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By Lloyd Mackey
 THIS WEEK is an anniversary. But first, something about a political party in transition and a cabinet minister's technical briefing.
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Ron Gray of Abbotsford, BC, leader of the Christian Heritage Party for the past 12 years, will retire this fall. A Regina leadership convention in November will replace him.
The first announced candidate is from Canada's opposite coast: Deputy leader Jim Hnatiuk of Nova Scotia.
I have followed Ron's journalistic-cum-political career with interest, ever since I hired him to write sports for the Chilliwack Progress when I was editor there in the '70s.
He had previously reported for the Vancouver Sun and the Suva Times in Fiji, as well as serving a stint as press relations person for the hypnotist, Peter Reveen.
When I first met him, he was wrapping up as media relations officer for what is now University College of the Fraser Valley. He had just undergone a life-transforming conversion to Jesus Christ and was anxious to find ways to communicate the gospel through his journalism.
Later, he served several years as media relations person at Trinity Western University, but left that position because of a conviction that he should serve on the pro-life picket lines in front of abortion clinics to replace those who had gone to jail for the same reason. It was through that experience that he became increasingly interested in the Christian Heritage Party. After several years in a number of CHP voluntary positions, he became the leader.
I wish him well in his retirement. We have differing views on the way in which faith influences politics, but we both see ourselves, I believe, as brothers in Christ.
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I do not think it is a given that Hnatiuk will become the CHP leader. At this point, I would like to suggest three who could be a fit. They are: - Larry Spencer, former Canadian Alliance MP who left that party after some controversy over media reports about his views regarding the recriminalization of homosexuality. A Southern Baptist minister by vocation, he is presently CHP interim president.
- Chris Kempling, the Quesnel, BC, teacher/counsellor who was sanctioned by the BC College of Teachers for expressing his views about homosexuality in letters to the editor of a local newspaper, while employed as a public school teacher. Some years ago, he affiliated with the CHP.
- Tristan Emmanuel, head of Equipping Christians for the Public-Square (ECP), who speaks out strongly for communication values espoused by the CHP.
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Last week, I was one of about half a dozen journalists attending an Afghanistan press briefing in Ottawa led by Bev Oda, the federal international co-operation minister.
The briefing came as a follow up to the release of the Manley report on Afghanistan. The fallout from that report is now the subject of "negotiations" between the Conservatives and Liberals about how to implement its recommendations.
In her briefing, Oda concurred in John Manley's emphasis on the need for development aid to move forward in Afghanistan, with a more robust role for Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
She pointed out that, in line with that emphasis, she wanted to be more available to tell the Afghan development stories. She gently challenged reporters to get interested in those stories.
That challenge drew a response. A press gallery colleague of mine, radio journalist Brian Lilley, was one of three reporters indicating that efforts to reach her to do such stories had been in vain. She said that was about to change and she needed the media's help to make that change.
True, the Afghanistan war effort attracts more journalistic attention than the development work. But development and rebuilding of the country, with Canada's help among others, will likely continue long after the NATO troops are out of the country.
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This week is a 10-year benchmark for this particular journalist.
On February 15, 1998, a frigid -20 Sunday morning, I landed in Ottawa after a red-eye flight from Vancouver, to begin due diligence into the possibility of starting an Ottawa Christian newspaper.
The due diligence produced a "yes" to that idea and later in the year, Edna and I moved from the coast to the capital.
Christian News Ottawa became a reality and, later, became ChristianCurrent Ottawa, one of a group of newspapers now published by Fellowship for Print Witness of Winnipeg. After I retired from active newspaper editing and development, CC Ottawa was rolled over into ChristianWeek Ontario, a monthly tabloid distributed in close to half of the heavily-populated parts of Ontario.
It has been an interesting 10 years, by God's grace, for both Edna and myself, culminating, of course, in our both being able to be a part of the Parliament Hill scene here in Ottawa.
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Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006) He can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.
February 13/2008
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