Our first initiative was to try to pull the Minister of Finance into a trap by putting an outrageous newspaper ad in major papers across Canada in hopes he would be tempted to respond. It said in bold type, "Small Businessmen, this concerns you. A new organization has been formed, The Canadian Council for Fair Taxation, to plan an all-out attack on the Government's White Paper on Tax Reform." And then, “Directors have been appointed in” ………………… and I remember putting the names in the ad of every major city across Canada. And then in a bit of genius, John Hull added, "And those directors who have agreed to serve have been notified of this ad.”
Well, the strategy worked, and Edgar Benson called a few of his friends in the media to his office and stated while pointing to our ad, "This is what we don't want."
The next morning, much to my surprise, there were three TV news networks outside my home, all the major newspapers and radio outlets plus Time Magazine. I became an instant celebrity. The fight was on.
The next big initiative was the organization of a major rally at the Royal York Hotel in January 1971. We rented an old-fashioned glass hearse drawn by four horses, with a coffin upon which a sign said, "White Paper, RIP—Come to the White Paper Rally." Two gentlemen in tails followed, scooping up the poo. We stopped traffic at every major intersection. The media loved it.
On the night of the rally we drew 3,000 people into a packed Imperial Room, with 500 standing and 500 turned away. Eleven TV news channels were covering the event and included two US networks. The atmosphere was electric and I received at least ten standing ovations.
That evening we received $10,000 in receipts and another $40,000 that arrived by mail. We then planned to repeat this kind of event in other major cities across Canada.
The attached photo is of Lloyd Robertson when he was the key spokesman in the CBC Weekend News program. We are thankful to CBC for allowing us to use the full clip below. Lloyd moved soon after to CTV news where he became their news anchor. He followed CFIB as a newsmaker for another 30 years.
In politics, the secret is knowing when not to speak. The Canadian Council for Fair Taxation would never have taken off if Finance Minister Benson had just ignored our newspaper ad. Another lesson is that people who are successful in politics are surrounded by good people. I was lucky to be one of those people.