How many of you reading this are sick and tired of the mindless, overly toxic partisanship that seems to be on display far too often in our politics these days, particularly since the rise of social media?
I know I am. Which is why I found something that happened last week so encouraging.
For more than half a century, former Ontario finance minister Darcy McKeough (then called “the treasurer”) used to gather some of the province’s heaviest hitters from the Progressive Conservative party annually for a special lunch. The idea was to celebrate the career (and then the memory, after his death in 1982) of former premier John Robarts. McKeough called it the John P. Robarts Memorial Luncheon.
Ontario’s 17th premier gave McKeough (the MPP for Chatham–Kent from 1963 to 1978) his first cabinet job. When Bill Davis took over the premiership in 1971 after Robarts’s retirement, McKeough became known as “the minister of everything,” because he was so integral to so many facets of that government’s operations. (He was once minister of the treasury, economics, intergovernmental affairs, and municipal affairs all at the same time).
From left to right: Senator Frances Lankin speaks with former Conservative senator Irving Gerstein; former Toronto mayor David Crombie with former B.C. premier Christy Clark; and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy with Ian Macdonald, John Robarts's deputy minister of finance. (Steve Paikin)
The luncheon started with a few dozen conservative men, but as the years progressed and more invitees went to that big legislature in the sky, the numbers dwindled. Always held in December, last year’s luncheon was cancelled as McKeough’s health took a turn for the worse. He died on November 29, 2023, at age 90.
For the past 15 or so years, I got invited to these lunches because I did a documentary for TVO — then followed that up with a biography — on Robarts, whose time in office from 1961 to 1971 was hugely successful but whose dramatic life ended at age 65 in suicide. The notion of these lunches disappearing, with their great stories of days gone by forever lost, bothered me.
And so, with the permission of McKeough’s two sons, I decided to try to keep the lunch alive for another year, albeit with some significant changes. The event would be renamed “The Robarts-McKeough Luncheon” to acknowledge the former treasurer as its founder. But it would no longer be restricted to conservative men. (Sorry, Darcy!)
From left to right: Former NDP cabinet colleagues Floyd Laughren and Frances Lankin; Andrea Robarts, John Robarts's niece, speaks at the luncheon; Peel District school-board trustee Jill Promoli with Big Blue Machiner John Laschinger and former Liberal MPP Tim Murphy. (Steve Paikin)
Invitees from multiple parties, genders, and generations would now be welcome. I wanted not only the nonagenarians who’d known Robarts and McKeough to be there to share their stories, but also younger people who would appreciate hearing some of those old tales.
Former finance minister Greg Sorbara took us back more than four decades, when he and Robarts had a chance encounter in the bathroom of the law firm where they both worked.
“I see Bob Rae has become the new Ontario NDP leader,” Sorbara said to Robarts.
“He’s an impressive young man,” Robarts responded. “Could be premier someday.”
That was nothing anybody else was saying in the early 1980s. But eight years later, Rae became Ontario’s 20th premier.
“Mr. Robarts was rather prescient in that prediction,” Sorbara concluded.
From left to right: Former Liberal MPPs Deb Matthews, Greg Sorbara, and Mitzie Hunter. (Steve Paikin)
McKeough took somewhat of a shining to former Tory cabinet minister Monte McNaughton, who represented some of the same territory McKeough did as MPP for Lambton–Kent–Middlesex from 2011 to 2023. When it became apparent that Davis intended to hang around Queen’s Park for several more years, McKeough quit politics just a year into his fifth term, forgoing his dream of ever becoming premier. (He ran against Davis for PC party leader in 1971.)
McNaughton attended last week’s lunch and read aloud a letter McKeough had written him in which he urged him to enjoy every moment of public life and to go for the brass ring himself someday. McNaughton surprised and disappointed McKeough last October when he did the same thing the former treasurer had done: he quit politics (and took an executive position at Woodbine Entertainment).
Continuity was a big theme on the day. Robarts was a premier and so was Christy Clark, who came in from British Columbia. Robarts was an education minister (before becoming premier), and so was Mitzie Hunter, who was there. Education and the younger generation were well represented by current Peel District school-board trustee Jill Promoli and former Peel trustee Nokha Dakroub — at 35, the youngest person in the room by quite a bit. Robarts led the PC party, and so did John Tory, who was there. (Actually, there were two ex-Toronto mayors there, as 87-year-old David Crombie, looking ridiculously energetic for an octogenarian, also attended.)
From left to right: Former finance minister Greg Sorbara; former Peel trustee Nokha Dakroub with 2022 provincial Liberal candidate Andrea Barrack; and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy with former treasurer Floyd Laughren. (Steve Paikin)
Some of Robarts’s contemporaries attended, including now 94-year-old deputy minister of finance Ian Macdonald, 90-year-old former Lakeshore MPP and PC party president Alan Eagleson, 91-year-old former lieutenant-governor Hal Jackman, and Big Blue Machine organizer John Laschinger.
Macdonald recalled a time when several clergymen visited Robarts’s office to lobby the premier not to eliminate the property-tax exemption their churches enjoyed. Robarts assured them he wouldn’t, and when one of them asked what kind of guarantee the premier could provide, Robarts responded, “Gentlemen, you’ll just have to have faith, something with which I believe you’re all familiar.”
In total, about three dozen people attended the lunch, including, for the first time, some New Democrats: Frances Lankin (now a senator) and Sudbury’s Floyd Laughren (a former finance minister).
I invited only one active MPP — current treasurer Peter Bethlenfalvy, who made it a habit of consulting such predecessors as McKeough, Laughren, and the now 95-year-old Robert Nixon.
There were two nice moments in particular. The first was when four finance ministers — Laughren, Sorbara, Janet Ecker (the first female finance minister to introduce a budget), and Bethlenfalvy — posed for pictures. The second was when Bethlenfalvy himself asked for a picture with Macdonald, who was such an important adviser to Robarts back in the day.
While neither of McKeough’s sons was able to attend (neither lives in Ontario), the Robarts family was ably represented by his niece Andrea, who spoke of “Uncle John,” and Richard Robarts, whose father was the premier’s second cousin.
From left to right: Former deputy premier Deb Matthews (left) with former finance ministers Janet Ecker and Greg Sorbara; former lieutenant-governor Hal Jackman and former senator Irving Gerstein; and Janet Ecker with current senator (and former NDP cabinet minister) Frances Lankin. (Steve Paikin)
I confess, it was good to see Bethlenfalvy having what looked like a joyful conversation with former 2022 Toronto Liberal candidate Andrea Barrack, who did everything she could to bring the current treasurer’s career to an end. To see Deb Matthews, who represented some of Robarts’s old riding in London for the Liberals, having an animated discussion with John Mykytyshyn, an original Common Sense Revolutionary from the Mike Harris years. To see Lankin happily engaging with former Tory senator Irving Gerstein.
If all you see of politics is question period, social-media exchanges, or press conferences, you could be forgiven for thinking it is all misery and nastiness. This get-together was a lovely reminder that politics once was (and maybe can be again?) an occupation for happy warriors who may vigorously disagree about how to get to the promised land but don’t doubt the patriotism of those who differ on how to get there.
“Beyond the slogans, beyond the campaigning, beyond playing teams, our system is adversarial, but we don't need to be enemies,” Promoli emailed me after the event. “Last Thursday was wonderful, and I can't imagine anyone leaving that room without a full heart.”
I think the 52nd annual Robarts Memorial Luncheon (and the first-ever Robarts-McKeough Luncheon) went pretty well. And since so many attendees insisted we do it again next year, I think we will.
It was just so… nice.
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