Opinion | Sergio Marchi still believes in ethical politicians. Here’s why

Sergio Marchi got himself elected to North York city council at the tender age of 26, and just two years later, became a Liberal MP, just in time to see his party thrashed by Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservatives in 1984. But he stuck around, eventually earning three different jobs in Jean Chretien’s cabinets between 1993 and 2000. He chronicles it all in a new memoir called “Pursuing a Public Life, How to Succeed in the Political Arena.”

You tell us that you started to get interested in politics, and because of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, you became a Liberal. How did that happen?

I just thought he was a stellar leader, he had a personality, he was outgoing, he was athletic, he was intelligent. He didn’t mince words and wasn’t afraid of the shadow of U.S. presidents. And when I was young, he just made an incredible impression on me, and I said to myself, well, if Pierre Trudeau is a Liberal, where do I sign up? Very similar, I think, to the JFK movement in the United States. I thought Trudeau was our Camelot.

At the age of 26, you decide to jump into the public arena. You run for what was then called North York City Council. And early on, there was a big developer trying to get something built in North York, and a senior member of council essentially tried to strong-arm you into voting his way without ever consulting you. What happened there?

It was one of our first votes. My neighboring councillor was also a first-timer, Claudio Polsinelli. And one of the senior members of council took it upon himself to say to the Bramalea Ltd. president, don’t bother with Marchi and Polsinelli. I’ll get them to vote our way. And so, when I saw the councillors all meeting individually with Bramalea and I was bypassed altogether with Claudio, I said to Claudio, ‘There’s only one way fix to this. We can’t start this way. We’ve got to send him and the council and the developer a message. We have to vote against it.’ Which we did, and the project lost by one vote. That was a pivotal message to send to the council and others, that we’re not gonna play monkey business … we’re gonna play by the rulebook.

Where did you get the stones to do that?

I was absolutely pissed off, offended, that [they assumed] that we were going to play their game. Now, the nice ending of this story is that I went to the developer after the vote, and I said, ‘This was a very good project, but don’t you dare do that again. If you want my vote, then you come in to see me like you’ve seen every other member of council.’ And the CEO apologized to me. Anyway, Claudio and I then reversed our votes and the building permit passed. But, lesson learned by everybody.

Well, I was going to say all’s well that ends well, but it didn’t end well for the senior politician whose name was Mario Gentile. What happened to him eventually?

Mario got caught in a scandal sometime later. He had accepted a credit card from a developer who was doing business in City Hall, and Mario would bill that credit card for his suits, his dinners, his lunches. Obviously, a big no-no. He was caught, he faced prison time, and a fine. And it was an awful ending to what was a promising career. Ethics are important. If you want to make lots of money, that’s fine. Don’t look to politics to do it.

Only 2 years into your term as a North York City Councillor, you decide to try to become the MP for York West. And you say that the outgoing MP, Jim Fleming, who is now deceased, rigged the nomination contest for his preferred candidate, Maria Minna. How do you know that?

I confronted Jim at the nomination meeting because, for whatever reason, Jim went downtown to pick Maria to run uptown. It was a curious choice. The message he was sending is that you guys locally, aren’t good enough. They canceled the first [nomination] meeting because we signed up too many members for their liking. Then the second meeting started at 7 p.m. and ended at 3 a.m. on the fourth ballot.

You know that Maria Minna’s husband Robert MacBain is sending out press releases saying “Mr. Marchi’s claims have no basis in fact. There was no effort by the party to ensure that Maria won the nomination.” In fact, he says they were just as upset when the first meeting was cancelled.

Well, look, I thought she was the wrong candidate for York West, and the people in York West agreed with me on that, because she failed to grab a nomination. I guess [Rob will] have to write his own book.

The very first door you knocked on in that 1984 election campaign, the guy at the door says, “Young man, my folks have been dead for a long time, and if they knew I’d consider voting for — [a pejorative word for an Italian immigrant] —  they’d both turn over in their graves.” What did that tell you about the kind of campaign it was going to be?

I thought my wife, who was with me at the doorstep, was gonna die. What did I get myself into? Why couldn’t I have just stayed at municipal council? Usually, when you encounter people like that, you can’t lose time, because you do have hundreds of other doors to knock on, so you put a smile on your face, you thank the gentleman for his time, and you wish him well. And instead, I made a rookie mistake. I was stubborn, I was proud, and I said, “Well, who in the hell are you gonna vote for now?” And he said, “It’s none of your business.” And I said, “Well, it might not be me, but why don’t you stick the knife a little deeper and tell me who your favorite is?” And he said, “Well, I’m gonna vote Conservative. I think Mulroney’s gonna win the campaign anyway, so I’m gonna vote for his man.” And I said, “Do you know who that candidate is? His name is, Frank DiGiorgio.” And he looked at me and said, “You think you’re some smartass?” I said, “No, I’m just giving you the facts. Your Conservative candidate looks like another Irishman, right?” And then he said, “Well, for the first time in my life, I’m gonna vote NDP.” And I said, “Do you know who your candidate is?” And he said, “No, and I don’t want to know.” And I said, “ His name is Bruno Pasquantonio, and good sir, you can’t get any more Italian than Bruno Pasquantonio. So unless you want to vote for the Communist candidate, Jack Sweet, why don’t you give me a chance of proving my worth?” And then he literally said, “Well, I think you got a lot of balls, and I like that. You stood up to me.” 

You were in opposition for almost a decade but in 1993, under Jean Chretien, you win government and had three cabinet jobs in six years. Which was your favorite?

I think, emotionally, immigration was an unbelievable portfolio, because I was a son of an immigrant, and to think that a son of an immigrant can also be the minister of immigration speaks to how great this country is.

You almost got Mr. Chretien to let you get rid of the citizenship oath to the Queen. At the last minute, he intervened and told you to pull the plug. How come?

I said, “Boss, why are you asking me to do this? We’re almost there. You had supported this!” He said it was the middle of the 1995 Quebec referendum and he didn’t want to fight monarchists and separatists at the same time. I told him, “Let’s have our own citizenship oath, a simple, powerful oath to country, rather than to the monarchy.” And he said, “Trust me, we’ll get back to it later.” But one of the lessons I learned in politics is that when you pause something in politics, oftentimes you lose it, and that’s exactly what happened. I was very, very close, and it’s one of my regrets.  

There is a very funny story about the Free Trade Summit in Chile, which you attended. While the opening speeches are happening, what was President Bill Clinton doing?

At one point, the President turns around in his swivel chair and asks for “The Red File.” And so the National Security Advisor pulls the red file out of his briefcase, I kind of sit up on my chair so that I can see this, and I actually manage to see the cover of this “Red File.” And it said, “For the Eyes of the President Only.” So, I looked over Clinton’s shoulder, and when he opened the file, there were three New York Times crossword puzzles. And I say, you’ve got to be kidding me, right? 

Your cabinet colleague Lloyd Axworthy was no better.

Yeah, he pulled out one crossword puzzle from the Times . Then Lloyd got stuck on who the first governor of Tennessee was, so I asked Clinton’s guy Sandy Berger but he didn’t know. Meanwhile, Chretien, who’s deaf in his right ear, is trying to figure out, why are my two ministers talking to Berger and Clinton when I’m not involved? And doesn’t Clinton then turn around and he says, “Call Vice-President Al Gore. He was born in Tennessee, so he’ll probably know it.” I’m sure all the other 32 leaders probably were saying, what are the Americans and Canadians cooking up? If they only knew!

What conclusions did you come to about whether you were as good a dad as you could have or should have been?

I regret that I overdid it, and I think it was a function of being a federal member of parliament at 28. I wanted to do well, I wanted to be seen to be doing well. I was ambitious as a young politician, and I missed umpteen birthdays and anniversaries of both my wife, Laureen, and my two children. I had no semblance of a work-life balance. And, you can’t get those years back. That’s why in 1999, I knew Jean was thinking about calling another election, and Laureen and I had a serious discussion, and we thought it was time for me to prioritize the kids and the family. In fact, thank God I did, because then we had some great years where I was able to play the role of father the way it should be played.