Ralph Klein passes his days in a long-term care facility in Calgary surrounded by comfortable reminders of his colourful life.
The 69-year-old spends a lot of time in bed, barely speaking while struggling to penetrate the fog of dementia, which has displaced the sharpest political mind in the business. Ailing physically as well, he is not expected to ever return to his modest bungalow in southwest Calgary.
He deserves a better fate in life. And before his death, he should receive the national honour, which remains denied to this most worthy of candidates.
Twice a year they post the Order of Canada recipients. I always scan the list of first-class Canadians expecting to see the former broadcaster, Calgary mayor and Alberta premier prominently featured atop the news release.
The most recent batch came out last week. Another 66 names - and not one of them was Ralph Klein.
How can this be? Former premiers are regularly on the list. When I complained about the glaring oversight, one journalist quipped: "Would he know if he got it anyway?"
Probably not. But that's beside the point. It's been five years since Klein retired after a generation in multi-tiered politics topped by a four-term run as premier during a particularly difficult time.
Former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed and former Ontario premier Bill Davis barely waited a year after retiring to be pinned with their OC. Saskatchewan's Roy Romanow got his within two years. Other premiers such as Gordon Campbell and Gary Doer received juicy diplomatic appointments upon their retirement.
Yet the populist phenomenon known by everyone as simply ‘Ralph' hasn't rated a sideways glance from Ottawa, even though a fellow Calgarian is the prime minister and a fellow Albertan is the chief justice who supervises the nomination process.
This reeks of a snobby Ottawa establishment deciding a hard-living high school dropout with a cigarette-mooching habit and fondness for red wine isn't worth the lapel pin that passes for the Order of Canada status symbol. In other words, mere mortals need not apply. He is not of their class.
What's overlooked is a track record of hosting a magnificent 1988 Winter Olympics as Calgary mayor and rescuing Alberta from massive deficit in the early 1990s as a rookie premier. Former prime minister Jean Chretien once told me Klein gave him the inspiration to balance the federal books, knowing it could be done without a catastrophic loss of public support.
"He gave 26 years of his life to public service. If that doesn't qualify him, what does?" wonders Klein's close friend and former chief of staff Rod Love.
What indeed.
I'll refrain from quibbling whether 2012 recipients such as former hockey coach Scotty Bowman, sportscaster Brian Williams or former top bureaucrat Kevin Lynch deserve the Order of Canada, but are any of them in the same public service league as Ralph Klein?
The answer's a big, fat, rhetorical NO.
There's a potential way to challenge the upper-crust objections to giving the honor to average-guy phenomenon.
After I tweeted my disgust at the latest Klein omission, several Calgary heavyweights confided they would be lobbying the Governor General to right this wrong. The public can get involved too. There's a nomination form on the Governor General's website. If you think he's worthy, send in a recommendation. If there's enough public pressure, David Johnston just might add Klein's name to the list coming out in late June.
Even if he might not grasp the significance of getting it as the cerebral clouds thicken and his body fails, Ralph Klein deserves the recognition of joining the Order of Canada now -- before it's too late.
Don Martin hosts Power Play on CTV News Channel, highlighting the people and players that dominate the political scene in Canada.
About Power Play
Subscribe
