Speaking of turncoats ? and many are after Belinda Stronach switched federal parties ?-Ontario legislators paid tribute recently to the most notorious of them all. Stronach, who changed once, was a model of steadfastness and loyalty compared to J. Earl McEwen.
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ERIC DOWD |
McEwen, who has died at 94, owned a grocery store in Kingston Township and went into politics because the municipality would not salt the street in front of it.
He had no grand passions for changing the world. He became reeve and riding president for the Progressive Conservatives, ran twice for them in
federal elections in the 1960s and lost, and seemed a dyed-in-the-wool Tory.
McEwen began straying when he failed to win the Tory nomination in Frontenac-Addington in the 1971 provincial election and ran as an independent,
but lost.
In the next election in 1975, McEwen shifted to the Liberals and won. He said they had better polices.
His timing was impeccable, because his former party lost seats and fell into minority government. But for someone ready to run for almost anyone to get elected, McEwen showed little enthusiasm for the legislature.
He made no effort to get along with Liberal MPPs and rarely attended caucus.
McEwen criticized the Tory government in his only remembered speech, calling it ?an untrained fruit tree growing wildly in all directions.?
But in 1984 he dropped his major bombshell of switching back to the Conservative fold. He claimed he was unhappy with Liberal policies and leader David Peterson and two or three others ?were running the whole thing and the rest of us didn?t have any say.?
McEwen was by no means the only MPP to feel a leader dominated a caucus, but others tried to get their views known by speaking up, publicly if
necessary.
McEwen said he spent less time at the legislature ?because there was no sense being there. You don?t accomplish anything. Out in the riding you get
things done.?
He said he ?could not sit in Toronto guzzling booze, while telling the people back home how hard I?m working.?
Other MPPs have recognized they have to balance their time. They need to be in their ridings to look after constituents? problems, but the legislature is where larger concerns are raised and solutions debated.
McEwen complained as a Liberal he lacked opportunities for advancement, but no government would have given a cabinet post to someone who contributed so little.
He said he had never really stopped being a Conservative, but his switch seemed to be motivated more by fears he could lose an election due in 1985.
His winning margin had declined steadily, while the Conservatives had regained their majority and were high in polls, temporarily.
The Conservatives also planned to run an outstanding candidate against him, Sally Barnes, Davis?s articulate former press secretary and president of the Ontario Status of Women Council, who grew up in the area.
But Davis welcomed McEwen back, hoping his return would be taken as a sign the Liberals were falling apart. His press aide lost her big chance.
McEwen lost running as a Conservative?the Liberals said the best thing they had going was his record of switching back and forth.
In the legislature the three parties paid over-generous tributes, as they do to all former MPPs who die. Conservative house leader Bob Runciman pointed out traditionally, the party a deceased MPP represented speaks first, ?but in Earl?s case we would have to flip a coin.?
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen?s Park press gallery.
