Keeble McFarlane

THIS month has brought some refreshing news to Caribbean people -- especially Jamaicans -- who have taken up residence in the Great White North, as Canada is sometimes known. The Ontario Legislature has 103 members, and in an election two weeks ago, the Liberal Party came back after being out of power for more than a dozen years with a convincing majority -- 72 seats. Among that number are two prominent Jamaicans. One is an old hand, Alvin Curling, who easily regained his seat after 18 years in the legislature. The other is a newcomer, Mary Anne Chambers, a retired banker making her debut in politics. Both are being touted as possible cabinet members or for some other high-profile post in the new government, which is in the throes of organising itself and won't be sworn in for a couple more weeks.

In the last Liberal government, Curling was minister of housing, minister of skills development and parliamentary secretary to the premier, David Peterson. At that time, the Liberals called an election well ahead of when they needed to, expecting to capitalise on very favourable poll numbers. Instead, they went down at the hands of the leftist New Democratic Party.

During those Opposition years, Curling continued his activism from the Opposition benches and, on one occasion, conducted a one-man filibuster in the Legislature. The Conservatives, led by a right-wing slash-and-burn advocate called Mike Harris, had brought in a huge omnibus bill, lumping together all kinds of unpalatable amendments in one resolution. Curling delayed passage by 18 hours by the simple expedient of refusing to vote or to leave the Legislative chamber. That meant that the house could not adjourn. He later told me the most difficult thing about the whole episode was the growing pressure on his bladder and the possibility that he would have been forced to end the sit-in before the house leaders huddled together and worked out a compromise.

Curling started his career as an educational administrator in the early 1970s -- he was director of student services at Seneca College -- one of the string of community colleges across the province which concentrate on hands-on training and the teaching of skills, rather than on strictly academic learning. He was also active in the community, serving with organisations such as the Jamaican-Canadian Association and the Council of Jamaicans in Ontario. When he won his seat for the first time, in 1985, Curling had the highest vote total -- 30,000 -- for that election, and was the first Liberal ever to take Scarborough North, in the eastern Toronto suburb of Scarborough.

At Queen's Park, a lovely, old red sandstone building in Toronto where the legislature meets -- pundits are mentioning Curling for another cabinet seat, or perhaps Speaker of the legislature. They are also touting the newcomer, Mary Anne Chambers, as a possible junior minister, but none of this is a certainty, since the party leader, Dalton McGuinty, a lawyer representing a constituency in the city of Ottawa, has much material from which to choose.

Chambers came into politics just recently, hand-picked by McGuinty for the riding of Scarborough East which, co-incidentally, is next-door to Curling's. (Ridings, by the way, are what constituencies are called in Canada.)

Chambers took on a prominent Conservative who had represented the area for eight years. She said she knew she was coming from behind, but threw herself into campaigning with characteristic vigour. She knocked on almost every door in the riding, meeting thousands of people on their doorsteps as well as in public rallies. Chambers came to Canada in 1976 with her husband, Chris, and two young sons, and joined the bank of Nova Scotia as a computer programmer and analyst. She enrolled at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus, near her home, and completed a degree in commerce in 1988. She rose rapidly at the Scotiabank, and when she retired last December, it was as a senior vice-president.

Chambers was known in the community, having served on the board of the Rouge Valley Health System, which runs hospitals in Scarborough and the adjoining region of Durham. She had also been active with the United Way, a big fund-raising umbrella group which finances organisations in community services, and had been a governor of the University of Toronto. Chambers also presided over the Canadian Club, a grouping of high-profile business figures in Toronto, and was a director of Grace, Kennedy and Grace Foods.

Chambers and Curling were the successful Jamaicans in this campaign, but there were several others, who ran for the New Democratic Party without much success. A number of Indians and Chinese who ran for the Liberals were successful, bringing the representation of visible minorities in the legislature to its highest level so far.

There was a definite appetite for change in this last campaign arising out of a palpable distaste for the mingy-minded slashing of government services, tax cuts favouring the wealthy and divisive policies of the Conservatives. This was a government that laid off staff responsible for monitoring health standards. It hadn't recovered from a situation three years ago in which seven people died when a well supplying water to a small community in southern Ontario became contaminated by a deadly strain of e-coli bacteria. Other incidents of disdain for tradition, such as presenting the annual budget at a car-parts plant instead of in the Legislature earlier this year, sealed their fate.

Both Curling and Chambers made efforts to emphasise the party line of humility and a less cynical approach to governing than the Tories. And they both made the point that their success means much to visible minorities, not only from the Caribbean, but from elsewhere. Chambers sums it up this way: "I feel privileged to have the opportunity to do a job that needs to be done, and needs to be done well."

Executive Class

Gardens with Gravel

Death to the Mullet!