Archive for September, 2008

If this economic chaos were caused by Wall Street revels, as President George Bush would have us believe, he’s the one with the hangover. He looks awful, like a frightened boy, as I watch his 8:45 a.m. televised address to the nation. Worse, the sniff he gave at the end of his comments, as he turned and walked away, was a signal that he believes his pitch will reassure investors.

When I heard last night that he was due to speak this morning, I assumed he was going to announce that the stock markets would close until bailout legislation was passed. He had no such plan, just the same old shoulder to the wheel that hasn’t worked thus far.

Let’s hope the market taught an important lesson to those legislators who voted against the bailout because they thought $700 billion was too much. After all, individual investors, pension funds and mutual funds lost far more yesterday, $1 trillion in one day.

Meanwhile, we’re left with the sad sight of George W. Bush in the final days of his watch when he couldn’t wind it up.

In the last week, I’ve talked to half a dozen people who are headed to Florence this fall. Lucky them. This is absolutely the best time to be traveling there. The sweltering days of summer are gone and so are the throngs. The lineups at the Uffizi will be almost bearable; getting a table for dinner just about anywhere should be fairly easy.

A few days ago, Sandy and I went for a walk there, too. We started at Via Roma 3, stopped at Gilli in Piazza della Repubblica for a latte, continued under arch, past Armani and Palazzo Strozzi where we peeked in at the art exhibit, meandered down Via de Tornabuoni to Ferragamo, crossed the Arno on Santa Trinita, and ended up at Santo Spirito. All in our minds, of course. I tended to remember the buildings and the buskers, Sandy the shops and the fashion, but together we could pretty much recall every step of what is a 15-20 minute walk.

Tomorrow we visit Santa Croce to pay our respects at the tomb of Michelangelo. Anyone care to come along?

It may just have been coincidence, but the first vocals I heard this morning when I tuned into the “new” CBC Radio 2 were these opening lines from One sung by Johnny Cash:

“Is it getting better/Or do you feel the same?”

The answer: no, it’s not getting better and, yes, I do feel the same.

Poor Tom Allen, host of Radio 2’s morning show for ten years, is doing his best under the new regime, but it’s sad to hear him talk about his mysterious playlist. Who exactly, I ask you, is the audience that CBC is aiming to reach when Cash is followed by Stevie Wonder, Carmen McRae and Soul Jazz Express? I pride myself on a reasonably eclectic taste in music but those four diverse talents would be a bit of a stretch for most people.

Tempo, the classical music show that begins at 10 a.m., is more to my liking, but who can listen at that time of the day? As for Radio 2 Drive at 4 p.m., the promo doesn’t tempt me in the least: “Just like the top 40 without the top 40 and the glib-glab.” Say what?

CBC Radio 2’s revamp is a disaster.

In the last few months, Cito Gaston (Blue Jays), Cliff Fletcher (Leafs), Don Matthews (Argos) and Pat Quinn (world junior hockey), have all been hired to manage or otherwise lead teams. What do they have in common, other than talent? They’re all seniors. (OK, I cheated; Cito is a spring chicken at 64.)

What does this say about sports?

(a) It’s back to the 90s;

(b) There’s no one else available;

(c) Geezers are in style;

(d) all of the above.

If you answered (d), congratulations. You’re likely a geezer, too.

I, for one, welcome this resurgence of retirees being restored to their rightful roles. With John McCain running for U.S. president at 72, the times they are a changing - right back to the way they were.

And if anyone wants to pick a fight, I’ve got George Chuvalo ready and waiting at ringside. He turns 71 on Friday.

My wife Sandy has launched a new website, Women helping women. It’s about her art and her initiative concerning colorectal cancer. Take a look at http://www.sandramcqueen.com

That’s a silly looking photo of Rick Hillier in my morning paper. The former Chief of Defence Staff appears to be standing atop the stone plinth outside the TD branch at King and Bay promoting the bank he just joined.

At this rate, TD CEO Ed Clark, another escapee from Ottawa who had previously retained former politician and ambassador Frank McKenna, will soon alter the entire culture at TD Bank. Clark’s performance is rightly praised but his predecessors did well, too, even those for whom Ottawa was a place you only visited every ten years when the Bank Act was being revised.

And that’s an even sillier quote attributed to Hillier who reportedly told a group of bankers, “If you guys fail in your succession plans, you can always hire from the competition. I can’t hire from the Taliban.” Ed Clark praised the comment because he said it captured the importance of leadership development. To me, the statement demeans the men and women we have put in harm’s way. Compared to the potential of dying in Afghanistan, worrying about corporate succession is a paltry past-time.

I was bothered a few months back by the fact that Hillier resigned his job as Canada’s top soldier when he was only in his early 50s. Did he have nothing else to give our armed forces who need strong leadership as much as modern weaponry? The answer why he stepped down may now becoming clear: he wanted to take his remaining productive years and make some real money.

Now, I’ve got nothing against making money. I’ve worked at some job or another since I sold flowers door-to-door at age ten. But public service is an honorable calling, too. We need bright people like Hillier to remain involved in public service and public policy.

What the country does not need is another high-paid door-opener at a chartered bank.

The pink granite of the rock cut in the tiny town of Severn Bridge signals the beginning of Muskoka, Ontario’s finest playground since Timothy Eaton summered there in the nineteenth century. We spent this past weekend with family at Taboo, on Lake Muskoka, enjoying the best weather in weeks.

The resort, that includes the home course of 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir, took on a particular resonance as Weir led the Deutsche Bank Championship after three rounds, only to be overtaken today by Vijay Singh and had to settle for second.

Stories abound of McMansion cottages and noisy Sea-Doos ruining holidays, but that particular part of the lake near Gravenhurst was peaceful enough for a long canoe ride on calm waters this morning without ever being buzzed. The historic steamship, R.M.S. Segwun, still plies the lake as she has since 1887 and the setting sun remains as beautiful as I remember it as a boy. The goldfinches flit among the pines feeding on seeds while the ring-billed gulls await easier meals from children bearing bread on the dock. Even the campfires haven’t changed; they still put marshmallows on long sticks and toast them to a golden, gooey brown.

One aspect, however, is decidedly different. Many Taboo employees are from the Caribbean, brought north each year to work in Paradise. Time was when a job at a resort was the best place a student could possibly spend the summer, according to this former bellhop, anyway. Stuck in the city, they don’t know what they’re missing.