Thread by @FlavioVolpe1

In a week where we hosted @JustinTrudeau I reflected yesterday that I’ve met 8 Canadian Prime Ministers in my life.

Putting aside those I met & simply greeted, here’s some Sunday morning reflections & anecdotes for #cdnpoli on the others.

Here goes /1

My father was a rookie opposition MP in Brian Mulroney’s second term. My grandfather, his father, passed away suddenly in 1989, the following year.

As we gathered at my Nonno’s house that day, a 13 yr old me answered the kitchen telephone. “Hello”, said the baritone caller /2

‘Hello’ I responded. “Who is this?” ‘Flavio’. “Flavio, its Brian Mulroney calling. Can I speak to Joe”.

I retrieved my father from the living room & told him there was a call for him. I can still picture him on the phone, 5 min at least, tears in his eyes.

He thanked him /3

And went back silently to his grieving mother’s side.

I remember being in silent awe through my grief. My father never spoke again of that call to me.

In 2018, I spoke to Mr. Mulroney backstage again at a speech in Toronto & told him how thoughtful I thought that was of him /4

“Say Hi to Joe please, he was one of the good ones” he responded.

John Turner, the 22nd PM is a friend of mine. I like him a lot & from time to time I’ve had occasion to dine with him & @KealeyMarc.

Mr. Turner is the greatest story teller I have ever met & one day over gin /5

He told me about about saving Prime Minister John Diefenbaker from drowning in the rip tide in Barbados.

It was 1965 & he was there vacationing when he saw a man struggling. He was a former Canadian sprint champ & strong athlete & he said “I went out to save that poor bugger” /6

“Only to realize I was towing John Diefenbaker back to the shore.” He said they never spoke about it again. Amazing.

As a lawyer working for Canada to negotiate compensation from Cuba in 1961 (?) for Canadian property expropriated during Castro’s revolution, he told me that /7

He walked into the hotel bar in Havana & stumbled on to the legendary 20th century author Ernest Hemingway.

“I ran back to the hotel library and grabbed its copy of The Old Man & The Sea & ran back to get Hemingway to sign it.”

Imagine that story, & how wide eyed in made me /8

Paul Martin was my father’s boss & I met him many times over the years on their rise to power. He is as decent a human being as he comes across on camera. Maybe more.

During the 2006 Liberal leadership campaign, which was not going well for my father, I asked to see him /9

“About what?” he asked after his assistant put me through to him. ‘Life’. “Come on up to Ottawa”, was the reply & I did.

He gave me an hour of his time as we talked about the harshness of politics, the promise of hope & the shared experience of being sons of politicians /10

I asked him not to share with my father that I had been to see him. We sat in his Centre Block office as my father sat in Question Period.

I had come to ask him to weigh in & reestablish decorum in the harsh race. As we spoke I noticed a Wilfred Laurier painting behind him /11

I was a political aspirant in those days & I reflected that ‘perhaps one day I’ll be in his spot’ as his painting hung behind me while I spoke to someone else’s son about life.

He responded calmly “Flavio, go build a career and make some money before you enter public life.” /12

I never forgot that advice.

Or how he walked into caucus that day & spoke the words that reminded them that they would all have to work together when the race was done.

I told my mother about it, not my dad. I think she shared it with him before she passed away. We’ll see /13

I have a funny personal space with Stephen Harper. I met him during the controversial election of 2011 when election tactics were front & centre in my home riding.

I had filed the first formal complaint to Elections Canada about robocalls in the middle of the campaign /14

When I unexpectedly came face to face with his campaign bus & the candidate they were running against my father at my children’s daycare.

With cameras in tow, his handlers chose to bring him right to me, to shake my hand as they campaigned to unseat my father. I refused /15

I knew in the moment I should have been bigger than I was. It was a chess move & I flipped the board rather than play the master. I regret that moment today.

In 2015 as we negotiated the TPP his office called & asked if we could set up a meeting with him & @APMACanada /16

We set up a meeting with companies in Windsor. I led the conversation on our side & he indisputably led theirs.

I was struck by how deeply he understood the issues & how carefully he balanced the public interest with ours.

As I sat there, I thought about having snubbed him / 17

He called me over at the end & said “let’s take a picture together, just you & I.” It was a warm gesture, at least as warm as a man of his personality demonstrates in public.

We chatted lightly & met again the next day at an event where I spoke before him, lauding his /18

Government’s unprecedented support of the sector when it was in most need. Lisa Raitt was there, & I think I surprised her with the (deserved) credit I gave them.

Soon after I returned to Toronto, that picture showed up with a personal note from him. It hangs in my office /19

As a testament to the folly of being a partisan & how much better off we all are when we can speak to & shake hands with those we disagree with.

My relationship with Justin Trudeau is playing out in public & I have not been shy to criticize the government when I need to /20

And praise it when it’s earned. I will leave it to the future me to share my anecdotes with the current PM but I’ll say this now.

Mr. Trudeau is an imminently decent human being in person.

We want our leaders to have many attributes, but in 2020 I’m glad Canada has this. /end