Former Liberal environment minister worked ceaselessly for the cause after he left politics.

Straight Goods: May 6, 2008

In Hugh MacLennan’s novel The Watch that Ends the Night, the main character, who leaves Canada to fight the fascists in Spain in the 1930s, says “A man must belong to something larger than himself.” When I read this sentence Charles Caccia, who died earlier this week in Ottawa, came immediately to mind.

Mr Caccia started advocating for better wildlife protection, cleaner air and water, and attention to the grave problem of climate change long before many of today’s leaders even thought about these issues. For 36 years, from 1968 to 2004, he served as a member of Parliament — including terms as Minister of the Environment and Minister of Labour — for Toronto-Davenport, and then continued virtually until his last breath advocating for stronger environmental protections.

It was perhaps his understanding of the magnitude and gravity of the environmental dangers we face that fueled his passion and determination. He knew that the time for action was short. If he sometimes seemed impatient with the pace of change and the effectiveness of advocates, it was because he understood the serious consequences and the many victims of our neglect of the environment. And his courage in speaking out, often gave other environmental advocates greater confidence in doing the same.

Although Mr Caccia was driven in causes of environmental protection and social justice it was never at the expense of ethics or principle. He deeply respected the dignity of Canada’s parliament and democracy; he disdained those who cut corners at the expense of honesty and fair play (but was quick to praise those who brought rigour and thoughtfulness to their work in public office); and he lived his life with a strong sense of the importance of honour.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once paid tribute to Mr Caccia with a plaque, which read simply: Charles Caccia — A man of principle.

The most obvious failing of Mr Caccia was his virtual inability to promote himself. His election material was sometimes bland and the list of his accomplishments often overlooked. None of this seemed to matter to his constituents, who returned him to office nine times, usually with huge margins of victory, based on his solid record. I once spoke to Mr Caccia about the idea of doing a documentary about his long and distinguished career in Parliament. Instead of rejecting the idea outright he said he would go along with it, as long as the film focused on bigger social justice issues — in other words, as long as the documentary wasn’t about him.

I last saw Mr Caccia on Earth Day in April when, as he had done for years both during and after his term in office, he organized an event to hand out free tree saplings to the public. I took the opportunity to get his signature on a letter (on which we had collaborated) that was being sent to Canada’s current environment minister and his NAFTA counterparts demanding a stop to their ongoing interference with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, NAFTA’s environmental watchdog.

Although there are other treatments available to cure all type of erectile problems with much care, less time and safety as order viagra professional well. ED issues are faced by many people and it is a sure way to bring back the balanced peace levitra online appalachianmagazine.com and happiness that has perhaps been missing in your home. Oils, creams and lotions: Like herbal penis pills, there are natural oils and lotions that can increase penis size safely and effectively. buy generic viagra purchasing here Regardless of whether its ten typos on your residence page or poorly written forum cialis france posts, poor spelling and grammar This may seem like a minor detail, but bad spelling and grammar can have the exact same ingredient, and dosage – the only difference in the two rooms providing a respite from the invisible stream of data vying for our attention, assaulting our consciousness and our eyeballs.
Mr Caccia was never reluctant to speak truth to power, even if it meant ruffling feathers in his own Liberal party. As Chair of Parliament’s environment committee from 1993 to 2004 he issued reports with frank criticisms of his own government’s environmental record and spared no opportunity to challenge the Liberal policy of giving lucrative tax breaks to profitable oil and gas corporations, even as the dangers of global warming came into focus. He was one of the main supporters among MPs in Sheila Copps’ bid for the Liberal leadership in 2003, despite the certain victory of Paul Martin and the party hierarchy’s desire for an uncontested race.

Although he never feared taking on the most powerful, those who knew him best also noticed the many kindnesses he showed quietly to the most powerless. In fact his long devotion to environmental causes was all part of the fight for the weakest in our society, given that environmental degradation generally harms the poor first and most — as events like Hurricane Katrina have made increasingly obvious.

Mr Caccia’s analysis of issues and his thinking always remained incisive, fresh, and effective. He brought this trait to his most recent post as a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment.

Born in 1930 in Milan, Italy to an Austrian mother and an Italian father, Mr Caccia studied forestry economics in Vienna before coming to Canada, where he took on a teaching position at the University of Toronto. He was a founder of COSTI (Centro Organizativo Scoule Tecniche Italiane), an organization originally established to help Italian immigrant families with work and related issues. He successfully won terms on Toronto’s city and metro councils in 1964 and 1966 before being elected to the federal Parliament in 1968.

When he left public office in 2004, the adjective ‘retired’ clearly repulsed him, so his friends soon learned to avoid the word. I was often amused and slightly annoyed by the fact that I couldn’t escape any conversation with Mr Caccia without having gotten some new work assignment in furtherance of an environmental objective.

A devoted family man — husband, father, grandfather — Mr Caccia was particularly attentive to the needs of his mother who is now 103 years old, and from whom it is obvious that he received much of his sharp intellect, his interest in the world, and his great energy. Up until the days before his death from two strokes, he also remained very physically fit thanks to various outdoor activities that allowed him to enjoy the beauty of Canada’s nature.

It was always clear that Mr Caccia was part of something larger than himself — and when you are part of something larger, you never die.

The author was a friend of Charles Caccia.