Patricia Sorbara has been a political operative for more than forty years—a mainstay in the background of both federal and provincial politics in Ontario, dedicating her career to the Liberal Party. She’s worked for and with Liberal Opposition Leaders, Premiers, Members of Parliament, Members of Provincial Parliament and more candidates than any staffer could imagine. Sorbara became known as the woman to have on side, the one who knows the ground game and never backs down from a challenge. In December of 2014, all of that changed. A potential candidate in Sudbury, ON, went to the media with the allegation that Sorbara, acting on behalf of the Party, had offered a bribe in exchange for stepping down from a nomination race. She was blindsided. While on trial in Sudbury in the fall of 2017, Sorbara found herself leaning on the unique education of decades in politics, one that came with being a lifelong female political staffer, which saw her through the first emotional moments of the trial to the eventual verdict nearly seven weeks later. But it didn’t end there. In Let ’Em Howl: Lessons from a Life in Backroom Politics , Sorbara shares her best lessons from the back room—the ones that sustained her in the darkest hours—illustrated by stories featuring key political figures in Canadian politics. The result is required reading for anyone interested in Canadian politics or government.
Оглавление
Patricia Sorbara. Let ’Em Howl
Let ’Em. Howl
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 Bloom Where You’re Planted
Chapter 2 You Define Your Own Worth
Chapter 3 Never Accept That It Can’t Be Done
Chapter 4 Mediocrity Is Not an Option
Chapter 5 Know Why You’re in Politics (or Take the Time to Figure It Out)
Chapter 6 You Win as a Team, You Lose as a Team
Chapter 7 The Politics of Survival
Chapter 8 When All Else Fails, Stay Focused and Work Hard
Chapter 9 You Serve at the Pleasure of the Leader
Chapter 10 The Courage of Your Convictions Will Carry You Through
Chapter 11 At the End of the Day, Do Things on Your Own Terms
Chapter 12 Politics is a Roller Coaster, So Be Prepared for the Highs and the Lows
Acknowledgements
Index
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Let ’Em Howl
– Peter Donolo, Vice-Chair Hill+Knowlton Canada, and former Director of Communications for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
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Lesson: Tough losses early in your political career teach you one thing above all others: to never take anything for granted.
I ran my first by-election, held on December 13 in 1984, in the riding of Wentworth North. The title of campaign manager was held by someone locally and I was the senior organizer assigned by the party. Despite being twenty-eight years old, I had been involved in more campaigns that anyone locally. The candidate was Chris Ward, a popular, young, up-and-coming local mayor. The seat had been held for the previous nine years by Liberal Eric Cunningham, and in theory we should have easily held the riding. However, at that time David Peterson was an unknown and the consensus of the mainstream media was that he could never win the upcoming general campaign; the Conservatives would continue to hold government for a long time to come.
