[08:00 September 5, 2002]
"The prime minister will see you now," the aide informed the petite redhead, stepping out of the doorway so she had room to enter.
"Merci," she responded. "Thank you," she repeated, switching languages seamlessly. As she walked through the heavy wooden door into the prime minister's office, she clutched the file folder tucked under her arm a little more firmly.
"Don't look so nervous," Monaghan," the man behind the desk greeted her, motioning to the empty chair before the desk. "It's not like you've never been in here before." His hazel eyes sparkled, hinting at the amusement hiding behind his usually serious façade.
"Never as Foreign Affairs," she answered with a nervious laugh. "And definitely not as deputy prime minister." She slid into the chair, tugging the dark skirt of her suit down lower over her knees.
"Don't worry so much about that," he replied, reaching up to run his fingers through his thick salt-and-pepper hair. "Did you get your aide-memoire?"
"Yes, sir," she replied, immediately more at ease. "It was delivered before I left last night. You must have given the clerk more warning about this than you gave the rest of us." Her statement was completely serious, but she couldn't stop the wry smile twitching at the corners of her blue eyes.He gave her one of his rare lopsided smiles in return. "How are you finding your new office?" he queried, sidestepping the issue and neatly changing the topic.
She shrugged. "What I need to move out of my old office has already been boxed up and is just waiting to be moved over. Or, at least, that's what I've been told." She caught the quizzical expression in his eyes and offered a little more explanation. "I've left it to everyone else to organise that transfer while I try to get myself together enough that I won't embarrass myself horrible during Question Period."
McKenna looked like he was going to reply,
but instead he started coughing, turning his head away from her and reaching
for a handkerchief. Monaghan waited
patiently until he had finished, then she raised her eyebrows at him,
continuing, "I'm assuming that Question Period is the reason that you wanted
this meeting."
"Bang on target," he told her. He
hesitated a second before asking, "Do you think you're going to be ready to
field questions today? No one will
expect you to, first day on the job and all.
There's no shame in letting your parliamentary secretary handle this
one."
"Quite honestly, sir, I think that everyone's going to expect me to answer questions," came her candid response. "You would have caught flak about appointing me to Foreign Affairs, but you're going to have everyone up in arms about the whole deputy PM thing. I think we're just lucky that our own backbenchers will wait until caucus to say anything. In order to be taken seriously, I'm going to have to answer questions."
"Maybe," McKenna admitted.
"I read the paper, sir. Frankly, most
of them are questioning my ability to handle myself. And that's causing them to question you too, sir. And that's not what you want people to be
doing with an election call coming up."
"The only reason they're questioning it is because you're young by Parliamentary standards and haven't spent the better part of a decade on the backbench, trying to get in good with whoever seems likely to be the next leader," McKenna retorted.
Her face reddened and she didn't bother to deny it. "I think we're just lucky that the Alliance and the NDP are in the middle of leadership races right now. It'll deflect some of the attention, but the Tories have been waiting for something like this to happen. You and I both know that."
"The Tories would have made something out of nothing." McKenna held her gaze firmly. "I appointed based on merit," he stressed, "intra-party politics be damned."
He would have said more, but was interrupted by a soft knock at the door. "Jacques Morceau for you, sir," the aide called. McKenna looked up at him and nodded.
Monaghan stood as the aide withdrew. "Just don't get in over your head on the first day," McKenna cautioned her.
"I won't, sir," she responded. "Thank you."Morceau was waiting just outside the door, clearly far more nervous than Monaghan had been. "Bon matin, Jacques," Monaghan greeted him on her way out. "Congratulations on your appointment."
"Bon matin, Elisabeth," Morceau answered. She could tell he was nervous; he had reverted back to his old ramrod straight military posture. "Although I should be the one congratulation you."
"The prime minister will see you now," the aide interrupted pointedly.
Morceau nodded, all but marching into the
prime minister's office. "Bon matin,
monsieur le premier minister," he began.
"Good morning. I hope that you're
getting settled in." This time McKenna
was dispensing with the small talk right away.
"As well as can be expected when making the jump from a secretary of state to a minister overnight," Morceau answered, switching from his native French to McKenna's native English, his accent still prominent.
"Good, good." McKenna paused for a second before continuing. "Do you have a plan for today's Question Period? Do you think you're ready to field whatever questions may come up?"
"I'm going to leave this one to my parliamentary secretary," Morceau admitted. "I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to prepare.
"Don't be afraid to field questions yourself," McKenna advised. "If you have to, then pass them off to your parliamentary secretary, but don't be afraid to make yourself known." McKenna waited for a second to see if there was anything further. When there didn't appear to be anything, McKenna nodded crisply to Morceau. "Show them what you've got.
Another knock at the door announced that
the aide was back again. "Sylvester
Seidel," he said. "Should I tell him
you'll need another minute or two?"
A questioning gaze at the already retreating Morceau brought a shake of the
head at the aide. "Merci beaucoup,
monsieur le premier minister," Morceau murmured on his way out.
"De rien," McKenna answered. In the few moments he had alone in his office,
McKenna stood and squared his shoulders.
Unlike the previous two, this man was not nervous in the slightest. He strode into the room as though he owned
it, ignoring the exiting Morceau and refusing to meet McKenna's stern gaze. His eyes wandered for a long moment, dwelling
on everything but the face of his prime minister.
"Good morning," he finally said, giving McKenna
a glance. There was a palpable tension in
the air between the two men.
"Good morning," McKenna replied, each syllable carefully measured and enunciated.
Despite Seidel's refusal to meet McKenna's
steady gaze, McKenna didn't take his eyes off of Seidel's face. There was something about the way that McKenna
looked at a person that added to his air of control.
"You had wanted to see me, sir," Seidel stated, stressing the pause before the 'sir', making it sound like an afterthought. Standing a few inches taller than McKenna's even six feet, Seidel stood with his shoulders thrown back, almost as though he were at attention. The man, older than McKenna by some twenty years, had been an RCMP constable in his youth. Although he had long ago traded the red serge for sombre pinstripes, old habits died hard when Seidel was in the presence of someone he regarded as inferior but had no choice but to recognise as a superior.
"I wanted to ensure you had no concerns before Question Period." Each word was short and clipped, making no pretence of friendliness. "Any concerns?"
"I won't be cleared out of my office until Mondy. Would you tell Monaghan she'll have to wait until then to take over." The last part wasn't a request.
McKenna couldn't stop the muscles in his jaw from clenching. "I've already met with Deputy Prime Minister Monaghan this morning," he responded, emphasising her title. "I'm afraid you'll have to pass the word yourself. Anything further?"
Seidel was silent. McKenna let the silence go on for a moment, the stated calmly, "Remember Seidel, you serve as a member of Cabinet at the pleasure of the prime minister. And at the moment, my name is on the sign."
"Yes, sir." But even as he answered, Seidel was swinging around on his heel to stalk out of the office.
McKenna waited until he knew Seidel was well out of earshot and then called out, "I know Eric Cohen's lurking out there. You might as well send him in."
A short, plump man in a rumpled suit jacked ambled in. "You know me too well," Cohen stated, making himself at home in the vacant chair before the desk. His eyes followed McKenna's pacing back and forth behind the desk. "I'm taking that little display as evidence he didn't take the shuffle well."
"I never expected him to." As he spoke, McKenna came to stand before the window, gazing out at the grounds of the Parliament buildings. "And neither did you, for that matter."
"I still don't understand why you don't take him out of the Cabinet entirely."
"Yes, you do," McKenna stated, turning to face Cohen. "I kept him in the Cabinet because that's the way I can keep tabs on what he's doing and saying. I can make sure he's toeing the party line and not setting his own agenda."I know that's why you kept him this time, but why didn't you get rid of him when you took over from DuRocher? He stopped at nothing during the leadership race." Cohen paused, gesturing to McKenna's empty chair. "Take a load off."
McKenna sank into the chair. "I kept him around because he was a relic of DuRocher's I couldn't get rid of."
"You mean like me?" Cohen broke in with a chuckle.
"No, I kept you because you're good. I kept
him because he was a strong leader and I needed that while we were transitioning
in. He knows what he's doing, I'll even
give him that much, but…"
"Now he's too strong," Cohen finished. "And, at the moment, displeased at having to give up his two plum positions to up-and-comers. What do you think burns him the most? The fact he lost National Defence to a secretary of state or the fact he lost deputy to someone the same age as his kids?"
"I don't think it matters what burns him the most; he's fired up about all of it right now." McKenna stopped, coughing into his hand again. "Monaghan was worried about the Tories," McKenna continued when he had finished. "I think our problems' going to be Seidel.Another knock at the door interrupted them. "Oliver Montiforte," the aide called.
Cohen stood, futilely trying to straighten the crooked knot in his tie. "Take care of that cold," he called over his shoulder as he turned to go.
"What, no 'What the hell were you thinking with that one?; this time around?"
"Nope," Cohen relied, turning back to face McKenna, still trying to fix his tie. "I think you did pretty good with this one."
"You should really get Elise to tie that before you leave the house in the morning," McKenna joked, making a point of smoothing his own perfectly straight tie.
"She's back home in Manitoba with the grandkids," Cohen answered, giving up. "I'll tell them to send Montiforte in. You have plans to meet everyone this morning?"
"I didn't have plans to meet with you," McKenna noted.
"Point taken." Cohen turned to the aide still waiting patiently by the door. "He'll see Minister Montiforte now, Reg," he told the aide.
Another slightly nervous man was shown into the prime minister's office. "Bon matin, monsieur le premier minister."
"Good morning," McKenna answered calmly. "I hop you're finding your new office suits you well."