Through a series of Conservative cabinet posts including agriculture minister, former British Columbia MP Chuck Strahl was one of the best-liked ministers on both sides of the House of Commons.
He could be tough in the corners (Canadian Wheat Board supporters and former Saskatchewan NDP agriculture minister Mark Wartman can attest to that) but he had a congenial bipartisan air about him.
When he retired from politics last year after 17 years in the Commons, the tributes from all sides were generous.
Those giving the tributes likely didn’t realize how bipartisan he could be.
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Strahl has been appointed a Trudeau Foundation mentor.
Yes, that Trudeau — Pierre Elliott.
For the next year, Strahl with nine other mentors will be available to help doctoral university students who are being supported by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation learn about “the real world,” as the foundation announcement said. “Mentors will help accelerate the careers of the Trudeau Scholars by introducing them to valuable professional and social networks — helping ground them in the real world.”
He will receive a $20,000 honorarium and $15,000 in expenses.
Strahl, now a consultant on business, political and governmental strategies, still uses his Chilliwack, British Columbia hobby farm as a home base.
The Trudeau Foundation was set up by supporters of the former Liberal leader in 2001 “as a living memorial to the former prime minister,” says a foundation statement.
In 2002, the Canadian government led by Liberal Jean Chrétien provided $125 million to the charitable foundation with all-Commons support.
For the former contractor who was driven into Reform politics in 1993 by the policies of both Trudeau and Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, it has been a long journey to the ranks of the non-party statesman.
