Inside the machine

This province’s former representative in Ottawa says it’s imperative the government keep the Ottawa office open and properly staffed.

“It’s absolutely essential that Newfoundland and Labrador have an office there and that it be manned, or womaned, by a person who’s willing ... to move around, network and talk to people behind closed doors ... and get the province’s position (on issues) across,” Bill Rowe said in an interview with The Telegram Friday.

Rowe’s new book, “Danny Williams, The War with Ottawa: The Inside Story by a Hired Gun,” is due to be launched Thursday evening at the Fluvarium in St. John’s at 7 p.m.

It’s a tell-all account of Williams’ feud with the government of former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin and between the men themselves.

In fact, Rowe says the two came very close to a fistfight over the Atlantic Accord and what Williams contended was Martin’s broken election promise.

Rowe, probably best known today as the host of VOCM’s afternoon call-in show, has worn a lot of hats over the years, including being a former provincial cabinet minister and Liberal leader, lawyer, author and, of course, the person Williams handpicked to open the province’s office in Ottawa during the struggle to get a new Atlantic Accord.

The book follows Rowe for about a year and a half, from a meeting with Williams before he won the 2003 provincial election until Rowe resigned his post as Newfoundland and Labrador’s man on the ground in the nation’s capital.

It’s largely based on the personal journal he kept throughout that turbulent time.

“I observed the details of what was going on, the characters involved, the big egos that were bumping up against each other, the humourous incidents ... and when I looked at it after it was all over I said to myself, the public of Newfoundland and Labrador — and Canada, for that matter — deserves to know in ... some detail exactly what transpired during that period of time,” Rowe said.

Some of the funny bits are tragically humorous, especially when it comes to John Efford, then a Liberal federal cabinet minister from Newfoundland.

Rowe said he tried to be as objective as possible in the book, painting a “warts and all,” picture — an honest recollection about how the wheels of power turn and how those wheels are greased.

The book is best described as a political yarn.

It’s as much about the glacial speed at which governments operate — driven by the bureaucracy — the wily manoeuvring of officials, hardnosed negotiations and the Ottawa rumour mill, which Rowe seems to find grinding in every corner of the city.

In defence of the Ottawa office and its approximate annual price tag of $400,000, Rowe looks to Quebec, which has had an office in Ottawa since 1908.

Rowe said Quebec has found a way to get “millions and millions” of extra cash out of the federal government because of its office and the way it’s run.

He said the Quebec office has eight to 10 staff, moving and shaking all over the national capital.

And, he said, after this province won its new Atlantic Accord, Nova Scotia opened an Ottawa office as well.

But Rowe contends the person running the office must be somewhat independent and directly answerable to the premier, and not just a cog in the bureaucratic wheel.

When it comes to the bureaucracy, Rowe has a lot to say, both in the book and in his interview with The Telegram.

He said he was sickened by the ingrained “(culture of) malaise that permeates” governments.

“The apathy, and sometimes incompetence and indifference and the foot dragging and the digging in of heels and the push-back of the provincial bureaucracy ... that was part of the challenge (of setting up the Ottawa office),” he said.

He also describes the city of Ottawa — and the civil servants who inhabit it — as cold and arrogant, especially towards the “boonies” on the fringes of the country.

“The apathy, and sometimes incompetence and indifference and the foot dragging and the digging in of heels and the push-back of the provincial bureaucracy ... that was part of the challenge (of setting up the Ottawa office).” - Bill Rowe

“All of that was necessary to put in context, to show exactly what the challenge was (in) the battle facing the fledgling new government of (Williams),” Rowe said.

He also describes the civil servants in Ottawa as living in a “stress-free zone,” since they seem both insulated and isolated from what’s going on in various regions of the country beyond Ontario and Quebec.

Rowe takes shots at a number of prominent politicians and their staff, describing them as being dishonest and two-faced and accusing them of tooting their own non-existent horns, while also crediting others with quietly moving along the process of getting a new accord through hushed conversations and, at times, shameless schmoozing with the right people.

The book also reveals the importance of saving political face, and the partisan loyalty and nasty jabs that colleagues and underlings seem to whisper — both freely and off the record — to other movers and shakers in political circles.

Efford probably gets the worse of it.

“He was seriously befuddled,” said Rowe.

“His ego got in the way. He persuaded the prime minister (Martin) that he could handle Danny Williams on it, and persuade the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that the federal offer was the good one.”

He said others believe Efford was “hung out to dry” by the Prime Minister’s Office, and used as a trial balloon to see what Ottawa could get away with during negotiations.

Rowe feels the whole affair cut Efford’s political career short.

Rowe credits then Conservative MPs Loyola Hearn (then a cabinet minister) and Norm Doyle with helping to keep the accord front and centre during debates in the House of Commons.

But in the book, Rowe says he came to distrust Hearn, who he felt was speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

Rowe has several positive things to say about Liberal MP Gerry Byrne, including that he worked quietly and tirelessly to bring the province and Ottawa together, and did so knowing he could face a backlash from Martin, his boss.

Rowe credits several provincial figures as well, most notably Brian Crawley, Williams’ chief of staff.

He also pays political respect to Quebec Premier Jean Charest and said Williams is up against another political behemoth in his new battle with that province over the proposed Lower Churchill project.

“Charest, I think, is one of the cutest, cleverest and most cunning, wiliest politicians in Canada today ... in the way he manipulated the Ottawa government to Quebec’s advantage,” Rowe said.

He says he could care less about how the people in his book feel about his depictions of them.

“I intended to be brutally honest, brutally frank, brutally forthright in my analysis of what happened,” he said.

Rowe said he shows people as being human — real people with real flaws.

He also provides insight into Williams, both as a politician and as a man.

He contends the two were never friends — before, during or after the time period depicted in his book.

After he left the Ottawa office, Rowe said the relationship between he and the premier ended, full stop.

He said Williams has snubbed him publicly since — not that he minds.

At times in the book he paints a less-than-flattering picture of Williams and his hardnosed attitude and unpredictable style.

But he ends his book saying Williams will take his place in history as the province’s greatest premier.

dbartlett@thetelegram.com