It was a huge honour to be told by the National Film Board that they wanted to do a film on the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which would be called, “The Politics of Persuasion”. It was only a few months after our father died in January 1980. They were excited about CFIB as an effective and powerful form of political activism.
And they told us that they wanted to follow me across Canada meeting with politicians. It was a major undertaking, because for about three months, a TV crew of three followed me everywhere I went. It started in the office of my father's business. In the photo, a painting of our father is in the background.
The complete half-hour production can be clicked on below, but for a decade at least, the program was on the CBC during the late evening hours, and it was also picked up by independent networks as national content.
It was a great piece of CFIB history, to see them use clips of our senior people. In this photo, Jim Bennett, our VP National Affairs, is talking with me in a meeting with Jean Chretien, who later became Prime Minister.
And the National Film Board really got into the detail of our operations. In this photo, Brien Gray, VP Provincial Affairs, and Al Rioux, General Manager, are in a serious staff legislative meeting discussing member direction on an important issue.
It was tremendous fun for the members of our Tabulation Centre that got together during the week to tabulate the vote on our Mandate ballots. There must have been over a dozen wives including my wife Mary that joined in the fun. And they loved being televised by the National Film Board. Heather Sherk, wife of Ray Sherk, our first General Manager, ran the Centre for over 30 years.
They certainly picked up lots of my public addresses as they followed me to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in the East and across to Alberta and BC in the west. My appearance on the famous Jack Webster TV show in Vancouver was a highlight of the cross-Canada tour.
We were given a great welcome by the Premier of BC, Bill Bennett. We were soul mates when it came to promoting enterprise. Every year when I came to BC, he would adjust his schedule so we could meet.
And the Film Board got a number of great shots when we met with the former Premier and now Leader of the Opposition, Dave Barrett. He remembered us calling on him as Premier. And he knew from the past that we were a genuinely non-partisan organization, which meant his door was always open.
This film has been used over the years in the training of new CFIB employees. Our history is not only educational but supplies the kind of emotional glue that binds us together. The “Politics of Persuasion” is an excellent description of what CFIB does to represent small business across Canada.
Click on the link on the right for the full video.