If Swann is eccentric, then we need more of those

BY NAOMI LAKRITZDECEMBER 17, 2008

David Swann is elected leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and suddenly, I hear people labelling him eccentric. Why is he eccentric? Because he wants to lead the party? That’s not eccentric in Alberta, that’s just plain brave, considering the Tory-blue tide–no, make that a tsunami–that he’s up against. But eccentric?

When I think of eccentric, I think of some old hermit squirrelled away in a dismal apartment with stacks of newspapers and magazines piled everywhere, fighting off the city inspectors who’ve come to clean up the premises because it’s a fire hazard. As far as I know, Swann doesn’t live in an apartment and does not wade through piles of dog-eared, dusty copies of the Atlantic to get to his kitchen. Of course, I’ve never been to his house, so for all I know there may be a few National Geographics on the coffee table.

When I think of eccentric, I think of a man whom a friend of mine met on a bus once. It was July, but the man was wearing a heavy parka with hood and mittens. He sat down next to my friend (who complains bitterly and often that these types of things always happen to him) and said, “Know what?” “What?” my friend asked, resigned to his fate and to his new seatmate. “I just shot a bear. Right over there in that Wal-Mart parking lot,” the man said. My friend looked up at the bus roof, and said out loud, “God, you hate me, don’t you?” I doubt that Swann wears parkas in July or has close encounters with bears in suburban parking lots.

So what is this “eccentric” label that’s been stuck on him? I’ve heard it used ever since Swann won the leadership, which is all of about three days, but it’s gaining momentum. In a column this week, my colleague, Don Braid, labelled Swann “a bit of an eccentric,” and described how he donned a bicycle helmet and attached bike clips to the cuffs of his suit pants, after a government do at the McDougall Centre. Another colleague agreed that Swann qualifies as eccentric for that very reason. “He wears a bicycle helmet with a suit,” she said. Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? I don’t think we want the leader of the Liberal party riding around wearing a bicycle helmet with nothing else on. Of course, that might divert conservative Albertans long enough for them to stop wrongly blaming the provincial Liberals for the NEP, but it would be an extreme measure.

My boss, Licia Corbella, informs me that intimidating bus passengers and barricading yourself behind piles of old magazines against the onslaught of city inspectors is just nutty. Eccentric, she says, is when you build an airplane in your backyard or have an interest in collecting a species of beetle from Madagascar. The thing is, before Swann became the Liberal leader, I never heard him described as eccentric. He must be eccentric then for wanting to take on this one-party tyranny-state known as Alberta. Did I say tyranny? Oh, sorry. I meant Tory. The words have a certain alliterative je ne sais quoi, both starting as they do with a t and ending in a y.

Asked to expound upon Swann’s eccentricity, my other colleague said, “Well, he got fired from the Palliser Health Authority for speaking out in favour of Kyoto. I think he even said something about people getting sick from the air quality.” That doesn’t make him eccentric. That makes him a humanitarian, and if there is any field with a noticeable shortage of humanitarians, it’s politics. Swann’s record in that regard is truly awesome. He doesn’t content himself with issuing platitudinous press releases and then retreating to the warmth of his office. Swann is visible–everything he talks about, he follows through with action. He has championed the right of farm workers in this province to be included in the labour code. He was instrumental in establishing Calgary’s first pesticide-free park 10 years ago. He supports minority rights– yes, that was Swann marching in Calgary’s gay pride parade last June. He has visited Iraq as part of his antiwar crusade. He has been outspoken about the genocide in Darfur, including staging a hunger strike outside of Stephen Harper’s constituency office a year ago.

Last summer, he attended a water quality conference in Fort Chipewyan, where residents have long been concerned that toxins from oilsands projects upstream on the Athabasca River are responsible for the rare cancers plaguing their community. Meanwhile, Environment Minister Rob Renner was conspicuous by his absence at that same conference.

Ever since the budget cuts of the 1990s saw things like education, health care and social services slashed, Albertans have complained that the poor, the elderly, children, the mentally ill and other vulnerable groups have suffered, while the benefits reaped by a society flowing with oil wealth have passed them by.

That dynasty of dinosaurs which has held sway in Edmonton for nearly 38 years sees no need to trouble itself about such things. It’s so easy just to sit back and coast complacently to the next reelection. And for too long, too many Albertans have said: “The Liberals aren’t ready to govern.”

The Liberals, or whatever the party changes its name to, are more than ready to govern. Out with Tory entitlement, in with eccentricity–a delightful word which is merely a synonym for a leader who gets things done.

Nlakritz@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald