For those of us who can remember Bob Rae getting elected for the first time in a Toronto byelection at age 30 and bursting onto the national political scene as NDP finance critic of an increasingly unpopular (Pierre) Trudeau government, it’s hard to believe that one-time whiz kid is turning 75.
Some things about Rae haven’t changed. He still seems to have a youthful enthusiasm for whatever job he undertakes. As Canada’s United Nations ambassador, a post he’s held for the past three years, he captured the world’s attention by giving an iconic, extemporaneous speech about that organization’s founding principles while brandishing his dog-eared copy of said principles and expressing his abhorrence for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Throughout 45 years in public life, Rae has had an extraordinary array of jobs. He left Parliament in 1982 to become Ontario NDP leader. In 1987, he became leader of the official Opposition and tried to hold the biggest majority government in Ontario history to account. In 1990, he shocked the country (and himself) by winning a majority government for the NDP.
After his time at Queen’s Park ended in 1996, he moved to Goodmans LLP but kept his hand in public affairs: he served on the Security Intelligence Review Committee and as chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University, taught at the University of Toronto, and undertook an inquiry into the Air India disaster.
Agenda segment, June 26, 2013: Leaving Parliament Hill
In 2006, he broke with what he saw as an increasingly ideological and out-of-touch NDP and moved to the federal Liberals. He then sought the leadership, ultimately losing to Stéphane Dion. In 2008, he won a seat in Toronto Centre and resumed his life as a parliamentarian — 30 years after having won his first election there.
Timing has always been an issue in Rae’s political life. He became premier just as Ontario was about to experience the worst recession since the Great Depression. That virtually ensured his would be a one-term government. And he joined the federal Liberals just in time to see them suffer their worst showing ever: a third-place finish in 2011.
Rae was then chosen as interim leader of the Liberals, and it’s not an exaggeration to say he kept the party alive and relevant at a time when many Canadians questioned whether the country needed it anymore at all.
Rae successfully held the fort until Justin Trudeau’s 2013 leadership victory. He then spent seven years doing legal work, representing Indigenous interests, and returned to U of T to teach again. He also took on an assignment for (Justin) Trudeau, becoming his special envoy looking into human-rights abuses in Myanmar, before assuming the job his father, Saul, had once had — namely, ambassador to the UN.
In the lead-up to his 75th birthday, I wondered whether Rae would share some thoughts about what he’s learned over his long and varied tenure in public life. He was game. So we started with what he saw as the biggest differences between the 30-year-old MP he’d once been and the 75-year-old ambassador he now is.
“I was a lot more certain of things at 30 than I am now,” he confesses. “I listened less and talked more. Still love to laugh, see the true value of humour in life. Take criticism better, but still not as well as I should.”
Bob Rae, then the newly elected MP for Broadview-Greenwood, shakes hands with NDP leader Ed Broadbent in Ottawa on October 25, 1978. (Charles Mitchell/CP)
Did a younger Rae plan to still be at it at this stage of life?
“Not really,” he says. “My plan in life can be summed up in a few words: ‘Don’t give up; keep going as best you can.’ I’ve been very lucky to have been given many chances and to have kept my health.”
Rae has often joked, “I wanted to be premier in the worst way. And, eventually, I was.” He spent 12 years in opposition (federally and provincially) before becoming premier and spent many of those opposition years trying to torch the government of the day. Becoming premier gave him insights few NDP leaders in Canada ever get.
“I think that solving problems and getting things done has grown as a central theme in the melody of my life,” he says. “Life becomes easier and more fun when you throw perfectionism out the window.”
Although, in public, he could skewer his political adversaries with the best of ’em, Rae says that “partisanship should never limit the boundaries of friendship.” As a result, he’s had friends from all sides of the political spectrum. He and late former Tory premier Bill Davis genuinely loved each other. His relationship with former prime minister Jean Chrétien has been close. Perhaps surprisingly, he says he “enjoyed working with and getting to know Brian Mulroney” during the early 1990s, when the two collaborated on creating the Charlottetown Accord.
When former PC finance minister Ernie Eves was debating in 2002 whether to return to public life after having retired from Mike Harris’s cabinet, he called Rae for advice. You wouldn’t have thought that likely, given how tempestuous their exchanges could be in the house.
But, of course, even though he eventually left the party, Rae’s longest-standing friendships have been with New Democrats. At Queen’s Park, that means former MPPs Floyd Laughren, Dave Cooke, David Reville, Ruth Grier, and Frances Lankin. On Parliament Hill, it was his former leader Ed Broadbent and MPs Bill Blaikie and Jim Fulton. His fellow former premier (of Saskatchewan) Roy Romanow makes the list. Behind-the-scenes supporters include Arlene Wortsman, David Agnew, Melody Morrison, Dave Mackenzie, Gordie Brigden, Peter Mosher, and Marilyn Roycroft.
“I have always tried to stay curious, find new things to learn, treasure old friends and always be open to new ones,” Rae says.
Paikin and the premiers: Bob Rae interviews Steve Paikin
And then there is Arlene, his wife of 43 years, who has been his partner in everything and who is so outgoing, many have wondered why she was never the candidate instead of her husband!
Rae has been quite public about a mental-health breakdown he suffered at age 24, calling it “a blessing in disguise.” It allowed him to accept that failure is part of life and aided him in regaining his sense of humour and valuing friendships more.
“All of that has helped me cope with life’s most difficult moments and put career in perspective,” he says. “And it’s never too late to try again.”
Saul, Rae’s father and fellow UN ambassador, lived to be 84, but his latter years were adversely affected by strokes, which significantly limited his ability to enjoy life. He died in 1999. “My dad would have been very happy that I am able to keep going,” Rae says.
When asked whether he thinks about retiring someday, Rae quoted his friend and mentor Eddie Goodman, at whose law firm he once worked.
“Retirement?” Goodman would ask. “What the f*ck is that?”
Apparently, it’s something that’s not on the radar of Ontario’s 21st premier.