Even Bob Rae admits that he may be best known for his appearance on the Rick Mercer show.
Liberal MP for Toronto-Centre Rae, was in Sidney last week to stump for Saanich Gulf Islands Liberal candidate Renée Hetherington, and the room full of supporters chuckled at Rae’s reference to his 2006 appearance in which he and the comedy show host stripped down to the buff and jumped into a lake.
These days though, Rae, a former candidate for the Liberal leadership, is busy lending his support to Liberal candidates across the country.
“The first thing I want to say to everyone is that you’re very lucky to have Renée as a candidate. As Tip O’Neill once said ‘all politics is local,’”said Rae.
“Renée is a wonderful candidate. She knows, comes from, understands, this riding, its people, the unique environment that’s here … (She is) a woman who’s interested in business and the economy and understands the importance of business and the economy and also cares deeply about the people in this riding, this community, and the social changes that are underway … we would be incredibly lucky to have her in parliament,” he said.
Rae spoke about current issues and the economy to the lunch crowd at Sidney’s Pier Hotel. “We all want a country that is prosperous. I call it the Billy Holiday lesson of life. (Jazz singer) Billy Holiday, was asked about her life and she said, ‘I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and rich is better.’ I think it’s worth reflecting on the fact that prosperity is important, it’s not important for a few people. It’s not just about a few people doing well, but it’s about building a prosperity that is widely shared in the country and understanding that there is so much more we can do when things are working well and when people are doing well.”
Rae said to improve prosperity in Canada we have to look at globalization. “We have to understand that it really depends on our ability to take advantage of our place in the world … where as it might have been possible 50 or 100 years ago to talk about our economy, or our local lives here as if they were separate from and distant from what is going on around world, they’re not, they’re deeply connected. We need to become smarter. We need to become more innovative. We need to become more competitive — that is to say our ability to export what we make — and we need to do it in a sustainable way.”
As to the timing of a federal election, Rae said “There are signals being given … I know it’s frustrating for candidates like Renée … the short answer … I don’t know.”
editor@peninsulanewsreview.com