Find out what Beyer had to say
Election are always a hot topic
When is the Budget not a hot searchVICTORIA – All those who recognize the name Graham Lea raise your hand. No, Madam, you don’t count. You’re his wife. Nobody else? How soon they forget.
Graham is CEO of the Interior Truck Loggers Association, but in a previous life, he was a politician, a colorful politician, representing the riding of Prince Rupert, and serving as highways minister during the Dave Barrett administration from 1972 to 1975.
In yet a previous life, Graham worked as an announcer for the CBC’s Prince Rupert station, where he once referred to Mother Corp. as the "Canadian Broadcorping Castration."
I ran into Graham the other day at a coffee shop across from the Parliament Buildings. He was scheduled to have a meeting with Forest Minister David Zirnhelt. Our conversation proved once again they don’t make politicians like Graham anymore, which is the reason for this somewhat nostalgic piece.
One time, Graham had invited Gary Lauck, another cabinet minister at the time, to be guest speaker at a riding association meeting. Gary was a bona fide city slicker who took a lot of ribbing over his ownership of a Mercedes convertible. Some folks thought that didn’t quite go with the grass roots NDP image as the champion of the underdog. Lauck also achieved ever-lasting fame for having publicly predicted that the Bank of Commerce was about to go belly-up.
At any rate, Graham introduced Lauck and told the audience that on the way up, Lauck had pointed to a herd of animals by the roadside and asked why some cows had horns, while others didn’t.
Graham said he explained that some cows lose their horns as a result of crashing through the woods, others are genetically steered that way. "But the reason those cows don’t have horns, Gary, is because they’re horses."
Graham has always sported an impressive beard. When a Prince Rupert radio station owner ran against him, the guy told reporters (his own) that he was making two promises: "I won’t live in Victoria and I won’t grow a bear."
Dutifully, the reporters asked Graham for his reaction, and he told them that his opponent had obviously decided he wasn’t going to do the job properly. As for the beard, "If I couldn’t grow one, I, too, would promise not to."
Graham’s biggest caper as a cabinet minister had to do with the extension of road that began as a six-lane highway in Victoria, only to peter out at the city limits.
When the municipalities through which the extension was the pass wouldn’t stop quarreling over cost-sharing, Graham called a press conference and announced that he would build a tunnel instead. It was a loony idea and he never had any intentions of implementing it. But it did the trick. Shortly after, the municipalities came to an agreement regarding the routing of the extension.
My favorite Graham Lea line is one he uttered after his second divorce. "Why get married, Hubert? Just find a woman who hates your guts and buy her a house." That one got him in trouble with his third wife.
Graham professes to quite some admiration of Glen Clark. "He’s like a bulldog. I like that." But he has some advice for the premier: "Hold fund raisers for the Reform Party." And his advice to all politicians is "if you want to get re-elected, stay the hell out of your riding."
When he was a newly-elected MLA, one of his colleagues said to him that he needed to discuss something with his constituents.
"Constituents?" asked Graham. "Have you ever seen one of them from up close? Ugly! Beady little eyes!"
It was good to have coffee with Graham. Like I said, they don’t make ‘em like that any more.
