Heritage minister on the hot seat

Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — Josée Verner is making a habit of snubbing the arts community. It's not such a great habit for the country's Heritage minister, who was appointed only last August, and has no serious background in the arts.

Last November, Verner was invited by Robert Lantos, one of the country's most respected film producers, to his home in Toronto's Forest Hill neighbourhood for a meet-and-greet with the country's top artists.

Guests were asked to come for 5:30 p.m. for the two-hour reception. And well-known Canadian actors, producers and writers, including Paul Gross, Albert Schultz, Garth Drabinsky and Noah Richler, were there.

But few even met the guest of honour, because by the time Verner showed up – well after 7:30 p.m. – most people had left.

“It pissed a lot of people off …,” said one of the guests. “They [the guests] were there with good will.”

Verner said in an interview that she is “so sorry” about her tardiness. Her driver, she says, was stuck in the snarl of traffic that is Toronto.

But it happened again this week. This time, she wasn't just late; she was a no-show at the Genie Awards in Toronto. Her explanation was that she couldn't miss the confidence vote on the budget that was scheduled that night in the Commons. Whispers along the red carpet, however, were that she was afraid she would be criticized for her government's plans to deny tax credits to TV and film productions that contain graphic sex and violence or other offensive content.

That condemnation went on despite her absence. Sandra Oh, the gala's master of ceremonies, Sarah Polley, the young director and multiple award-winner, and even Verner's former host, Lantos, piled on.

And it continues as the minister faces one of the most difficult issues of her portfolio – defending a policy that many in the arts community are charging is tantamount to censorship.

For her part, Verner says this idea that the Conservative government is not a supporter of the arts is not true. “I think frankly it's a little bit unfair, because we did a lot. When we look at our record, we spend a lot of money in the [Canada Council for the Arts], we spend a lot of money for the festivals. The small festivals in every part of the country are so happy to receive funds … and at the same time, we believe in our major festivals, the ones who make us so proud – for example, Just for Laughs.”

“I have a certain sympathy for Josée Verner because I think it is very difficult to be a strong cabinet minister in the Harper government,” says author Susan Swan, chair of the Writers' Union of Canada, who has also been snubbed by Verner. A few months ago, Swan requested a meeting with the minister. Instead, she was pawned off on an underling, who, although pleasant, provided no insight into the minister and her thinking on issues.

By comparison, Swan says that Verner's predecessor, Bev Oda, was “much more present.”

“[Verner] comes from Quebec, which has far more thoughtful and progressive policies on the arts than the other parts of the country,” says Swan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, she adds “obviously picked her as part of his plan to woo Quebec votes. But Josée has no voice, as far as I can tell.”

GLAMOUR TRUMPS MONOTONY

Last August, Harper shuffled his cabinet and promoted Verner. She went from what is considered a junior portfolio as the minister in charge of the Canadian International Development Agency to the more senior Heritage post. And she went from blond to brunette.

Interestingly, there are no blond women in the Harper cabinet; like her other erstwhile blond female ministerial colleagues, Verner has taken on what society considers a much more serious hair colour. She says it's just easier to take care of. (The lone blond in cabinet is Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg, and even he has toned down his highlights.)

All this is to say that, while it can't be easy for women in Harper's testosterone-filled cabinet (seven of the 32 ministers are female), it must be even harder as the minister promoting arts and culture, an area that many Tories believe is frivolous.

Indeed, there was no new money for the arts in last month's budget, and Verner's voice around the cabinet table is limited, as she is not a member of Harper's most influential cabinet committees, such as priorities and planning, Treasury Board and operations.

“She is not pro-active on the arts,” says Swan. “She seems instead to project, perhaps unconsciously, the dated attitude of her government that the arts represent a fringe constituency instead of them being integral to a vibrant democracy.”

The commentary at the time of the shuffle was that Oda had to go because she was not a good communicator. She couldn't speak French, and her deliberate, monotone delivery in English made her seem dull.

There was a view, too, that Harper needed a Quebecker in the job to help celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City.

And so who better than Verner? Not only is she from Quebec City, but with her designer clothes and great hair she would lend some glamour to the post.

AN INDEPENDENT STREAK

It's hard not to like Verner. The 48-year-old wife and mother of three (a son, 25, and two daughters, 20 and 15) is sweet, friendly and in possession of an independent streak.

For example, this week, she was one of only four Conservatives to vote against a Tory private member's bill to make harming a fetus a crime. The bill was of concern to pro-choice advocates who argued it would eventually lead to restrictions on abortion. It was a free vote, but most of the cabinet, including her boss, the Prime Minister, voted in favour of it. The bill passed.

Verner first attracted attention in Ottawa after she came from almost nowhere in the 2004 federal campaign to challenge the Bloc candidate, winning 32 per cent of the vote.

She garnered the most votes of any Conservative candidate in Quebec, and Harper invited her to come to Ottawa to serve as his Quebec adviser.

No stranger to politics, Verner, who grew up in the Quebec City suburb of Sainte-Foy and undertook secretarial studies at Collège O'Sullivan, worked for the provincial Liberals in the Bourassa government in the 1980s, first with the minister of health. She also later served as a communications adviser to Lawrence Cannon, who is now her cabinet colleague, but at that time was a minister in the Bourassa government.

She left that world when her third child was born. “It was too much for a mother to manage politics and family,” she says.

A decade later, during which she had worked with her husband, Marc Lacroix, who owns a small communications business, she was lured back into the political world, this time helping out the provincial Action Démocratique du Québec. Not long after, she was approached by the federal Tories. Upset about the Liberal sponsorship scandal, Verner says she met with Harper and was “strongly impressed by him.”

A cabinet colleague describes her as “intelligent and articulate.” She is well-liked and respected by caucus members.

“While understated in her approach, she is very passionate about what she believes, and is very patient and kind-hearted. Still waters run deep,” says the colleague.

Once referred to as “the minister not sure of herself” by francophone reporters, many observers believe she is growing into her job. Over the past year, her English has considerably improved. And several people noted her performance this week in Question Period: the way in which she aggressively handled opposition questions over the controversial tax-credit issue.

Alain Pineau, the national director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, says she is gradually “coming into her own … given the fact that Madame Verner came to this portfolio without any kind of track record apart from the fact that she was nice-looking and apparently intelligent …”

He says that, inside government, she has a reputation as someone who listens and respects her officials, which he says has not always been the case with other ministers. “I am always open to meet with people, to have them in my office. So frankly, I think by continuing to work hard we will be able to convince people that of course we are interested,” she says. “We believe in our culture. In my sense, it's our national identity and it's so important to … strengthen that.”

As well, she says that she is always “open to meet people.” And, yes, she'll even meet with Swan, “if she wants to meet with me.”

Maybe it's just a case of making time, where she didn't seem to have it before.