttawaWatch: "Persons of interest" in the new cabinet, shadow cabinet
By Lloyd Mackey
AT LEAST 20 members of the cabinet and shadow cabinet appointed this week could be described as "persons of interest" to Christian politician-watchers.
For today, I will name just two -- Raymond Chan and Steven Fletcher. Others will be introduced in OttawaWatch columns appearing in this space over the next few months.
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Steven Fletcher, as has been reported elsewhere, is the first quadriplegic to be a member of the Canadian parliament. Furthermore, he won his seat by defeating Glen Murray, the high profile former mayor of Winnipeg. Murray had been pegged by Paul Martin as a "star" candidate headed almost certainly for a cabinet post.
Fletcher has the health portfolio in the Official Opposition shadow cabinet. In that capacity, he will face former British Columbia NDP premier Ujjal Dosanjh, one of the Liberal star candidates who, unlike Murray, won his seat.
A post-election headline in the Winnipeg Free Press, describing Fletcher as a "compassionate conservative," caught my attention. I was reminded of the description when I met him, and again, when the Conservative shadow cabinet lined up for photos in the Parliament Buildings.
My introduction to Fletcher occurred at a reception for new Conservative MPs. I was met, first, by one of his 10 aides, who take turns 24/7 to see that he stays alive. His disablement occurred in the late '80s, the result of a car-moose collision.
In these types of situations, the journalist gets to know the politician by identifying the publication for which he or she works. Since writers for Christian publications are not all that common on Parliament Hill, that identification leads to some conversations that would not have otherwise occurred.
When I told Fletcher's aide that I worked with ChristianCurrent, ChristianWeek and BC Christian News, she immediately pointed out that she sees ChristianCurrent Manitoba in the church she attends, a Winnipeg Christian and Missionary Alliance congregation.
Fletcher listened with interest to our exchange, then rapidly outlined all the percentages of religious affiliations in his riding, Charleswood-St.James-Assiniboia -- Catholic, Protestant and various others. Then he noted quizically that he was practicing Protestant.
"What brand?" your curious reporter asked.
"United. Charleswood United," he replied, conveying in his smile that his church means a lot to him and influences the way he lives life and does politics. Then, his eyes flicked back to his Alliance-attending aide. "Sounds a little left-wing, doesn't it," he gently teased.
The exchange said more than the words themselves communicated. He knows that many evangelicals think the United Church is a little "left wing," especially when compared with the Alliance denomination. But his church, influencing him as it does, has likely helped him to understand what it means to be a "compassionate conservative."
That particular phrase was coined and popularized by Marvin Olasky, the editor of World, a Presbyterian-rooted American conservative Christian newsmagazine. He wrote a book by that name, in fact, and its precepts formed the basis for George W. Bush's faith-based initiatives.
In short, compassionate conservatism involves understanding people's and society's needs and finding conservative ways to meet them. In its most combative form, compassionate conservatism is an antidote to socialism.
In that sense, Fletcher could be the ideal Conservative antidote to health minister Dosanjh, who has declared that he will "stem the tide of privatization" in health care. A compassionate conservative approach, in the Olasky mold, will say that it would be wrong -- and unbiblical -- to stem any such tide. Rather, he would suggest, private initiatives in health care, particularly in the non-profit and faith-based sectors, help it work better.
Because health care was a major debating point in the recent federal election, this issue will have legs for a while to come. Watch for Fletcher and Dosanjh to argue for their perspectives strongly. And for those arguments to impact on future health care policy in Canada.
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Raymond Chan is back as a minister of state in the Liberal cabinet, after an absence of almost four years.
Chan was defeated in the 2000 election by Joe Peschisolido, an Alliance MP who turned Liberal mid-term.
Before his defeat, Chan and David Kilgour "divided up the world" under the watchful eye of John Manley, at the time the foreign affairs minister. Chan and Kilgour were both ministers of state for foreign affairs, respectively responsible for Asia/Pacific and Africa/Latin America. Both of them and Manley were known to be serious Christian believers of evangelical leaning.
Chan's comeback opportunity came in facing off with Peschisolido for the Richmond, BC, Liberal nomination. He won, then defeated another evangelical Chinese person, Alice Wong, the Conservative candidate. (Richmond has one of the largest Chinese-based populations of any riding in Canada.)
His new ministry of state is multiculturalism -- not a bad fit for a Chinese Mennonite Brethren.
Some Conservative detractors have been pointing out that Chan's Christian, pro-life and pro-family commitment is not as deep as Wong's.
That may or may not be. That is not really the point of this particular essay. Rather, it is the suggestion that Chan should be a "person of interest" for Christian politician-watchers.
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Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa. He can be reached at lmackey@christiancurrent.com.
