Advisor To Carlyle Group To Serve As Canadian Ambassador To The US
Posted on Friday, January 07 at 20:57 by gina
Another senior U.S. official said the Canadian government informed the Bush administration before Christmas that Mr. McKenna will be the next ambassador to Washington, D.C.
Mr. McKenna, 56, is out of the country and unavailable for interviews until his return next week and his executive assistant would only say he is considering the offer.
"Yes, he has been offered the job. Yes, he is considering it," said Ruth McCrea, who works with Mr. McKenna at his Moncton law office, McInnes Cooper.
Friends in New Brunswick said they have been told he has accepted the four- to five-year posting as ambassador.
Prime Minister Paul Martin praised his friend and political ally during a Montreal news conference yesterday.
"Frank McKenna is a Canadian who has great qualities and if he decides that he wants to serve his country, then I'm sure that we would all benefit from it," said Mr. Martin.
The prime minister has spoken repeatedly of his desire to strengthen Canada's tattered relationship with its closest neighbour and largest trading partner and of the need to appoint more politicians to key diplomatic posts.
Traditionally, such a position as this would go to a career diplomat like Michael Kergin, who is the current envoy to Washington.
But Mr. Martin believes the skills of a politician would better serve Canada when it comes to resolving contentious issues between countries. Mr. McKenna would be the first former politician to head the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Mr. McKenna is on the advisory board of the powerful Carlyle Group, a private, $18.9-billion equity firm that boasts some of Washington's most influential players, including former U.S. treasury secretary James Baker, former U.S. defence secretary Frank Carlucci, and former British prime minister John Major.
Former president George Bush Sr. has worked for the Carlyle Group and is a friend of Mr. McKenna. The two have golfed together and this friendship will undoubtedly help open doors to the White House. His friendship with Mr. Baker, who is considered the ultimate Washington insider, will also pay huge dividends for Mr. McKenna on Capitol Hill in reaching the top ranks of government departments.
Donald Savoie, a close friend of Mr. McKenna and a professor at the University of Moncton, said the former premier would bring a "can-do attitude" to the critical but sensitive arena of Canada-U.S. relations.
"He inspired New Brunswickers with his can-do attitude, the belief that you can do anything you want to," Mr. Savoie said.
"He would go to Washington with a burst of energy and commitment that would take the U.S. capital by storm."
Mr. McKenna currently holds seats on nine corporate boards, including chairman at CanWest Global Communications Corp., which owns the Citizen and several major newspapers across the country.
He is expected to have to resign those posts upon formally accepting the job.
Mr. McKenna was New Brunswick premier for a decade from 1987 to 1997 and seriously considered taking a run at the federal Liberal leadership in 2003 before deciding to endorse Mr. Martin. He also considered running in the last election and was touted as a possible cabinet minister, but decided against that, too, when the Liberal incumbents in the New Brunswick seats he was interested in declined to make way for him.
Former foreign affairs minister John Manley, who ran against Mr. Martin for the Liberal leadership, was first offered the ambassadorship last year, but he turned it down and took a job at a law practice in Ottawa. Mr. Manley is expected to seek the Liberal leadership in the future.
Our New Man in Washington
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
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It's not like any other party has a chance of getting elected anyhow, but it would be nice to think it possible. It's unlikely when there is at least $50 Billion in the annual budget that appears discretionary to the recipients - in that the recipients think their economic well being is tied directly to the Liberal party, that buys a huge bloc of pro-Liberal, anti anything else voters.
As far as the 'political divide' between the two central parties goes, we have the conservatives who want to cozy up to america, and liberals who want to cozy up to america while assauging canadians that we aren't. Paul Martin is a businessman, Stephen Harper is an academic.
As somebody who grew up under Mckenna's iron fisted rule in New Brunswick I can tell you that he is as much a corporate goon as is Martin. Remember, if you will, that he got media attention while trying to steal industries to other provinces by providing even more taxpayer subsidies. I don't want to suggest that this was all bad, he also, I believe, initiated the first home based medical care in canada which was killed by bureaucrats because it was too successful (but you should research that). Also, since New Brunswick is pretty much owned by the Irving Family, he was serving his constituency by trying to at least mix up the corporate lobby in town. While that's not a good thing in itself, it was certainly representing New Brunswickers, a province which a united nations research group stated as the 58th best place to live in Canada/continental US out of 60.
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RickW
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Dave Ruston
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The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter --
Winston Churchill
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Dave Ruston
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Now THAT'S a good one.
The business at hand is control of the world's resources in the hands of a (very, very) few. Oh......that's "capitalism" isn't it?
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RickW
Frank McKenna as Canada's new ambassador to Washington. There is little doubt that Mr. McKenna's ultra-conservative views and corporate connections will play well with the Bush administration. That's why he was chosen. But that is a very poor way to pick an ambassador. I am surprised that the many capable professionals in our diplomatic corps are not insulted by it. Beyond that, the more I learn about the appointment, the more it seems to have the "buddy-buddy" smell of an old boys network on the job. I had hoped that Canada had moved beyond all that. After all, it was Mr. Martin who vowed before the election to change the way politics was done in Canada. This is NOT the kind of change we need, thank you sir!
More and more of us are becoming increasingly alarmed (and increasingly angry) that, behind a facade of lies, "neo-cons" keep attacking our social programs, suppressing wages thus creating widespread poverty, stealing our pensions and allowing our public infrastructure to decay and crumble, while facilitating the greatest transfer of national wealth in the country's history to a selfish, uncaring and abusive few.
Mr. McKenna's appointment represents this kind of thinking to many Canadians. They do not believe he will in any way protect their interests while in the American capital, and fear he may do the opposite. I hope the NDP or someone at least a little responsible will force a parliamentary review of Mr. McKenna's diplomatic credentials before he takes the posting, and I beg of the Prime Minister to consider another choice.