The Integrity Trap

March 25, 2001

In a democracy, change is the name of the game, but, when Preston Manning called it quits this week, it was more than just another politician headed for the old folks home. It was a gloomy end to a gloomy story. When Preston went to Ottawa in 1993, he looked like a normal guy on a mission: thick glasses, bad haircut, clothes from BiWay. One month in Ottawa and the guy's wearing Armani suits, having laser eye surgery done, and getting a suave new 'do.' But they weren't done with him yet. In '93, he may have looked different, but at least he still stood for something. After all, he swore up and down he would never move into Stornaway, the official residence of the leader of the opposition, claiming it was too posh. And every single Reform MP opted out of Ottawa's cushy pension plan.

But between the '93 and '97 elections, Preston dumped anything that looked grass-roots, hoping to broaden the party’s appeal. That was a total failure, but somehow he became leader of the opposition, and guess who moved into Stornaway! Fast forward to 2000 and almost every MP who opted out of the pension is buying back in faster than the speed of light.

And the sad thing is, it wasn't enough. The man sacrificed every value he held dear for his party, and it still wasn't enough. I guess they figured Preston wasn't phony enough to be Prime Minister, so they flew in a ringer from Ralph Klein's team. And that didn't work either. They were so worried about getting a pretty boy on their side they forget to check if the guy had a brain. Now the party's going down the toilet, all because of what politics did to Preston..

I guess that's why Chrétien and Clark were actually praising the man. He's become "one of the gang." And really it's not Preston's fault. It's ours. Let's face it, we don't want a normal looking guy with a vision. We want a politician: a movie star and used car salesman rolled into one. I'm not saying you can't make a difference, you just have to do it really quickly.