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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, December 3, 1987-Page 9
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By : ^ ■ JEFF ROSEN
TORONTO -
For many Toronto residents, the name Grossman is synohomous with the provincial riding of St. Andrew-St. Patrick, First Allan and later his son Larry have represented the diverse ethnic riding in downtown Toronto since 1955.
The voters in St. A & P changed all that on Sept. 10 though, when they sent a new Jewish MPP to represent their interests at Queen's Park.
For political veteran Larry Grossman, there are no regrets. In the past 12 year's he has served in a number of ministerial portfolios under former Premier William Davis, has seen a multitude of laws passed by the Conservative Party, and has fought two leadership conventions.
Despite his party's performance in the September massacre which saw the Conservatives reduced to third party status, Grossman expressed no regrets about how he handled the campaign.
During a recent interview with The Canadian Jewish News, the outgoing Tory leader — appearing more relaxed then he has in pa.sf di.scus-sions with this newspaper — said his party made a decisiori to fight a campaign based oh issues and his only regret is that some of those issues like free trade and education didn't get the ■"thoughtful analysis and dialogue" they deserved.
Pointing specifically to the free trade question, Grossman said he doesn't regret the stand he took in light of the actual agreement worked out between Canada and the US- While admitting it is not perfect, he said the important issue is whether Canada can afford to have no deal at all.
"Ithjnk that would be catastrophic." he said, "When you assess the deal you find there is an improvement in the dispute resolution mechanism and far greater access to the American market. I believe the auto pact is safer as a result of having a trade agreement because the Americans are less likely to give unilateral notice which they can now give under the auto pact.
"One never knows for sure, but I believe that if we continued without a free trade agreement, we would be going back to Washington, as we did on softwood lumber and shakes and shingles begging forgiveness and leniency. That is not the way to go. We can compete."
Despite Fmishing with only 16 seats, Grossman said his party managed to move from 17% to 24% in the opinion polls during the election campaign, which he called "a good accomplishment.
"I think the public felt ^ I don't agree with them — that the government had changed in 1985 and that the following two years were very good," Grossman said, "There was no crisis around in Ontario, things were going relatively well and therefore they Were willing to give this relatively new group of people (the Liberals) an opportunity to have a full four years with a gooid majority. I respect that decision and hope they were right from the standpoint of the province."
What Grossman doesn't believe contributed to his defeat was his religion.
"I suppose! can't suggest that religion is absolutely no factor, but if yoii ask me if it affected the overall results, the answer is no. 1 don't think it got people elected or defeated.
"I would like to believe that people vote blind to color or race or religion, but we would be fooling ourselves if we thought that were always the .case."-"';;" ■
With his own personal political defeat behind him, Grossman now moves from the po-litkal spotlight to begin his third career (he was called to the bar in 1969 and practiced until 1975) in the business world as a senior vice-president and director responsible for invest-mient banking at Richardson Greenshields of Canada Ltd.
Grossman's political career began back in 1975 when he won his father's seat by 429 votes. Shortly after coming to Queen' s Park, he found himself battling.his own government to save Doctors Hospital in Toronto;
In 1976 he was appointed parliamentary assistant to the attorney-general and in 1977 he was appointed to the cabinet as minister of consumer and comnriercial relations. In that portfolio he rewrote Oritario's securities legislation, redesigned Ontario's condominium legislation and raised the drinking age to 19 from 18.
In 1978 Grossman was appointed minister of industry and tourism, where he again left his own personal mark. There he took a lead role in es-tiablishing Ontario's six technology centres and initiated the "Yours to Discover" canqjaign to boost the province's tourism industry. The slo-^ gan is still used on licence plates. ."^
In 1982 Grpssman was appointed minister of health aridili^ ihflijence on Ontario's health care industry was widespread. He intfjoduced improved care foi the elderly, compulsory iih^ munization for chiidren and Ontario's first paramedic program. ;
Outgoing Ontario PC leader Liarry Grossman.
The following year Grossman was appointed treasurer of Ontario and Iriinister of economics.
After losing out to Frank Miller by 77 votes in the January 1985 leadership campaign, Grossman served briefly as education minister under former Premier Miller before the provincial election which saw the Liberals come to power after signing an accord with the NDP. After Miller stepped down, Grossman took another stab at the party's leadership and defeated Dennis Timbrell by 19 votes. ,
Throughout it all, Grossman said he managed to put his family ahead of his political life, take his children to hockey rinks and enjoy Blue Jay games from section 13 at Exhibition Stadium, like "any other normal person."
"I always said that I didn't want to be one of those politicians who, when he leaves political life after losing an election says to the media, 'well now I'll be able to get to know my wife and children.Mf you have to say that you shouldn't have got into it in the first place."
Grossman said it feels very good to be back on the outside of the political wodd and he believes he learned a lot about government in the past 12 years.
"I've learned that governments tend to overestimate the impact of those things they do and tend to underestimate the public." he said. "I
have learned that the things you accomplish are often those that draw the least publicity or attention. I've learned that governments, of all political stripes, end up inadvertently dealing with the broad brush policies which impact the people in the broad middle and often miss the very people the policies were set up to help."
Personally, Grossman said he is now enjoying the reduced amount of pressure and increased privacy, pointing out that" 12 years at any job. is a fairly long time, particularly one that has the characteristics of a political life.
"I can also look back and feel quite a sense of accomplishrnent and ftilfilment. It doesn't matter to me very much whether that will be remembered or even remembered at all by others."
And if he is to be remembered?
"I would like to be remembered as a hardworking compassionate minister. I loved the ministries I had arid tried to use every minute I had."
Grossman said that of all the portfolios he headed, he enjoyed health the most because there were more complex issues that needed to be addressed. Among them was the advances made in the field of mental health.
"In all my time in political life, the one thing I carry on my desk is the, award I got from the
Canadian Mental Health Association," Grossman said in discussing his greatest political accomplishment.
Looking at the flip side, Grossman said his greatest disappointment was the loss of good caucus members in the last election campaign. Although not surprised by the extent of the loss, he said he was disappointed by the loss of such "great talent."
While his party is down, Grossman said it .should not panic because "the political tide will come back." He said the party should how concentrate on fund raising and decide on a new system to choose its next leader.
Grossman .said he favors the Parti Quebecois model with every member of the party having a direct vote. If the party rejects that option, Grossman said if'should throw the membership open so new members can be recruited;.
"We did not do that in either of our two leadership conventions in 1985 and, as spme-one who both won and lost under the old closed system, 1 think I can approach it fairly objectively. Upon reflection, the party was not .served well by it."
(At the recent PC Ontario '' renewal conference" in Toronto a majorityof speakers backed having a party-wide vote or universal suffrage at leadership conventions, as opposed to naming delegates from each riding.)
Looking at his participation in the two leadership conventions, Grossman said that when he was starting out in politics, both he and his father wouldn't have believed it possible that he could have made it to the top of the party's ranks.
"I was in the second last seat in the last row," Grossman recalled. "Given our beginnings and ' background I wouldn't have believed I could have gotten as far as I did. There were only 51 Conservative MPPs when I was first elected^ but of the 511 was the 51st member and there was no question about that.
"Even as late as 1983 when we began seriously to try to arrange things, it was still a longshot and in the (first) convention everyone had me consigned to third and fourth place, but we almost won." '
Grossman said his own political involvement may have encouraged others in the Jewish community to become involved in polities.
PARIS (JTA) -
The United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has paid a singular tribute to the Yiddish language and culture at its 24th biennial session, held here recently.
The traditionally anti-Israel worid body also elected Israel to two important committees — for the first time in the organization's stprmy history — and deferred two virtually anti-Israel resolutions that had been introduced by the Arab states.
The resolution on Yiddish called for the preservation of the language and its cultural heritage, and asked the director-general to tap extra-budgetary sources for the project. The resolution was formally submitted by West Germany, Holland, Luxembourg and Israel, and was supported by Poland and other Eastern bloc countries.
It was prepared and drafted by Sam Hof-fenberg, the permanent representative of B'nai B'rith to UNESCO, where B'nai B'rith has the status of a non-governmental organization.
The resolution cites the "outstanding role arid the great and unique value of the Yiddish language and culture, which constitute a cultural heritage that js threatened with oblivion after be- • ing doomed to annihilation."
Specifically, the director-general was asked to "encourage the translation of (Yiddish) masterpieces of literature and poetry, especially from the period of the Shoah (Holocaust), to encourage
and subsidize the publication of a dictionary of the Yiddish language, a language fom'ierly spoken by 10 million men and women, and to organize a meeting of experts to put forward sug-
gestions regarding the conservation and spread of the'linguistic and literary heritage and to contribute to the training of (Yiddish) experts/'
Delegates and UNESCO officials stressed that the.se developments were not linked to the upcoming change of leadership. Federico Mayor Zaragoza of Spain has been elected director-general, succeeding Mukhtar Amadou M'Bow of Senegal, whose administration was characterized by strong anti-Israel and anti-Western bias.
Zaragoza will not take office until the end of the current session. Biit there was clearly a change of climate here. The Arab delegates opposed the resolution on Yiddish and prevented Hoffenberg of B'nai B'rith from introducing it at the plenum. West Germany did the honors; joined later by 65 delegations from Western and Eastern Europe and Israel.
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i ,:■ ^ By
I ;.■ • ELAINE KAHN ..,
e Only my hiisband says my name in a
= way that makes it completely palatable to
S me. But that's probably not a fair test —
e he can also make fried bean curd sound
= like something I'd want to eat.
5 I \yas in my teens before "Elaine" and
= I stopped bickering and learned to 1 ive
S reasonably well together. "Elaine," with
= two long sharp vowels, sounded harsh and
e. mean-spirited to ine, could not be pro-
e nounced without seeming to imply I'd just
e ddne something wrong. Laura, Jacqueline,
= Beth'— now those were names to conjure
= with. Surely kindly people with chocolate-
= filled pockets would flock to girls whose
S names were lush and soft like those.
S Elaine was never in a song or movie or
e TV show. It means "bright-light" or
e "brilliant." Had it turned out to mean
I "sloth-faced" or "she of the big ears,"
= I would have changed it iinmediately to
e Sherry, which had a song, or Scarlett.
e which had a movie, or Tammy, which had
= :. _ both. ■ . :
e My name is linkeH to Helen of Troy It
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was first used in English by Tennyson for his fair mad lily maid of Astolat. A romantic pedigree that could explain both my early love of Greek myths and my penchant for floating down the Oshawa creek in a canoe pretending to be dead. .
I do have a middle name — it's . . . Have you ever noticed how many people ' are ashamed of their middle names? I once asked a man for almost a year before he'd reveal that secret to me, and then only through an elaborate game of word play involving split infinitives, dangling participles — really, this is not the forum to ,.;, discuss it. .-;
My middle name is Brenda. My mother said she picked it as an also ran — with her first choice, Eva, my initials would have been "EEK." Thanks, Mom, but I could have toughed it out. Most people will concede that oldfashioned "Eva," while no Brandy, Kryst|e or Ashley, is pretty. When they hear "Brendsv" they grin goofy.
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mine civilization — or that I get kick- e.
backs from calligraphers, considering =
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my husband's on invitation envelopes =
and place cards. S
Friends and relatives slink to me in acute S
embarrassment after deciding to take their S
future husbands' names, fearing my wed- e
ding gift win be a lifetime supply of cot- S
ton "Barefoot in the Kitchen" tea towels: e
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up something that is yours by right ever =
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; smile on someone, they go ear to ear. That S
niakes me a ■'bright old barge'' which, I'm S
told, passes for .something like "not a bad =
old goal" when bandied about the beer hall S
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