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Quick on the draw — Jim McCrae

How’s the local real estate market?

It’s very healthy as it should be in Brandon. The city has maintained a nice steady economic environment regardless of what’s been going on in the rest of the world.

Where is your stress level now as a Brandon realtor, compared to what it was when you were Manitoba’s health minister?

Oh, my life is very different now. The stress level is very different now. The level of daily requirements from me is quite reduced from what it was. I’m enjoying my life. I certainly enjoyed my life as a politician at the provincial level. I was a little younger then. I had a higher energy level to deal with the stress that came at me. Today, I still have stress, but it’s different. I enjoy the stress that goes with the work at City Hall. I thoroughly enjoy doing that work.

What, if anything, do you miss most about the bright lights of the Legislature, where you served from 1986-99?

The thing I miss is the daily question period in the Legislature. I enjoyed that, the cut and thrust that went on every day. There was some partisanship that sometimes crept into that, of course.

Who was your best friend growing up, and how often do you see each other these days?

My closest friend growing up was my brother Clark, who’s now passed on. He passed away in 2004 and I’ve been adjusting to that in all the time since.

Describe in 50 words or less your responsibilities as a young man in the House of Commons in Ottawa?

In Ottawa, I was a Hansard reporter. The job there was to record for immediate release and for future posterity the debates in the House of Commons. That was really fun and really stressful. I remember the first day I reported Question Period there. The prime minister at the time was Pierre Trudeau, who I was in awe of, as everybody was, I think. A Hansard reporter’s job is not simply to report word for word, but to produce a transcript that reflects something resembling the Queen’s English. So as much as Prime Minister Trudeau was known to be bicultural and very well spoken, he didn’t always get it right, either. And it was my job as a young man to put his words into proper order. It was a little daunting to take Prime Minister Trudeau’s words and change them around ever so little — because we weren’t to change the meaning whatsoever.

Having a close-up look at all of the major political figures of the day, which one or two really stand out in your memory? Obviously Trudeau would stand out.

He wasn’t my favourite — I wasn’t of his persuasion, even in those days — although I had high regard for him and his intellect. Tommy Douglas was a clear favourite. He was one of those people who would give a speech off the cuff as if it had been pored over for weeks — grammatically perfect. This gentleman was a pleasure to report, and a fine man, too. He and Don Jamieson, a Liberal minister from Newfoundland; John Crosbie was a terror, but a most interesting man to report. And I had the privilege of reporting John Diefenbaker in those days.

Do you still harbour hopes to be the mayor one day?

I don’t think so. I say that, but I’ve always been told never say never. I accept that I have no immediate designs on that office. I do enjoy trying to play a constructive role around the council table.

What’s one TV show you try not to miss every week?

My wife and I tend to watch Survivor quite regularly. It’s a study of human nature. A little seedy perhaps, but it’s a study of human nature.

A perfect day away from work would find you doing . . . what?

In the last few years, I’ve been spending time on the motorcycle. And I truly enjoy it, getting out in the breeze on a nice warm day. My riding partner, my brother-in-law Reg Tame, and I rode all the way to Vancouver Island and back this summer. That was a thrill. A little hard on the bottom at times.

What’s the No. 1 concern you hear about as the city councillor for Meadows ward?

The concerns are the costs of some of the things we’ve been trying to do to ensure a better future for Brandon. Getting through things like fire halls and police stations has been one of the more difficult pieces of the work.

What is it about public service that turns your crank?

It’s hard to answer that quickly. I’ve been interested in that since I was a young boy. My dad was not a politician, but he gave a lot of his time to public pursuits and volunteer efforts. It’s just a giving back. This is the best country. I just feel if I have a hand in helping keep it that way and making it even better, that’s something I can proudly go to my grave with.

What are you currently reading?

The second time around, To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve done a little writing on my own, and I’m just awestruck by the writing in that book.

Tell me about your writing.

I wrote a book a few years ago called Dancing Winds. It’s a love story set in Nazi Germany and I’ve written another one since, which has no relationship whatsoever to that type of story. It’s a novel about crime and the courtroom antics of lawyers.

For whom would you pay good money to hear make an hour-long speech?

It would be nice if I could hear Tommy Douglas again. Failing that, I suppose . . . you know, that’s a tough one. One of the best speeches I ever heard in my life was given by Grant Devine, the former premier of Saskatchewan.

This interview is being conducted on Friday the 13th? Any worries?

No more than most people have on Friday the 13th. I’ve done real estate deals on that day and other things on that day without too much concern.

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