The time was the 1950s and I was a novice and somewhat naive political journalist working for the Winnipeg Tribune. The Trib was the smaller of the city’s two dailies. Not for us the luxury of staff cars enjoyed by our competitors at the Free Press. In order to get to and from election campaign meetings in rural Manitoba I often had to rely on political parties. Sometimes this meant offering to act as chauffeur to opposition party leaders travelling to and from Winnipeg who needed someone to drive while they worked on their speeches.
Of course we often chatted about politics during the long trips. One party leader who later became premier got into the habit of trying out various new ideas on me and assessing my reactions. At first I was flattered but soon I realized there was another implication: The party leader was not omniscient. In fact, most of the time he was just as confused as everyone else, including me.
Up to that time, I had...
Peter Desbarats spent 30 years as a print and TV journalist before being appointed dean of journalism at the University of Western Ontario. Now retired, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006.
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