Warren Kinsella - The war room : political strategies for business, NGOs, and anyone who wants to win

The War Room

Past Kudos and Brickbats for Warren Kinsella

Subtlety and restraint are not Mr. Kinsellas strengths; speed and a taste for the jugular are.

Paul Wells, Macleans

the Alliances slide into oblivion hit the point of no return when the toe of Warren Kinsellas shoe made contact with Stockwell Days rump.

Jonathan Kay, National Post

[Warren] Kinsella is passionate, opinionated and loyal people in important positions value his opinion. His blog is must-read stuff for political pundits [and] hes a colourful, feisty backroom boy doing his best to stir the pot in the grand tradition of Canadian politics.

Kingston Whig-Standard

[Warren Kinsella] is tiresome and biased vengeful fevered and sniping commentary

Gilles Gherson, former editor-in-chief, Toronto Star

Warren Kinsella: Sound! Bite!

National Post

[Warren Kinsella] represents the sleazy side to Ottawa politics that traffics in unverified innuendo and self-serving rumour

Tony Burman, former editor-in-chief, CBC News

An inexperienced political staffer.

Justice John Gomery

Kinsella is a punk.

Globe and Mail

A cult figure for young Liberals.

The Financial Post

Political Strategies for Business, NGOs,
and Anyone Who Wants to Win

Warren Kinsella

Foreword by the Right Honourable Jean Chrtien

Copyright Warren Kinsella, 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Editor: Michael Carroll

Copy-editor: Andrea Waters

Design: Alison Carr

Printer: Marquis

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Kinsella, Warren, 1960

The war room : political strategies for business, NGOs, and anyone who wants to win / Warren Kinsella.

ISBN 978-1-55002-746-4

1. Campaign management--Canada. 2. Spin doctors--Canada.

3. Politics, Practical--Canada. 4. Political participation--Canada.

5. Liberal Party of Canada--Elections. 6. Campaign management--United States. I. Title.

JL193.K55 2007 324.971 C2007-904655-X

1 2 3 4 5 11 10 09 08 07

We acknowledge the support of The Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

Printed and bound in Canada.

Printed on recycled paper.

www.dundurn.com

To my mom

who has been so brave
(and my dad knows it, too)

I AM DELIGHTED that people have bought Warren Kinsellas new book, but I would be more delighted, and so would they, if they bought mine.

In all seriousness, I can reveal that Warren is passionate, loyal, and a good guy to have on your side in a political fight. When he worked for me, and afterwards, he never hesitated to fight the good fight.

His book is about how war rooms can help you to win. I encourage everyone to read it.

The Right Honourable Jean Chrtien

August 2007

Ottawa, Ontario

SOME WAG ONCE NOTED THAT political people read books differently from others. Its true. Whereas normal people read books from front to back, political folks do it the other way around. Thats because they always check the index (or the acknowledgements page) to see if they, or anyone they know, is in the book. Only then do they buy it.

Consequently, I intend to thank everyone who was interviewed for this book, or anyone who has ever offered me their political insights in the past. That way, I not only get to offer them my sincere thanks, but I potentially get them to buy it, too. (Some folks named below, undoubtedly, may not want to be thanked, but they only have themselves to blame. They shouldnt have talked to me.) So here goes, starting from the left, where I got my political start.

In the Far West, I learned from the likes of Gary Collins, Gord Campbell, Clark Roberts, Greg Lyle, Stew Braddick, Ted Olnyk, Luigi Perna, John Eisenstat, Irv Epstein, Raymond Chan, Paul Fyssas, Ross Fitzpatrick, May Brown, John Kenney (RIP), Don Williams, George Taylor, Royce Frith, July Kirk, Gord Robson, Steve Kukucha, Bill Brooks, Patrick Wong, Celso Boscariol, Kent Scarborough, Dave Wizinsky, Jay Straith, David Plewes, Heather Dunsford, Alan Shuster, Herb Dhaliwal, Diana Hutchinson, Alex Pannu, Dennis Prouse, Murray Dykeman, Pam McDonald, Fraser Randall, Andre Gerolymatos, Tim Morrison, Martin MacLachlan, Svend Robinson, Mike McDonald, Dirk Ricker, Jen Reid, Stuart Pelly, Jonathan Ross, Ed Barnes, Jim Sullivan, Lorne Burns, Chuck Strahl, Greg Walker, Don Millar, Renate Bublick, Christy Clark and Mark Marissen, Mike Brooks, Adam Korbin, Prem Vinning, Angus Reid, John Nuraney, Stan Winfield, Ted Nebbeling, and Neil Sweeney. Special thanks go to Brad McTavish, Mark Brady, and Naina Sloan. And I am immensely grateful to Toby Ward, the Canadian politico who interviewed Haley Barbour for this book, for his judgment, his loyalty, and his friendship, all of which I value a great deal.

In the Nearer West, my home, I was enlightened by Nick Taylor, John Cordeau, Steve MacAdam (RIP), Colin MacDonald, Joyce Fairbairn, Sheldon Chumir (RIP), Lloyd Axworthy, Derek Raymaker and family, Raj Chahal, David Asper and his dad Izzy (RIP), John Harvard, Ginny May, Elliott Poll, Ron Duhamel (RIP), Ken Boessenkool, David MacInnis, Cos Gabriele, Hugh McFadyen, Martin Egan, Lee Hill, Rey Pagtakhan, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Catherine Lappe, Dan Nearing, Jim Keelaghan, and Bob Haslam. Always standing by me when I was battling western separatists and/or kooky right-wingers were my parents, Lorna and Doug; my brothers, Lorne and Kevin; and the two guys who have been allies the longest, Alan Macdonald and Pierre Schenk.

In Godless Central Canada, where my brood and I currently reside, there are about a million people to thank, and to whom I owe much, whether they know it or not. The list will only be partial, for which I offer