Strahl: Faith/family/politics
On the evening of November 24th, Trinity Western University had the privilege of briefly welcoming back one of its most esteemed alumni: Hon. Chuck Strahl. The former parliamentary cabinet minister spoke to students and welcomed guests on matters of faith, politics, and family with an air of grace and humility recognizable as unique to the man himself. Mr. Strahl did not use a microphone. He didn’t need one. The man’s voice carries with a depth and authority that made him one of the most recognizable voices in government during his 17 year stint in Ottawa.
Photo credit: Tim Andries
In his lecture, Mr. Strahl commented on faith and politics and the value Christianity had in guiding and informing his political ideals; however he did warn would-be politicians of making a representative office into a pulpit. He argued that, proselytization and religious rhetoric isn’t just bad politics, it’s ineffective. People won’t hear you and they certainly won’t feel heard by their elected politician.
But the lecture took a sensitive and rather beautiful turn as Mr. Strahl began to discuss his family, his wife Deb, and the influence his work had upon his personal life.
He was asked by a student, “I want to find something I love but I don’t want it to be so all-encompassing that it takes over my life. How do you find the balance of work and family?” Admittedly somewhat of a workaholic, Mr. Strahl stated that such a life/work balance isn’t quite possible in politics and the demands can be overwhelming. But he stated, “If you work too much, eventually you get to a point where nobody expects you to be there for the birthday or the dance recital or the first steps of your grandkid. They don’t expect you to be there because you’re busy.”
With sincere emotion, he we went on to say that he was fortunate to have a wife who supported him and who reminded their children that he was off doing good, important things in his service to the country. As an aside Mr. Strahl stated, “By the way, if you take a tough job in life, make sure that your spouse gives you his or her support and you can go through anything together.” He went on to say that his children do not harbor any ill feelings for his time away, but that eventually it became too much. He told his wife that he didn’t want the family to expect him to be gone for major events. He wanted to be missed. The desire was a major contributor to his decision not to run for office again.
His final advice to the audience on the matter came in the form of advice from his father. He said that in regards to one’s family, a person should be very concerned when they start choosing what’s easiest over what’s best. Staying in Ottawa over weekends may have been easier but it was decidedly not best for his family, which is why Mr. Strahl chose to commute 18 hours every weekend and call Deb every night he was away during his 17 years in Ottawa.
In our interview we had the opportunity to ask Mr. Strahl specifically about rest, which he stated was difficult to find as a politician but critical nonetheless. He went on to say that the value of rest became clear after his diagnosis with cancer, which was ultimately a wakeup call to look after himself.
When he returned to Ottawa after his diagnosis, Mr. Strahl made a firm decision to not go into the office before 8:30am, which may seem early enough to most, but in the country’s capital it is not. The later start permitted him to have some time to himself, get his thoughts together, and exercise every day. He would tell his colleagues that they could send a car around but he wouldn’t go into the office before 8:30am. They would simply have to sit and wait.
Leaning back towards the issue of politics itself, we asked in the interview what, since his time out of office, has he seen government do well and where perhaps he would encourage change or renewal. Immediately he stated that one thing he laments having been lost since the early days of the Reform Party is good public policy development and debate. He said, “There was a huge emphasis on that, because we didn’t have professional politicians. We only had loggers and farmers and business folk, so the way to smooth the waters was not with political spin but with sound public policy.”
He went on to complement Preston Manning’s sound judgment and strong leadership during the time. A problem in government, he said, is that once a party is in leadership, time is spent managing issues and finding ways to get elected, and less focus on public policy development. In 1992, Mr. Strahl recalled a public meeting held in Canada Place to discuss senate reform. They sold tickets to 5000 people to hear Preston Manning speak on the issue. The attitude was that it was a privilege to discuss senate reform because the mentality was bent towards valuing good public policy. He jokingly stated that if someone tried to hold an event on Senate reform today “you could hold the meeting in a phone booth.” People don’t care in the same way that they used to.
On the other hand, Mr. Strahl argued, the Conservative party has become very good at what it needs to do: “raising money, recruiting candidates, [and] running an efficient campaign.” So while he misses aspects of the old Reform days and the ways in which the public was engaged in politics, he noted that the administration from which he has retired, is sound and growing stronger in many facets of political practice.
Michael Biornstad and Ted Lewis
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