The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday^ February 26,1981 -Page 7
increase
By SHELDON KIRSHNER ' ada's most powerful urban
. politicians, doesn't mind, TORONTO— as he lifts the receiver to
The/telephone never take yet another call, seemsto stop ringing; But A visitor to his office Paul Godfrey, one ofjCan- finds it practically impos-
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towns
ByMOURAWOLPERT
HAMILTON —
An enthusiastic booster of Western Canada and its small, scattered Jewish communities in outlying areas is Col. Arie Lewin, the new Keren Hayesod emissary to the Ontario Region United Israel Appeal , who recently came to Toronto from Calgary (o replace Lt.-Col. Yona Gazit, who will now serve as ernissar)' to both Eastern and Western regions.
In Hamilton recently to attend the UJA women's division 1981 campaign opening ioncheon, Lewin told how he introdaced the Jews of places such as Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton in the interior of British Columbia to each other and organized them into a UlA region.
Told by Keren Hayesod headquarters to contact a donor in Kamloops, B.C., who had regularly contributed $1,000 to the United Israel Appeal ''and to make him chairman of the campaign," Lewin was astonished to hear the voice of a very old lady answer the photic when he called.
Her husband had died two years before, she explained, and they were not Jews. However, for hiiany years he was a staunch
supporter ofihe State of .3dyi5or ,0 Kenvart presi-israel, and had left in- ^entJomo Kenvatta. structions m his will for the continuation of the annual SI .000 donation!
She was able to put Lewin in touch with a Jewish family, who in turn introduced him to another Jewish family. And so it continued through several. • small towns until he was able to bring together some 30 to 40 families for the first Jewish function ever to be held in the area.
Lewin even managed to coa.x a rabbi out of retirement, who will serve the newly formed community during the High Holy Days at their new centre in Kelowna.
As public relations officer and former director of ' the Tel Aviv ^office, of Keren Hayesod for 10 years, Lewin made.several trips to Canada before coming here as. emissary to the western region in. 1979. He also looked after individual guests, from about 70 countries, among them many Canadians, and often shepherded visiting Canadianson special tours.
"I was one of the original Youth Aliyah kids,'-' says Berlin-born Lewin, who was a 14-year old schoolboy when he. was
' 1 \ '^^f-
' Col. Arie Lewin
sent to Palestine in 1938.
two years later, his« parents were among the few lucky survivors of the Patria explosion in Haifa harbor. TTiey were subsequently held in a British detention camp for nine months before being allowed to remain in the country. .
Lewin, an only child, had meanwhile joined a kibbutz and the Hagahah. In 1941 he volunteered for service in the British army.
In 1947. he joined the Israeli Defence Forces, retiring in 1969 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In the early 60s,-he spent three years in Africa with the Israeli Military Aid Mission in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, serving, among other things, as the first Israelii
Upon his return to lis-rael, Lewin became direc-. tor of foreign liaison, and served as chief military censor for press, radio and TV before joining Keren Hayesodin 1969.
sible to talk to the chairman -of the Metropolitan Toronto Council without being interrupted by an endless stream of calls from fellow politicians, city administrators or citizens.
The phone is Godfrey's lifeline to a humming municipal federation covering 244 square miles and. serving approximately 2.3 million people. One minute he's talking to Roy McMurtry, the provincial attorney-general; the next, he's discussing garbage disposal with a Metro commissioner.
Godfrey, a onetime chemical engineer who has been described as a "politicians' poUaciaii," was recently elected to his fourth term by a 34 to 5 vote, tightening his grip on an administration that provides m^jor services such as public transport, policing, welfare and water supply.
If Godfrey's political career is synonymous with success, it is because h6 tries so hard and avoids losing battles.
A cautious operator, Godfrey doesn't let aiiy-thing happen by accident. He attends as many committee meetings as possible, laziness not being part of his style, and-his commissioners don't do anything controversial or dramatic unless they let him know well in advance.
It's said that he can swing majority support behind virtually any position he takes at Metro council, composed of 39 members representing Toronto, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, York and East York.
Asked to assess the accuracy of that observation, Godfrey, 42, says: "It's a bit ofanexaggeration."
His power, he explains, is limited. He doesn't table issues which won't pass the council's gauntlet. "IdonU try to nun into the eye of the storm. This is a siUy approach. I try to stay away from things that'll obviously be rejected. I attempt to read
[Ben Lechtman photo] Paul Godfrey, Metro Toronto chairman.
council properly to gauge what members' priorities are."
It is this talent which probably accounts for Godfrey's longevity,' his eight-year occupancy of a post that has been held since 1953 by such men as Fred Gardiner, Bill Allen and Ab Campbell.
Godfrey, a former North York alderman, succeeded the ailing Campbell in July of 1973 when he was jiist' 34. Before becombig involved in politics on an active basis, he was a packaging salesman for CIL. But politics had always been in his blood, thanks to his mother Bess, a worker in the Progressive Conservative Party.
Bess Godfrey, her son says with sonie pride, is still in politics. For the-March 19 Ontario election.
she's returning officer in the constituency of Wilson Heights. Godfrey's father, Phil> is a retired clerk.
In eight years as Metro chairman, Godfrey has probably fulfilled many of his mother's dreams for herspn.
Metro's reputation as a clean, well-run municipal federation has coincided with Godfrey's teniire. Almost everyone who cares says the system of government he has molded is more open than in the past."I've attempted, over the years, to involve members of council in the administration, to a greater degree, than was the case in previous years." . Godfrey, observers say, is something of a straight arrow. "He is predictable and reliable and you ai: ways know exactly where
he stands," remarks John Kruger, Metro's chief administrative officer.
If accountability is Godfrey's malnjBchievement, his~budget system — which permits the-closest scruthiy-—^is next in line.
But Godfrey is also credited with expandhig Metro's green spaces and its subway, setting up more day cares, bringing a soon - to-be - completed convention centre to Toronto, building: senior citizen apartments and establishing a good rapport with fund-disbursing federal .and provincial governments. . . *
Undoubtedly, God-; frey's impeccable credentials as a Conservative have helped in PC-domin' ated Queen's Park. Yet his true-blue Tory predilections have not prevented him from disagreeing with William Davis, the premier, on such matters as the Toronto Islands and the future of the Spadina Expressway;
Most important of all, perhaps. Godfrey has not won his fight with the two other levels of government on the principle of tax sharing. If Metro is unable to increase its $800 million budget considerably, taxes will rise with inflation, he warns.
"We're $100 million short on an annual basis,'' he says, sitting back on his leather armchair, gazing momentarily out the window to a view of a sicating rink, the lower floors of the Sheraton Centre and a distinctive Henry Moore sculpture.
The funds, he says, are needed to upgrade various services so that Metro remains, a model North American city —"a liveable place," as he puts it.
As well, Godfrey wants to lure new head offices.
businesses and industry hereto create badly needed jobs, and hopes to convince Ottawa that it should build a multi-miliiori dollar CBC headquarters on~a site near the GN Tower.
The father of threechil-, dren, Godfrey works a long day of some 15 hours. His wife, Gina, has to piit up with his grinding routine, "Shie'shadtobea mother arid a.father to Our children," he says. With an obvibUs note of regret in his voice, he admits he's missing the fun of watching them develop.
The Godfreys live in-a . detached North York house with a swimming, pool, and he commutes to work each day in a chauffeur-driven sedan supplied by Metro.
A Temple Sinai congregant, Godfrey is an ardent sports buff, baseball being bis favorite game. In fact, he had fhund in bringing major league baseball to Toronto. On occasion, during holidays, he and his wife visit the Blue Jays in spring training in Florida^
In reply to a question j Gbdfirey says he doesn't know how much longer he'U carry on as Metro chairman. If he steps down, he confides, he may go Into business.
Certainly, he has no in-teiition of entering provincial or federal politics, "A' cabinet:position, although challenging, doesn't have the challenge of this job," he asserts.
How would he like to be remembered after he leaves bis second-floor office at City Hall?
"I'd like them to say he served Metro in a fair manner, and brought strong, decisive leadership in changing times." '
It's'an epitaph any politician worth his salt dreams of.
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